A better story of the Holy Roman Empire

 

Most high school history books say that the Holy Roman Empire was formed by Charlemagne, then quickly quip that it was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire--End of Story.  That’s half-baked.  Here’s the real story.  Charlemagne established it from a dominant Frank kingdom he inherited in 768, an empire that stretched from France to Denmark, Austria and central Italy.  As he was worshipping in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Christmas Day, 800, he was crowned by Pope Leo III as successor to the Caesars—a new Holy Roman Emperor. But upon Charlemagne’s death in 814 his kingdom was partitioned again and again until it became 5 kingdoms by 888. It was a very short-lived empire.

            955 AD.  Pope John XII was one of the worst of the Dark Ages popes.  Otto I was a rising power in the kingdom of Germany.  Otto was greatly alarmed by the moral degradation of the papacy. Immoral popes were seated and deposed at the whim of Italian rulers and corrupt Cardinals. Many ended up in prison or assassinated.  But Otto was a wise king who made useful alliances with his neighbors, granted lands to the German church, and made it a national institution.  Despite all the tough life of the Dark Ages, the Christian faith held the people together, rich or poor.  Otto conquered the Wends, a western Slavic tribe and made them Christians somewhat by point of sword, but they then became model citizens to his delight.  In Italy, the queen Adelaide had been imprisoned wrongfully by a usurping king Berengar.  Otto marched on Italy, rescued Adelaide, and married her.  Soon after, Pope John XII enlisted Berengar to help defend himself against Otto’s criticism of his papacy.  Otto marched into Rome at the head of a massive army, deposed Berengar, and took control of Italy.  He brought Pope John to trial on charges of bribery, adultery, incest, and turning the palace into a brothel. The ecclesiastical court convicted John and replaced him with a successor that Otto chose.  The new pope, Leo VIII, was a faithful layman, unaccredited but sincere in his faith.  From this point on, the papacy would answer to Holy Roman Emperors who ruled Italy, Austria and Germany—a smaller land than Charlemagne’s original empire.  Thus began an earlier Reformation that lasted a couple hundred years. The papacy was reformed somewhat. The emperors were elected by leaders of 7 nations of the kingdom. One of the leaders was the Saxon Duke who originally ruled lands from the North Sea coast (original homeland) to the Carpathian mountains.  Later the Saxon Duke lost his lands along the North Sea, leaving the duchy as lesser landholdings of the southern 1/3 of what was once to call East Germany.  Here is where Martin Luther was born in 1483, under the rule of the Duke of Saxony, in the Holy Roman Empire.