Overview
The German imperial line on these bookmarks is three 867 Carolingian kingdoms and two later imperial seats. Louis the German holds East Francia. Lothair II holds Lotharingia. Louis II holds Italy and the imperial title. Patch 1.20.1.2 rates each of those three seats Medium. Henry IV of the Salian dynasty holds the Holy Roman Empire in 1066. Frederick Barbarossa of the Hohenstaufen dynasty holds it in 1178.
None of these emperors is a Habsburg. The Habsburg castle house is a later claimant to the same throne. The imperial cards here are Karling, Salian, and Hohenstaufen.
Starts
867
Three Karling kings divide the old middle of the empire. Louis the German holds East Francia, and his sons are the succession problem. Lothair II holds Lotharingia and is trying to divorce Teutberga so an heir can be legitimized. He died in 869 without that heir. Louis II holds Italy. The imperial title is stronger on paper than in the field. He died in 875.
| Seat | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start | 867 |
| Bookmark | The Carolingians |
| Title | East Francia |
| Realm size | 106 counties |
| Status | Independent |
| Difficulty | Medium, the bookmark rating in patch 1.20.1.2 |
| Culture | Franconian |
| Faith | Chalcedonianism |
| Dynasty | Karling |
| Age | 61 |
| Seat | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start | 867 |
| Bookmark | The Carolingians |
| Title | Lotharingia |
| Realm size | 50 counties |
| Status | Independent |
| Difficulty | Medium, the bookmark rating in patch 1.20.1.2 |
| Culture | French |
| Faith | Chalcedonianism |
| Dynasty | Karling |
| Age | 31 |
| Seat | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start | 867 |
| Bookmark | The Carolingians |
| Title | Italy |
| Realm size | 53 counties |
| Status | Independent |
| Difficulty | Medium, the bookmark rating in patch 1.20.1.2 |
| Culture | French |
| Faith | Chalcedonianism |
| Dynasty | Karling |
| Age | 32 on the bookmark |
1066
Henry IV of the Salian dynasty is the young ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Canossa was in 1077. He was crowned emperor in 1084. The reign that follows the bookmark is the Investiture Controversy.
| Seat | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start | 1066 |
| Title | Holy Roman Empire |
| Realm size | 232 counties |
| Status | Independent |
| Culture | Franconian |
| Faith | Catholicism |
| Dynasty | Salian |
1178
Frederick Barbarossa of the Hohenstaufen dynasty is Holy Roman Emperor. Legnano was in 1176. He drowned on crusade in 1190. The dynasty row on his card is Hohenstaufen.
| Seat | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start | 1178 |
| Title | Holy Roman Empire |
| Realm size | 197 counties |
| Status | Independent |
| Faith | Catholicism |
| Dynasty | Hohenstaufen |
Later impact
Lothair II's death in 869 left Lotharingia to be divided by his uncles' sons. Louis II's death in 875 let Charles the Bald, the West Frankish king, take the imperial title. East Francia passed to Louis the German's sons and, in the next century, to the Saxon Ottonians. Otto I's imperial coronation in 962 is the empire Henry IV inherits as a boy in 1066.
Henry's wars with Pope Gregory VII and with the German princes set the contest between throne and church that later emperors still meet. The Salian line ends with Henry V in 1125. The Hohenstaufen emperors follow. Barbarossa's 1178 seat is late in that run: Italy has already beaten him at Legnano, and the Third Crusade will kill him in 1190.
After the Hohenstaufen collapse the throne goes through the Great Interregnum. Rudolf of Habsburg's election in 1273 is the next dynasty to wear it for long. That turn belongs to the Habsburg page. The seats on this page are the empire before that election.
Historical links
- Ludwig the German · 867 · East Francia
- Lothaire II · 867 · Lotharingia
- Louis II of Italy · 867 · Italy
- Henry IV · 1066 · Holy Roman Empire
- Frederick Barbarossa · 1178 · Holy Roman Empire
- Habsburg dynasty
- France
- Byzantine Empire
- The Papacy
- By God Alone: puppets, cardinals, and the Investiture Controversy
- Silk and Silver: Guelphs and Ghibellines
- Restore Rome as a hegemony
- CK3 to EU5 converter, and the EU4 HRE option
All realms · empire · 867 · 1066 · 1178