ROMAN EMPIRE.) By his coronation Italy and Germany became associated for long centuries to come. The results were in some ways disastrous to both countries, but at the time Otho, as Emperor, was the great power in Western Europe. In order to strengthen his position, he negotiated a marriage for his son with the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor. Otho II. (973-83) died at the age of twenty-eight, and left an heir of three, Otho III. (983-1002). In consequence of the extent to which the Imperial power was enlisted in the affairs of Italy at this time, weakness and disunion were bred in Germany. Henry II. (1002-24) left Italy to itself for some years, and devoted his reign to strengthening the power of the King of Germany. He reformed the Church, and employed its officials in the service of the State. He repressed private wars, and won the support of the nobles by giving them greater privileges. He was the last King of the Saxon House.
Conrad the Franconian, or Salic (1024-39), was an able ruler, who added the dominions of the Arletan realm (see BURGUNDY) to the Em pire. His son and successor, Henry III. (1039 56), extended the boundaries of Germany on the side of Hungary, repressed the insolence and despotism of the temporal and spiritual princes of Germany, and gained the respect of his con temporaries by his zeal for justice and his valor in the field. The minority of his son and suc cessor, Henry IV. (1056-1106), enabled the nobles to recover much of their former power, and to apply a check to the further consolidation of the Imperial authority, which had been consid erably extended during the two preceding reigns. Henry's constant quarrels with Pope Gregory VII. entangled him in difficulties and mortifi cation which ended only with his life, and which plunged Germany into anarchy and dis order. (See INVESTITURE.) With his son and successor, Henry V. (1106-25), the male line of the Franconian Dynasty became extinct, and after the crown had been worn (1125-37) by Lothair of Saxony, Conrad III., Duke of Fran conia, inaugurated the Hohenstaufen Dynasty. His reign (1138-52), in which the civil wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines (q.v.) began, was dis tracted by the dissensions of the great feudatories of the Empire, while the strength of Germany was wasted in the disastrous Second Crusade, in which Conrad took an active part. Frederick I. (1152-90), surnamed Barbarossa, Duke of Swa bia, was, at the recommendation of his uncle, Conrad, chosen his successor, and the splendor of his reign fully warranted the selection. By the force of his character Frederick acquired an influence over the diets which had not been pos sessed by any of his immediate predecessors, and during his reign many important changes were effected in the mutual relations of the great duchies and principalities of Germany, while we now for the first time hear of the hereditary right possessed by certain princes to exercise the privilege of electing the Emperor. (See ELEC TORS, GERMAN IMPERIAL.) Unfortunately for Germany, this great monarch suffered his desire to uphold the Imperial authority in Italy to draw him away from the interests of his own country, while his participation in the Cru sades. in which both he and the flower of his chivalry perished, was memorable only for the misfortunes which it entailed on the Empire. The interval between the death of Frederick Barbarossa (1190) and the accession of Rudolph 1. (1273), the first Emperor of the Hapsburg line, was one of constant struggle, internal dis sension, and foreign wars. Individually the princes of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty were popu lar monarchs, distinguished for their many noble and chivalrous qualities, while one of the race, Frederick II., was, after Charles the Great, per haps the most remarkable sovereign of the Mid dle Ages; but their ambitious designs on Italy, and their constant but futile struggles with the Papal power, were a source of misery to Ger many. The territory in which the Holy Roman Emperors of the time of Hohenstaufen exercised their sway, or their overlordship, reached on the west to the rivers Rhone, Saone, Meuse, and Scheldt (thus embracing a large strip of modern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands), and ex tended on the east to the borders of Hungary and Poland, including most of what is now Cis leithan Austria, exclusive of Galicia. On the
north it extended as far as the Eider, and in the south nominal limits of the Empire reached down into Italy beyond Rome. Henry VI. (1190-97), son of Frederick Barbarossa, attempted to make the Imperial dignity hereditary in his family. After his death Philip of Swabia (1198-1208) and Otho IV. of Brunswick contended for the Imperial throne, the latter being recognized on the assassination of his rival by Otho of Wittels bach. With Frederick II. (1215-50), the suc cessor of Otho IV., ended the glory of the Em pire, till it was partially revived by the House of Hapsburg. Frederick's son, Conrad IV. (1250 54), the last of the Hohenstaufen (q.v.), after a brief and troubled reign, was succeeded by various princes, who in turn, or in some cases contemporaneously (the Great Interregnum., so called), bore the Imperial title without exercis ing its legitimate functions or authority—Wil liam of Holland (1247-56), Alphonse the Wise of Castile (1257-62), Richard of Cornwall (1257 72). This season of anarchy was terminated at the accession of Rudolph I. (1273-91), of the House of Hapsburg, who, by the destruction of the strongholds of the nobles 'and the stringent enforcement of the laws, restored order. His chief efforts were, however, directed to the ag grandizement of his house. In 1276 he van quished Ottokar II. of Bohemia, and forced him to give up the duchies of Austria, Styria, Carin thia, etc. Ottokar, having renewed the struggle, was defeated and slain on the Marchfeld in 1278. (See AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.) For the next two hun dred years the history of the Holy Roman Empire presents very few features of interest, and may be briefly passed over. Adolphus of Nassau, who was elected to succeed Rudolph (1292), was attacked in 1298 by the son of the latter, Albert I. of Austria, who coveted the Imperial throne, and the war speedily ended in the triumph of Albert. The reign of this prince (1298-1308) is chiefly memorable as the period in which the three Swiss cantons of Unterwalden, Schwyz, and Uri succeeded in making themselves independent of the Austrian power. After the murder of Albert, the throne was occupied in rapid suc cession by Henry VII. (1308-13), of the House of Luxemburg (whose dynasty ruled for a cen tury in Bohemia), and by the rival Emperors Frederick of Austria (1314-22) and Louis the Bavarian (1314-47). Charles IV. (1347-78), the successor of Louis, of the House of Luxemburg, was the successful candidate among seven rivals. Although he was engrossed by the interests of his hereditary possessions of Bohemia, Silesia, and Lusatia, he did not entirely neglect those of the Empire, for which he provided by a. written constitution known as the Golden Bull (q.v.), issued in 1356, which regulated the rights, privileges, and duties of the Imperial electors, and the mode of election and coronation of the emperors. The seven princes designated in the Golden Bull as Imperial Electors were the arch bishops of Mainz, Treves, and Cologne, the Duke of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, and the King of Bohemia. Charles's son Weitzel, or Wenceslas (1378-1400), who was finally deposed, brought the royal authority into contempt, from which it was scarcely redeemed by Rupert of the Palati nate (1400-10). The reign of Sigismund (1410 37), the brother of Wenceslas, is noteworthy in connection with the councils of Constance and Basel and the Hussite wars. With Sigismund the Luxemburg line of emperors terminated. In the person of Albert II. of Austria (1438-39), the House of Hapsburg once more secured pos session of the Imperial throne, which, with slight interruption, was occupied by them to the end, although the crown remained elective. After a brief reign, in which he gave evidence of capacity for governing, Albert was succeeded by his cousin, Frederick III. (1440-93), an accomplished but avaricious and indolent prince, whose chief ob ject seems to have been the aggrandizement of the House of Austria.