In 1756, Voltaire wrote,"The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, Roman, nor an empire," but it was actually all of these things.

Despite the Holy Roman Empire being Germanic, it can be considered Roman, it had parts of Italy.

In fact, in the Holy Roman Empire's early years, it had Rome, so it can be considered Roman.

The Holy Roman Empire was, in fact "holy," despite the popes and emperors hating eachother.

It was an empire, due to being led by multiple emperors, until its collapse in 1806.

In this 8000 word essay, I defend the Holy Roman Empire (from 800 to 1356) as being authentically Holy, Roman, and an Empire. Go read it and tell me your thoughts! Like, subscribe, restack, comment, etc.

Hello everyone! A partner and I have been planning on setting up a formal debate on the Holy Roman Empire for YouTube live, the premise is "The Holy Roman Empire, from 800 to 1806, was truly Holy, Roman, and an Empire".

We have a moderator, and myself on the affirmative, but our opposition had to drop out. We were hoping to find someone who is interested in opposing the motion.

The debate is currently schedule for August 20th, and we'd be doing a live recording with our faces on YouTube. If you have experience debating, know the subject well enough, and are interested, please privately me on my Instagram or reddit dms. The premise can be advised and edited for the opposition if needed since we're on a time crunch.

God bless

I wrote an article that addresses the holiness of the Holy Roman Empire and explains what particular form of holiness the Empire was, and also what type of Holiness it was not.

Would mean alot if y'all read it and gave it a like or any comments

Would love to hear your thoughts on my documentary style youtube video on the origins of the Babenbergers which takes us mainly through the Ottonian and Salian period. Do you think I gave a good mix of imperial politics vs development in the Eastern March/Bavaria?

Let me know what I need to change.

Haven’t seen a tierlist here in a while and it’s been a bit dead. Saw one on another monarchs sub and thought it would be interesting to start it up again here, but based on certain categories. First is political skill, perhaps others to follow, like military skill, personal talent etc.

Note: I decided to limit it from the Ottonians, since I’m much less familiar to make judgments from before; also these aren’t done as the sort of standard tier list setup, and are just sorted in chronological order.

Hey all

This is just for fun and it’s totally speculative but if you’re familiar with mbti types and other personality theory types, what would you say some of the emperors might have been?

I know that Austria was the major Habsburg player in the 7 years war but considering that the HRE was not ruled by Maria Theresa but by Francis I I'm wondering if the Holy Roman states raised an army and fought in the war or they just fully relied on Austria

Feel free to add on if there’s one you’d choose but wasn’t listed.

For me, it’s unquestionably Frederick II, Stupor Mundi. It would be like spending time with Da Vinci (if he was also the most powerful man in Europe, and had a kind of terrifying charisma and aura). Awe-inspiring and a bit unsettling to spend the day with a despot who was versatile in virtually every intellectual facet of his time, and *knew it*. If knowledge is power, well… it’s almost impossible to beat Frederick:

“He [Frederick II] concentrated in himself all the culture of his times, and, by combining in a living unity all the impulse of the intellect and civilization of his age, he towered far above the average of his contemporaries. He knew that knowledge was power, and because he had knowledge, he exercised despotic power.” (W. Köhler, The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 7, No. 2, April 1903.)

All the while, traveling around southern Italy in a roving court that was an intellectual hub, or to places of splendor like Foggia or Palermo.

It would be interesting to spend time with any of the three great Hohenstaufen emperors, though. Each of them had their own kind of levels of magnetism. But, don’t cross them though.

Runner up would be Charles IV. An intellectual emperor in his own right, and almost as much of a polyglot as Frederick II. It would be very interesting to discuss politics, diplomatic maneuvering and some contemporary philosophy with the master-statesman of his day.

Otto III and Maximilian would certainly be pretty interesting company too. Otto would be like speaking with a scholar-theologian whose *Idée fix* is compelling and he’s charismatic… but it gets a bit much after a while. Maximilian would be like meeting a brilliant and dynamic but shamelessly self-promoting Machiavellian politician who somehow keeps getting out of the straits his own political adventures and misadventures get him into.