²⁵ As time passed, the successors of Charlemagne proved to be ineffectual rulers. The office of the emperor even lay vacant for a time. Meanwhile, German King Otto I had gained control of much of northern and central Italy. He proclaimed himself king of Italy. On February 2, 962 C.E., Pope John XII crowned Otto I emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was in Germany, and the emperors were Germans, as were most of their subjects. Five centuries later the Austrian house of Hapsburg obtained the title of “emperor” and held it for most of the remaining years of the Holy Roman Empire.

THE TWO KINGS AGAIN IN CLEAR FOCUS

26. (a) What can be said about the end of the Holy Roman Empire? (b) Who emerged as the king of the north?

²⁶ Napoléon I delivered a deathblow to the Holy Roman Empire when he refused to recognize its existence following his victories in Germany during the year 1805. Unable to defend the crown, Emperor Francis II resigned from Roman imperial status on August 6, 1806, and withdrew to his national government as emperor of Austria. After 1,006 years, the Holy Roman Empire—founded by Leo III, a Roman Catholic pope, and Charlemagne, a Frankish king—came to an end. In 1870, Rome became the capital of the kingdom of Italy, independent of the Vatican. The following year, a Germanic empire began with Wilhelm I being named caesar, or kaiser. Thus the modern-day king of the north—Germany—was on the world scene.

[Pictures on page 245]

1. Charlemagne 2. Napoléon I 3. Wilhelm I 4. German soldiers, World War I