Due to school history being shit I know next to nothing about the Holy Roman Meme except for hurr hurr germany hurr

Due to school history being shit I know next to nothing about the Holy Roman Meme except for hurr hurr germany hurr.

What are good Veeky Forums books to read to actually understand what the fuck it was?

Speak german?

I can read German yeah.
(completely awful at speaking it tho)

It was basically just Medieval Germany. Charlemagne met with the Pope and the Pope was like "Surprise, you're the new Roman Emperor now!"

>just Medieval Germany.
Plus Bohemia, Moravia, Italy, Dalmatia, Croatia, parts of Poland, the Netherlands and Burgundy.

Pic related it probably the easiest intro for the

>Holy
>Roman
>Empire

Charelmagne's Empire wasn't the Holy Roman Empire.

>easiest
not really, it is good book, but it is far from easy.

Why was he holy roman emperor then?

All of central and western Europe (sans iberia/brtish isles) is rightful German clay, as well as a large chunk of ukraine

>All of central and western Europe (sans iberia/brtish isles)
>All of central and western Europe (sans west)
Why don´t you just say Central Europe plus France?

the first real holy roman emperor was Otto I

No, Otto is seen as founder of the HRE, but the title and inistution of Holy Roman Emperor predates the country by around 160 years.
Charlemagne's title was "Karolus serenissimus Augustus a Deo coronatus magnus pacificus imperator Romanum gubernans imperium". After him about a dozen guys where Holy Roman Emperor. Otto was just the first one that managed to found a 'stable' political entity.

His Thirty Years War book apparently goes into how the damn thing worked too.

>actually understand what the fuck it was?
No such thing. pick a part of it like a time period, a geographic region or a social class, and try to understand that. The whole of the HRE is too complicated to really understand.

Which one Wilson has like 5 books about the HRE?

You're both right. Charlemagne was the first official emperor but he didn't really care about the title and it pretty much fell into disuse afterwards, most Germans wouldn't have recognized that they were living in a holy roman empire. Otto was the one to revive the title, center it around the Germany kingdom as a political unit, and give the position a lasting importance.

>Fr*nce

>to actually understand what the fuck it was?

It was a Wicked German Confederation that was denounced by Voltaire and destroyed by Napoleon
That's all you need to know

Charlemagne had nothing to do with the HRE, cretin
Charlemagne was emperor of the Frankish Empire

The HRE was created in 962 by Otto I with what was the Eastern (and shittiest) half of Charlemagne's former empire

Otto didn't create anything in 962, he just was crowned Holy Roman Emperor that year. Like many guys before him.

>le Voltaire maymay

You Bonacucks are the worst thing about Veeky Forums

>Charlemagne had nothing to do with the HRE, cretin
Lol nationalistic history is truly superior