HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

The term "Holy Roman Empire" has been used to distinguish the Medieval German Empire from the Ancient Roman Empire and the Greek Roman (Byzantine) Empire in the East. The line of emperors in the Western provinces of the Roman Empire came to an end with the death of Romulus Augustulus in a.d. 476. An Eastern line of Roman emperors continued to rule in Greek Constantinople, and these emperors carried on the traditions of ancient Rome until the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. They called themselves "Roman," and they were Christian. Like the ancient Romans, they never called their empire "Holy." There was a long interregnum in the West from the death of Romulus Augustulus until Pope Leo III crowned Charles the Great (charle magne) emperor in Rome on Dec. 25, 800. Charles was the king of a Germanic tribe, the franks. Although his new title may have been Roman, his lordship, customs, and concepts of kingship were thoroughly Germanic. In Roman terms he was emperor in name only. The best example of the new empire's Germanic roots is its inheritance laws. Following Germanic customary law, Charles and his successors conceived of their realm as their private, not public, property. When they died, they divided it among their male heirs. They could not imagine that an empire or a kingdom should be an inalienable, unified territory. This practice led to political instability and civil war and, in a short time, a fragmented empire.

After Charlemagne revived the title of emperor in the West, the title "Holy Roman Empire" evolved slowly. Charles had styled himself simply "emperor." In 982 Emperor otto ii began to use the title "emperor Augustus of the Romans." The expansion of the title had political consequences. To validate their assumption of the title "Emperor of the Romans," the Ottonian emperors tried to extend their authority into Italy. They also created even more elevated titles for themselves. Otto III (983–1002) adopted Byzantine practices of calling himself "servant of Jesus Christ" and "servant of the apostles." This last title imitated the pope's "servant of the servants of God." Sacral kingship was a widespread notion in the early Middle Ages. Kings and emperors received the unction of consecrated oil at their coronations. It gave them a special liturgical and canonical status. No emperor could received major clerical orders, but he occupied a position above other laymen. The emperor was the Advocate and Defender of the Roman church (advocatus et defensor romanae ecclesiae ) and was also responsible for establishing the City of God on earth and ruling it as the Son of the Church (filius ecclesiae. ). The emperor was consequently the lord of Christendom, universal and omnicompetent, the terrestrial agent of the divine Emperor, God, to whom every faithful Christian (fidelis ) owed obedience and faith (fides ). It is not surprising then that the term "Holy Empire" was used in the letters of Emperor frederick barbarossa (ca. 1157) to describe the territory over which he ruled. If he were the divinely appointed ruler over all Christians, his realm could be justifiably described as holy. Finally, the entire title "Holy Roman Empire" was used for the first time in 1254. Ironically this title was not adopted until after the empire had begun its long decline in the later Middle Ages. When the eighteenth-century French philosopher Voltaire declared that the Holy Roman Empire was "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire" his epigram had more than a grain of historical truth.

Sacred imagery characterized the rhetoric of the Germanic empire and permeated the language of its documents. The chancellery of Frederick Barbarossa added "holy" to the title of his empire to signify that the empire was divinely ordained and worthy of sharing power and authority with the Roman Catholic Church in the Christian world. The emperor was God's representative on earth. Frederick also asserted that he was the "Lord of the world" (Dominus mundi ) and held a higher office than all other kings. From the early Middle Ages, the Church had been called the "Holy Roman Church." Its title indicated that it represented in the divine order. Kingdoms were not normally labeled "holy." The use of the term "Holy Empire" is an important signpost for understanding the most significant conflict between Church and State in the Middle Ages.

During the high Middle Ages the Germanic empire and the Roman Catholic Church both claimed universal authority over Christendom. Each represented a model of rulership that mirrored the heavenly monarchy. Each represented the unity of Christendom. In the period from 900 to 1250, the "Holy Empire" vied with the "Holy Roman Church" to be the embodiment of Christian universal authority. In the beginning the empire and the Church were not equals. From the time of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, until the middle of the eleventh century, the emperors exercised considerable authority and power over bishops and their clergy. The Germanic emperors who succeeded Charlemagne and other secular princes appointed bishops, abbots, and clergy to ecclesiastical offices. They employed bishops as officials in the imperial courts. Occasionally they even deposed popes and selected their successors. The eleventh century, however, marked a fundamental change in the relationship between the Church and the Empire. Reformers within and outside the Church began to realize that secular lay princes should not exercise authority in ecclesiastical affairs. Pope nicholas ii (1058–1061) promulgated a decree that forbade the emperor from participating in the election of the pope in 1059, and Pope gregory vii (1073–1085) issued several decrees that forbade the emperor and lay princes from investing bishops with the symbols of their offices. Gregory made Libertas ecclesiae, Freedom of the Church, a principle of canon law and a maxim of ecclesiastical rhetoric. Gregory VII attacked the emperor's sacral, almost clerical, status and his position as the head of Christendom. By forbidding the emperor's investiture of bishops Gregory undermined imperial control of bishops. A long series of events marked the bitter conflict between the Roman church and the Germanic empire. Gregory excommunicated and then deposed Emperor Henry IV (1056–1106) in an unprecedented action. Henry retaliated by supporting an anti-pope, Clement III (1080–1100) militarily. Emperor Henry V (1106–1125) finally acknowledged the autonomy of the Church in the Concordat of worms (September 1122), but that treaty with the papacy did not establish a completely independent Church. The empire was, however, considerably weakened. The emperor gave up his right to bestow the ring and episcopal staff (crozier) that were the symbols of spiritual authority in the Concordat. This was a significant step in recognizing the Church as a separate institution that was completely independent of imperial and lay control. The Concordat was binding only within the empire. It was a compromise that did not ultimately solve the problem of how the Church and the Empire would coexist in Christendom.

During the twelfth century the popes attempted to establish Libertas ecclesiae, which they interpreted as complete freedom from lay interference and control, as a fundamental principle of ecclesiastical government. The emperors, especially Frederick Barbarossa, refused to accept a Church that claimed superiority over them. Consequently, with the emperor's support there were many papal schisms within the Latin church. The emperors opposed papal claims of authority by supporting pro-imperial factions within the Church who elected anti-popes. These anti-popes recognized imperial prerogatives. The emperors ' ecclesiastical policies put enormous strain on the stability of the Church. The twelfth-century emperors supported ten anti-popes. These "popes" reigned for a total of 41 years. Pope Alexander III's (1059–1081) agreement with the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in 1177 brought this long line of "imperial anti-popes" to an end and began a short period of reconciliation between the pope and the empire.

Pope Innocent III's (1198–1216) policies posed a new challenge to the relationship of the Sacerdotium (Church) and Regnum (State) that had been established in the twelfth century. Innocent had a high and exalted view of papal power. He claimed that the pope "has his authority because he does not exercise the office of man, but of the true God on earth." He also compared imperial power to the moon and papal power to the sun. The dignity of the empire came from the light that it received from the sun. Innocent clearly wished to place the office of the pope above the emperor's. The most difficult task Innocent faced in his first years as pope was the struggle between Otto of Brunswick and Philip of Hohenstaufen for the office of the emperor after the death of the Emperor Henry VI (1190–1197). The German princes had divided their votes between these two candidates for the imperial throne. Innocent had moved quickly to assert his authority to choose between them. This was an unprecedented exercise of papal jurisdiction over an imperial election. He established the right of the pope to choose one of the candidates as emperor in a decretal letter, Venerabilem, which quickly became part of canon law of the Church. Innocent promulgated a number of decrees that in which he claimed papal authority over a number of secular matters. Papal claims of secular authority and power over the Papal States in Central Italy led to further conflicts with the Emperor frederick ii (1212–1250) during the thirteenth century. Innocent's successors, popes Gregory IX (1227–1241) and Innocent IV (1243–1254), carried on Innocent's campaign to establish the papacy as the highest tribunal of Christendom. Gregory and Innocent excommunicated Frederick II when he threatened papal authority and lordship in Italy. Finally Innocent IV convened a general council in the city of Lyon (1245). He summoned Frederick II to stand trial and charged Frederick with a variety of crimes. When the emperor refused to submit to the Council, Innocent excommunicated him and called upon the king of France to launch a crusade against him. Frederick died a few years later.

This last sorry spectacle was the final battle in the war to establish a single, universal authority in Christendom. The Holy Roman Church triumphed over the Holy Roman Empire. After the death of Frederick II and after the long interregnum that followed, the Holy Roman Empire was little more than one medieval kingdom among many. The interregnum was ended in 1273 by the election of Rudolph I of Hapsburg, and under his successors the Medieval Roman Empire grew even more limited in power and territory. The kings of the national monarchies adopted many imperial prerogatives formerly reserved for emperors. In the later Middle Ages some of these kings attempted to exercise lordship over the Church that had similarities to the authority claimed by the Germanic emperors before the Investiture Controversy. From 1438 the Holy Roman Empire came to be the virtual possession of the house of Hapsburg and so lingered on as a mere relic of its medieval greatness, until its final dissolution in 1806.

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[k. pennington]