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, holy, roman and/or emperor:
“Ce corps qui s’appelait et qui s’appelle encore le saint empire romain n’était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire. This agglomeration which called itself and still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear
What man has borne before!
Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
And they complain no more.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“Uprises there
A mother’s form upon my ken,
Guiding my infant steps, as when
We walked that ancient, thoroughfare,
The Roman Road.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“Such is the caprice of Romans ... who reject kings in name but not in practice, and accept an Emperor mightier than a hundred kings.”
—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)