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of the empire, making it the Holy Roman Empire, the name by which it was
thereafter known.
The medieval period of the Empire was dominated by a series of internal struggles
with the powerful German nobility, by struggles with the Italian communes, and
above all, by the great struggle with the Papacy. Notable figures in that contest
include Henry IV, whose famous submission to Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand) at
Canossa was subsequently reversed by Gregory's exile, and the aforementioned
Frederick I, whose defeat at Legnano led to his submission to Alexander III. The
important point here is that the Empire and the Papacy, both competing for secular
and religious power over all Christendom without the means to enforce it,
essentially destroyed each other’s credibility. This was not helped by a fairly
consistent policy of Emperors to neglect the basis of their power in Germany to
grasp at its shadow in Italy - because in order for a German king to become an
Emperor, he had to go to Italy and be crowned by the pope. This worked much to
the advantage of the nationalistic monarchies of France, England and Spain.
The climax was reached with the reign of Friedrich II (1215-
1250), Barbarossa's grandson, who while being an
individual of singular gifts nonetheless attempted to run an
Italian-German Empire from Sicily, but had come to the
throne against his rival Otto IV largely as a consequence of
the victory of King Philip II of France against the armies of
King John of England and Otto at Bouvines. His reign had
some impressive successes (he managed to get
excommunicated for leading a crusade which restored the
"holy places" to Christian pilgrims without anyone getting
killed), but failed to establish a secure power base and got his line targeted by both
the French and the Papacy, insofar as the difference mattered at that point. After
his death and those of his sons, the name of Holy Roman Emperor was an empty
title sought and won by adventurers. After this period, the Interregnum, or in the
words of a German poet, "die kaiserlose, die schreckliche Zeit" (the emperor-less,
terrible time"), the Empire recovered somewhat and for a time its great’s allotted
the crown to the houses of Habsburg, Luxemburg and Wittelsbach by Rota.
Despite its name, the empire had many traits of a confederation, with the German
King (Emperor-elect) being elected by the most powerful regional lords, although it
was only through the Golden Bull of 1356 that it was settled in a legally binding way
who had the right to elect a king. From 1356 there were seven prince electors: the
archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Trier, the king of Bohemia, the margraves of
Brandenburg and Meissen (Saxony), and the Count Palatine on the Rhine
(Pfalzgraf bei Rhein). This more or less set the tone, but there were several changes
The Hohenstaufen Dynasty - Page 20 of 200