The Holy Roman Empire

• Holy Roman Empire

  Loose association of 314 states established in the early medieval period
• Holy Roman Empire

  • Technically ruled by the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, monarch of the Empire's most powerful state Austria
  • Unelected assembly of the states' representatives, called the Imperial Diet, had limited power to impose laws
  • Most of the larger states were ruled by absolutist monarchs who jealously guarded their independence, known as princely particularism
  • Collective action by the states of the empire was difficult even in the event of a crisis
  • Had no permanent army, civil service, or unified system of taxation
  • Trade barriers in the form of customs & tolls divided states economically
  • Size made communication difficult
  • People included French, Polish, Danish, Czech & 22 million German speakers
• Northern Protestant states fought the Thirty Years War against the Catholic Southern states fuelling cultural division


  17th Century
• The Holy Roman Empire was a loose association of 314 states established in the early medieval period