I have suddenly become extremely interested in the holy roman empire. however...

>all memes
does anyone actually know anything about history here?

I'm currently reading through "The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History" by Peter Wilson.
It covers all the important aspects of it (kingship, political culture, religion, etc.) and it really takes it's time. It's not exactly an exciting read but it's still pretty interesting.

Sure, we just don't care to tell

The whole subject is pretty boring desu.

compared to what?

Hanseatic League is where it's at.

Compared to some more interesting stuff.

such as?

No, most people don't have a clue.

No, they just dislike the HRE because other people dislike it and so they feel compelled to dislike it as well.

>where do you begin with this incredible segment of western history?
Assuming you got your Charlemagne, I'd say start with Henry the Fowler. Henry was the first Saxon ruler of the former East Frankish empire, so here was the "cut" to set it apart.

Otto I - Friedrich II was the heyday of the Empire as an Empire. During this time the HRE ruled Christendom and with the death of Friedrich II the high medieval period ends. You don't know shit about the high medieval if you do not know about the HRE at the time.
This is the easy part

With the following interregnum and the coronation of the first Habsburg, Rudolf I as German-roman King (note King, not Emperor) the HRE becomes an umbrella state for various territories. The Italian states do their own thing, the Swiss start to rebel against Habsburg influence, and the Empire is not a real Empire anymore.

What gets fun now is the politics and social development that happens here, a "weak" King or emperor plus tons of quasi independent small kingdoms, duchies, republics, city states, merchant guilds, noble orders and so on. Everybody had turf & power and you can have a basic democratic tribal society next to a closed city state next to an absolute monarch. Watch how they play their game.
This is the hard part.

Then you got Reformation, 30 years war and the Peace of Westphalia. Important history if you want to understand todays world.
After that it is really just Germans being autistic and Napoleon ending the thing for good.

You start by playing CK2, then play eu4, then you go back to r///eddit

Childhood is believing Byzantine financially ruinous wars, fraticidal court intrigues, oversized bureaucracy and past-looking culture are awesome. Adulthood is realizing that the Holy Roman Empire with its descentralized political culture, traditional rights and liberties, burgeoning and dynamic imperial free cities, rich cultural and societal institutions was the greatest state of Europe during most of its existence, and it only disappeared because it was simply too good for an age of absolutism and tyrannical governments, but it should be always a model for how the European Union ought to work (instead of trying to emulate the Soviet Union).

If the Byzantine, the Ottoman and Russian Empires were the heirs to late Imperial Rome, its struggles and decadence, the Holy Roman Empire was heir to the glory days of the Republican Roman Senate, the heir to the liberty of freeborn men, the heir to its respect for the rule of law above the rule of petty tyrants and their armies.

It was the heir to what is actually good the Romans left to the world.

wtf man its cool to be average, dont ya like fun??? :D

thank you, this gives me some ground to get rolling.

I never realized how much recorded history there is surrounding the HRE, as well as how much exactly the romans wrote down before them. it feels like it would take a lifetime to understand the history of this part of europe.

French emperor

nice trip-dubs

No, I am just here for the memes that i pretend to understand
>holy
>Roman
>empire
Haha right guys?

Start with Charlemagne

un-ironically this

t. Frenchie w/ VD

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why is Karl Magnus considered a Holy Roman Emperor on wikipedia?
Karl was the Frankish King, who ruled over Francia/Frankreich, a Germanic kingdom that covered most of western Europe at the time
he was crowned "Emperor of the Romans" by the Pope when he dealt with the Lombards and included northern Italy in his realm

after his death, the realm fell apart to his many heirs
and we had wars until about 100 years later, Otto is made Emperor again
and it is THIS realm that becomes the Holy Roman Empire
they considered themselves the inheritors of Karl

is it just a technical thing? sort of like Augustus not having a royal title?

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It's everything you need to know

pic related ;)

>WE WUZ FRANKS N SHIET
typical French people
Charlemagne preferred to stay in Aachen, in Germany xD

>Deny actual scholarship and sources
>chimp out

typical homo germanicus