a quick question about the Holy "Roman" Empire

[Xen]

oh yes, the "Roman" empire of the kingdom of Germany- usually a subject i dont give much thought to, but, latelly I have been lookign at it (for a a game set up I'm doing) and there is a question I need answered...

on all the maps, a capital for the HRE is never shown- my question is, what was the capital for the Holy "Roman" empire at 1000 CE/AD?

 

[pawpaw]

on all the maps, a capital for the HRE is never shown- my question is, what was the capital for the Holy "Roman" empire at 1000 CE/AD?

thats because there wasn't one

 

[bombshoo]

It would alternate, usally wherever the Emporer was from I think.

 

[Pangur Bán]

There were no capitals for medieval (Latin) Christian kingdoms as such, esp. for kingdoms the size of Germany, where the monarch had to be itinerant. The "capital" is a modern concept, although strong, highly centralized monarchies like Visigothic Spain, the Caliphates, the early Roman Empire and the "Byzantine" Empire had the infrastructures and state cultures to make what we would call a "capital" possible. But wherever feudal ties have been more important than bureacratic infrastructures, then "capitals" have been irrelevant.There were, though, ancient coronation centers, congregation points, dynastic strongholds and palaces. For the typical Holy Roman Emperor, he'd be crowned as king of the Germans/East Franks at Aachen, King of Italy/the Lombards at Pavia, King of Burgundy at Arles, and king of the Romans at Rome. (Likewise, Kiev in Russia, Toledo in Spain, Rheims in France, Scone in Scotland, Tara in Ireland, etc ). Congregation points for the German princes and High Clergy included Worms, Constance, Augsburg and Regensburg among other places. Locations of a palace or stronghold varied according to ruler or dynasty. For the Otto III, if I remember correctly, brought up by a Byzantine princess, his residence was mainly in Rome...although his dynastic power-base was in Saxony. Otto III though, was a peculiar example of a German king who ruled at a time when his realm enjoyed a greater deal of centralization than probably any other Latin monarchy. He had tried to make Rome his "capital", but died tragically young.

Compare with the rulers of High medieval England. They spent most of their time in France, where, like the German kings in Italy, they had more important interests...which is why Rouen was more important to them than London or York.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Contemporary terminology for the Empire varied greatly over the centuries. The term Roman Empire was used in 1034 to denote the lands under Conrad II, and Holy Empire in 1157. The use of the term Roman Emperor to refer to Northern European rulers started earlier with Otto II (Emperor 973–983). Emperors from Charlemagne (died 814) to Otto I the Great (Emperor 962–973) had simply used the phrase Imperator Augustus ("August Emperor"). The precise term Holy Roman Empire dates from 1254; the full expression Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (German Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation) appears in 1512, after several variations in the late 15th century.

In 1000 AD there was no capital city for the Empire. There was no system of bureaucrats to run the local principalities, so the king traveled from estate to estate to administer the government.

 

[Xen]

well damnation.

okay, let me refrase the question; dose any oen know who the empror during the yea rin question was, and where his power center would have been, a city, or even just the name of the duchy/march/princiality/whateve rlittle feudal subdivison you might call it was?

 

[Vasileius]

Otto III 983-1002
Heinrich II 1002-1024
Konrad I (Conrad II) 1024–1039
Heinrich III (Henry III) 1039–1056
Heinrich III (Henry IV) 1056–1106
Heinrich V (Henry V) 1106–1125
Lothair II 1125–1137
Konrad III (Conrad III) 1138–1152
Friedrich I (Frederick I), Barbarossa 1152–1190 ** (My suggestion)

As for the capital ... You can choose between :
Cologne (the biggest city)
Worms
Bamberg
Marburg
Spreyer (Henry IV)
Magdeburg (Barbarossa's base)

 

[Adler17]

Or you could take Frederic II. Barbarossa´s grand son, who lived mainly in Italy (Padua IIRC). He was one of the greatest German emperors.

Adler

 

[pawpaw]

well damnation.

okay, let me refrase the question; dose any one know who the empror during the year in question was, and where his power center would have been, a city, or even just the name of the duchy/march/princiality/whateve tittle feudal subdivison you might call it was?

heinrich II 1002-1024 was of the saxony line

 

[Xen]

I'll go with the Saxony, or nay other firmlly germinic based line- italy is out of the question due to the nature of the secenario...

I suppose what info would be best is what area of the HRE sported both a palace/major castle of residence in city, as well as had a goodlly number of HRE kings assumign title from it...

 

[Johann MacLeod]

if its for a scenario i ussually make the HRE's capital Munich as its fairly Central, and was an important city.

 

[Xen]

its not a civ scenario... heres a link

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=95633

not all the rules are posted for it, i have quite figured out the story line/ history behind all of it yet, but I'll get there, and try to make it as realistic as possible

 

[Gagliaudo]

As for the capital ... You can choose between :
Cologne (the biggest city) ; Worms ; Bamberg ;Marburg ; Spreyer (Henry IV)
Magdeburg (Barbarossa's base)

I'm agrree with you about the importance of some of these cities... but I'd say - as capital (there wasn't a unique capital in the Empire, and emperor walk around... ) : Aachen/Aquisgrana, Frankfurt, Mainz, Worms, Speyer, Trier, Augsburg. Absolutely Magdeburg wasn't Barbarossa's base; if you want, you could consider other Hohenstaufen's cities (in Schwabl/Schwabia): Staufen, Weibling, Ulm, Regensburg, Nuernberg...

Or you could take Frederic II. Barbarossa´s grand son, who lived mainly in Italy (Padua IIRC). He was one of the greatest German emperors.

I think most important emperors were: Otto I & III, Heinrich IV (struggling against Pope Gregorius VII and countess Matilde of Canossa), Friedrich I Barbarossa, Heinrich VI (but only few years 1190-1197), Friedrich II (ca1220-1250, who loved Sicily - Palermo for example - and south Italy, not Padova)

if its for a scenario i ussually make the HRE's capital Munich as its fairly Central, and was an important city.

Be careful, man: Muenchen/Munich was founded in about AD 1150... by a great enemy of emperor Barbarossa, Heinrich "the Lion" duke of Saxony-Bayern/Bavaria...
Frankfurt is quite central (a bit western...) and could be correct as 'capital'