The Holy Roman Empire

World History I

The Holy Roman Church

The Catholic Church reigned over all of Europe

The Church gained more and more power over the people

Pope Innocent III claimed to have broad power over the king

Kings and members of the clergy were fighting for supreme power over European countries

What is the Holy Roman Empire?

Charlemagne’s empire broke into small states

Otto I took the title of King of Germany

He worked closely with the church

A pope crowned Otto as “emperor”

His successors took the title “Holy Roman Emperor”

“Holy” = appointed by the pope

“Roman” = heirs to the Roman Empire

Popes vs. Emperors Pope Gregory VII

One of the greatest yet most controversial popes

He wanted to make the church independent of secular rulers

Banned lay invesititure

Emperor Henry IV

Holy Roman Emperor

Argued that the emperor was the bishop’s overlord

Concordat of Worms

Henry was excommunicated and the struggle for power got bigger and bigger

In 1122 both the pope and the emperor accepted the treaty

The Struggle for Italy Frederick I

Also known as Frederick Barbarossa

Means “Red Beard”

He wanted to bring Germany and Italy back together

Frederick II Arrogant and fearless

Pursued all of his ambitions in Italy

Clashed with popes

Effects on Germany Germans became independent

German was not united into different feudal states

Effects on Italy Local uprisings to fight against greedy

emperors

Italy was left in ruins

The Powerful Church

After defeating the Holy Roman Emperors, the church gained more power

The Pope claimed to be “between God and man”

Pope Innocent III clashed with all other rulers

Placed all of England under interdict

Excommunicated Frederick II of France

Launched the Albigensian Crusades

The French wanted to purify the Church