Holy Roman Empire

:This page is about the Germanic empire. For the ancient empire centred on Rome, see Roman Empire.

Names and designations of the empire

The name of the Empire in different languages: German: Heiliges Römisches Reich {{Audio|De-Heiliges_Römisches_Reich-pronunciation.ogg|listen}} (later: Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation); Italian: Sacro Romano Impero; Latin: Sacrum Romanum Imperium; Czech: Svatá ?í?e ?ímská (later: Svatá ?í?e ?ímská národa n?meckého); French: Saint Empire Romain Germanique; Polish: ?wi?te Cesarstwo Rzymskie Narodu Niemieckiego ; Dutch: Heilige Roomse Rijk; Slovene: Sveto rimsko cesarstvo; Serbian: Sveto rimsko carstvo nema?ke narodnosti; Hungarian: Német-Római Császárság;

Related Topics:
German - Italian - Latin - Czech - French - Polish - Dutch - Slovene - Serbian - Hungarian

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Contemporary terminology for the Empire varied greatly over the centuries. The term Roman Empire was used in 1034 to denote the lands under Conrad II, and Holy Empire in 1157. The use of the term Roman Emperor to refer to Northern European rulers started earlier with Otto II (Emperor 973–983). Emperors from Charlemagne (c. 742 or 747 ? 814) to Otto I the Great (Emperor 962–973) had simply used the phrase Imperator Augustus ("August Emperor"). The precise term Holy Roman Empire dates from 1254; the final version Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (German Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation) appears in 1512, after several variations in the late 15th century.

Related Topics:
1034 - Conrad II - 1157 - Northern Europe - Otto II - Charlemagne - Otto I the Great - Imperator - 1254 - German - 1512 - 15th century

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Contemporaries did not quite know how to describe this entity either. In his famous 1667 description De statu imperii Germanici, published under the alias Severinus de Monzambano, Samuel Pufendorf wrote: "Nihil ergo aliud restat, quam ut dicamus Germaniam esse irregulare aliquod corpus et monstro simile ..." ("We are therefore left with calling Germany a body that conforms to no rule and resembles a monster"). Voltaire later described it as "neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire".

Related Topics:
1667 - Samuel Pufendorf - Voltaire

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In Faust I, in a scene written in 1775, the German author Goethe has one of the drinkers in Auerbach's Cellar in Leipzig ask "Our Holy Roman Empire, lads, What holds it still together?" Goethe also has a longer, not very favourable essay about his personal experiences as a trainee at the Reichskammergericht in his autobiographical work Dichtung und Wahrheit.

Related Topics:
Faust - 1775 - Goethe - Leipzig - Reichskammergericht - Dichtung und Wahrheit

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