Holy Roman Empire

noun

1. a Germanic empire located chiefly in central Europe that began with the coronation of Charlemagne as Roman emperor in a.d. 800 (or, according to some historians, with the coronation of Otto the Great, king of Germany, in a.d. 962) and ended with the renunciation of the Roman imperial title by Francis II in 1806, and was regarded theoretically as the continuation of the Western Empire and as the temporal form of a universal dominion whose spiritual head was the pope.

Holy Roman Empire

noun

1. the complex of European territories under the rule of the Frankish or German king who bore the title of Roman emperor, beginning with the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 ad . The last emperor, Francis II, relinquished his crown in 1806

Holy Roman Empire

1. A major political institution in Europe that lasted from the ninth to the nineteenth centuries. It was loosely organized and modeled somewhat on the ancient Roman Empire . It included great amounts of territory in the central and western parts of Europe. Charlemagne was its first emperor. In later years, the emperors were Germans and Austrians. The empire declined greatly in power after the sixteenth century.

Notes

The eighteenth-century French author Voltaire once wrote that the Holy Roman Empire was “neither holy, Roman, nor an empire.”

Example Sentences

Still, subreddit moderators are free to block and unblock whatever they wish (remember, Holy Roman Empire).

From The Daily Beast

The Holy Roman Empire possessed only the trappings and the shadow of power; the reality belonged to the burghers of the towns.

From Project Gutenberg

And these were feebly combined into the phantasm known as the Holy Roman Empire.

From Project Gutenberg

The town clerk was perfectly aware that the Holy Roman Empire had come to an end, pro tem.

From Project Gutenberg

In the Holy Roman Empire, the son of the emperor did not necessarily succeed his father as ruler.

From Project Gutenberg

Its barrenness was formerly much exaggerated, when it was popularly described as the “sandbox of the Holy Roman Empire.”

From Project Gutenberg