The Holy Roman Emperor (Latin: Imperator Romanus Sacer) is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope. After the 16th century, this elected monarch governed the Holy Roman Empire, a Central European union of territories of the Medieval and Early Modern period. In the feudal hierarchy, a medieval Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares (first among equals) among the other medieval Roman Catholic monarchs; he was the "Senior Monarch in (Catholic) Christendom" and the "secular arm of the Catholic Church".
Read more about Holy Roman Emperor: Title, Succession, List of Emperors, Coronation
Famous quotes containing the words holy, roman and/or emperor:
“And I said,
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And God was bored.
He turned on his side
like an opium eater
and slept.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The gale, it plies the saplings double,
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To-day the Roman and his trouble
Are ashes under Uricon.”
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“We have resolved to endure the unendurable and suffer what is unsufferable.”
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