Middle Ages
Holy Roman Empire
- Period
- AD 922 – AD 1806
- Duration
- approx. 884 years
- Greatest extent
- around AD 1453
- Area (max.)
- approx. 1.2 million km²
Profile
Strength
No single army: princes supplied troops and power depended on alliances; mercenary armies (Landsknechte) in the 16th century.
Famous figures
- Otto the Great
- Frederick I Barbarossa
- Frederick II
- Charles V
- Maximilian I
Wars & battles won
- Battle of the Lechfeld (955)
- Battle of Mühlberg (1547)
Wars & battles lost
- Battle of Legnano (1176)
- Battle of Bouvines (1214)
- Thirty Years' War: imperial power declines (1648)
- Dissolved after Austerlitz (1806)
Languages
- German
- Latin
- Czech
Period and duration
Holy Roman Empire — according to the map data from AD 922 to AD 1806, roughly 884 years. The dates refer to the time the empire is drawn as its own territory on the world map; historians sometimes date its founding and end differently.
Greatest extent
Holy Roman Empire — greatest extent around AD 1453: the mapped borders then cover about 1.2 million km², roughly 0.8% of Earth's land area. The area is calculated from the border lines of the map and is therefore an approximation.
Predecessors and successors
States that ruled the same territory directly before and after:
Before (AD 921)
- Kingdom of Germany
- Principality of Hungary
- Carolingian Empire
After
- Austrian Empire
- First French Empire
Neighbours around AD 1453
The largest states in the region at the same time:
Learn more
- Open the world map in AD 1453 — tap the empire for a detailed description
- Holy Roman Empire on Wikipedia
- All 371 empires at a glance
Borders and dates: Cliopatria / Seshat Global History Databank (CC BY 4.0). Coastlines: Natural Earth. Text: Centaurian.