Why the Holy Roman Empire Actually Made Sense

The Holy Roman Empire lasted over 800 years, and at one point consisted of over 300 minor principalities. So how did such a fractured political entity last so long? It has to do with a concept called “subsidiarity”, and it holds the key to implementing responsible government today...

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[threedragonstalk]

Great video! Very interesting. Only one minor note - it's worth noting at 6:24 that Ferdinand I was never crowned by the Pope, his predecessor Charles V was the last emperor to be so crowned. So much time passed between Ferdinand being elected and crowned simply because his predecessor was still alive for a very long time after he was elected.

[truthastyle]

0:32 I could never care what Voltaire has to say about anything. He was a 18th century Redditor. 😂

[jovanweismiller]

Rerum Novarum does not mean "revolutionary change". It means "new things". The full title of the Encyclical was "On Capital and Labour".

[daniellekennedy]

I do love your work, and find it highly accessible and minutely researched, but I believe at all levels of your "pyramid" describing the basic set-up of the HRE, you neglect the responsibilities and benefits to and from the Catholic Church. Just as the King built castles for military protection, kings also built cathedrals, monasteries and nunneries for the well-being of their people. In return, the Church rendered back developments in chemistry, medicine, physics, architecture, law, mathematics, music, literature, art, etc. Not that the Church had a monopoly on the former (before I get ratioed to heck), but the Church was a tremendous engine in moving human progress forward with and through the HRE. Perhaps everyone's favorite 3-circle Venn diagram would better describe the function of the HRE, especially in the early years. As the protestant reformation took place, this version of ruler/ruled/church give-and take; pay and receive became foggier and foggier until the state in its near-modern form took over the social/moral responsibilities (poorly, IMO) that the Church once handled.

[rafalrocks]

Rerum Novarum is not translated as Revolutionary Change but rather something like “Of New Things”. Great video, btw, just a small correction as the word “Revolution” in itself is a bit of a loaded term.

[berndlauert]

It was actually 1006 years. As per biblical prophecy

[theoderich]

We Germans have a tendency to favour long-term
And to elect one's leader and follow him until death has always been the most Germanic thing.

[SARodriguez-kwwl]

From all the HRE videos I watched regarding the HRE. This is the only one that accurately defines what The HRE really was as a political entity and as an state. Excellent video. ❤❤❤

[rogueraven]

The HRE was Holy was Roman and was an Empire... Voltaire was a moron.

[St.SebArL]

Raise your hand if you know Voltaire was a moron 🙋🏻‍♂️

[intelligencecube]

“Domini terrae”

Lord of the Land

Landlord.

Huh, neat.

[reamartin]

Here’s your answer:

Rev: 20
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

( You can find yourself in this timeframe)

8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

[MarathonGuy]

Now what was the name of the fella responsible for the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. I swear I saw a video of him on this channel just over two weeks ago.

[paulrodgers]

very simple: No One could defeat them in a War;

[antoniodesousa]

Interesting parallels to the fictional Dune imperium

[AndreaMoletta-sc]

I always find the HRE as the ideal State.
The more Authority is Localized, the more effective it is.

[Keeper_of_the_Hearth]

This is the system of government I want back. This is the way.

[yigeh]

The HRE is often regarded as having lacked any semblance of central authority post 1648. Pop historians point to Prussia, the 30 Years War, and the map of the HRE as examples. After all, how can the cluster that is the Empire with hundreds of statelets have any semblance of authority? Well firstly, I hesitate to call the members of the Empire “states” or “countries”. Sovereignty is an extremely contentious topic, so I won’t get into it right now, but to consider members of the Empire “independent” is just inaccurate. Independence is actually quite a modern term and even after Westphalia, sovereignty was not clearly defined. I point to examples such as the Imperial Knights, which often had dual status in the Empire between being vassals and being immediate to the Emperor.

Modern historians have a new idea: The Empire had plenty of central authority (more than you’d think from youtube history). Some historians, such as Heinz H. F. Eulau from the University of California, saw the HRE as a sort of Federal entity. This can be supported by evidence like the local Imperial Circles, or Kreis. The Kreis, being a grouping of Imperial estates, often banded together for collective security. The HRE also had a general constitution, which was enforced by numerous institutions. Above the regional level, the Empire had numerous courts, the main ones being the Reichskammergericht and the Reichshofrat (Aulic Council). Both these courts had plenty of authority. I point to succession for example, which the Aulic Council often settled numerous disputes peacefully. Examples of this include the complicated Ernestine Succession, which required dozens of Aulic Council settlements. As Peter Wilson remarks, despite the Empire’s insane militarism (thanks to the Matricular System that I will mention later), the Empire remained quite peaceful thanks to its institutions. The courts also had the authority to sequester rulers that were disobedient. An example would be Rheingraf Karl Magnus of Grehweiler, who committed monetary fraud. When evidence of this was uncovered, the Aulic Council arrested him, and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. There were overlapping legal systems, where immediate polities could have their own laws, but couldn’t go against general Imperial laws. Peace in the Empire was actually relatively well maintained through the policy of Verrechtlichung, which settled many conflicts in court, rather than in battle. Even Prussia was compelled by the Empire to obey on most occassions (see Limpurg Succession, or Brandenburg-Kulmbach Succession)

Another example of central authority in the Empire is the Imperial Diet. For an example here, I will provide the Matricular System. The Empire had a central army known as the Reichsarmee that was raised with consent of the Diet, which following the meeting at Regensburg became a perpetual, formalized body. The Matricular System ordered all members of the Empire to provide troops in a sort of common tax. This is what led to the famed militarism of the Empire, and is partly why many Imperial estates sold their soldiers as auxiliaries, the obvious example I can give is Hesse-Kassel and Soldatenhandel. The Schonborg chancellery of Mainz contributed greatly to the development of the Perpetual Diet, which helped increase Imperial authority after Westphalia, after the brief break of authority of the immediate post-Westphalian years (see League of the Rhine)

[ProjectMkUltraGR]

The Real Roman Empire lasted longer, almost 1500 years

[lucyfaire]

There is another empire that existed well before and well beyond the..."Holy roman Empire". Without it, western Europe would still be in the dark ages. It's called Eastern Roman Empire. And it WAS actually Roman....