Contemporary historians have tended to lose interest in the Holy Roman Empire after the death in 1250 of Frederick II, the powerful and charismatic emperor who challenged the authority of the Pope.

The birth of the Holy Roman Empire—and the unlikely king who ruled it The fall of Rome led to chaos in Western Europe. Enter Carolus Magnus, more commonly known as Charlemagne, who sought to ...

Germany is today a first-rank power: rich, strong, and efficiently governed. But just over 200 years ago, most of its current territory was a shambolic mess — part of the Holy Roman Empire ...

The Holy Roman Empire, it was famously put (by Voltaire, I think), was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire. Likewise, the First Amendment "actual malice" test isn't actually about malice, but ...

The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire put together by Charlemagne a few hundred years after the Roman Empire gasped its last breath. It was made up of bits and pieces of modern day Germany and ...

Germany: Memories of a Nation is on at British Museum until 25 January. Tickets for adults are £10, concessions available.

The empire scarcely seems worthy of discussion today. If it has any resonance at all, it is usually thanks to Voltaire’s quip that it was “neither holy, Roman nor an empire”.

In his new book The Silver Empire: how Germany created its first common currency, which forms the basis of this event, Oliver Volckart analyses why the vast majority of the approximate 300 members of ...