The Holy Roman Empire A.D. 962 - 1806 Mrs. Tucker 7th Grade World History/Honors Cobalt Institute of Math and Science

Holy Roman Empire A.D. 962 - 1806 The raids by Muslims, Magyars, Vikings helped to destroy the Frankish kingdoms. In the 900s A.D., the eastern Frankish kingdom became known as Germany, and was divided into many tiny states ruled by counts, dukes, and other nobles. In A.D. 911, a group of these nobles sought to unite Germany by electing a king. The king did not have much power because the nobles wanted to remain independent. One of the stronger kings of Germany was Otto I. He fought the Magyars and sent troops into Italy to protect the pope. To reward Otto for his help, the pope declared him Emperor of the Romans in A.D. 962. Otto’s territory, which included most of Germany and northern Italy, became known as the Holy Roman Empire. Most of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were not very powerful. Two of the strongest ones, Frederick I and Frederick II, tried to unite Northern Italy and Germany under a single ruler with a strong central government in the 1100s and 1200s. The popes fought against these plans because they did not want the emperor to control them. They banded together with Italy’s cities to resist the emperor’s forces. As a result, both Italy and Germany remained divided into small kingdoms until the 1800s.