Section 1: Conditions in early century Rome

Question 1

what was the Holy Roman empire?

Answer 1

• a vast empire covering all of central Europe,
• not a single country (nation state)
• a federation made up of over 390 states (prdeominatly German)

Question 2

what did the HRE consist of?

Answer 2

• secular states ruled by princes.
• spirtitual states ruled by ‘prince bishops’46 ecclesiastical states ruled by ‘prince bishops’
• some places run by councils, some almost like kingdoms
• largely governed themselves but had a limited alligence to the emperor

Question 3

what is a nation state

Answer 3

• a country made up mainly of one nationality

Question 4

why did people in the HRE want a nation state

Answer 4

• In the 15th and 16th centuries, a developing sense of German identity began to emerge with the advent of humanist scholars who believed in the need for these states
• in the 16th century nation states were becoming a norm, led by strong monarchies in Spain, France and England
• Even in the 16th century, the concept of a HRE was beginning to seem outdated to some

Question 5

why could the individual states and emperor balance be seen as positive?

Answer 5

• smaller states liked it as it protected them from their bigger neighbours.
• most states too small to be safe on their own. The HRE provided defence against external threats (particularly from the France or the Ottoman empire) and to prevent internal conflict
• they needed some sort of central organisation and single leader
• but still allowed them to partially govern on their own without major interference

Question 6

why did the emperor and individual state ratio create conflict

Answer 6

• no consistency in how the different states were ruled
• ongoing debate about amount of power princes should have.
• central gvm had to be strong enough to fulfil its functions (defence, law and order) but not so strong that it undermined the autonomy of the states and cites

Question 7

how did the emperor to induivudal sate ratio work

Answer 7

• the emperor was more remote and allowed more indolence than countries like england and france

Question 8

what is the emperor

Answer 8

the secular head of christendom

Question 9

what was the difficulty of the emperor

Answer 9

• huge area, poor communications
• in theory the emperor was supposed to dictate imperial policies, yet due to its size and fragmented nature of the states ,it was difficult to govern effectively
• no good system of taxation made it hard to rule
• large princes wanted as much independence from their emperor as possible

Question 10

how was the emperor chosen

Answer 10

• the position was not hereditary
• the emperor was elected by 7 electors (very important princes)
• in theory any prince could stand for election, however the position had gone to a memeber of the Hapsburg family since 1437

Question 11

Why did the position of emperor always go to the Hapsburgs?

Answer 11

• they were the biggest landowners in the empire, therefore the only family rich enough for the position
• also their Austrain lands provided a buffer against threats from the Ottoman empire

Question 12

When was Maximilian I emperor from?

Answer 12

1493-1519

Question 13

How good of an emperor was Maximiliam I?

Answer 13

• he had many great qualities: was cultured, charming, brave and generous, however he was also indecisive
• he was guilty of flitting from one scheme to another but never settling on one
• sometimes distracted from looking at the empire as he’s concerned with whats going on in his own lands
• If he focused on anything it was improving the fortunes of his family through expensive wars in Italy and shrewd marriage alliances

Question 14

how much power did the emperor have?

Answer 14

• in theory a lot, title holds greatest honour and status
  however in reality, very little:
• no salary
• no imperial army
• no effective system of imperial taxation or any of imperial coinage

Question 15

how could the emperor do aything?

Answer 15

• he could raise troops to defend the empire, but only with the electors permisssion
• he could raise money he needed for those troops, but had to ask the diet which was dominated by the princes, for the right to tax
• he could arbitrate in disputes between states, but only if asked by the princes
• he could propose reforms, but had no right to directly intervene in the internal affairs n the empire

Question 16

why was it an issue that everything the emperor did had to be cleared by the princes

Answer 16

• it gave them leverage and allowed them to manipulate him

- their willingness to participate was entirely self-interested

Question 17

the imperial diet

Answer 17

• a key institution of central government
• consisted of 3 colleges: one for electors, a second for other ecclesiastical and secular princes and one for representatives from imperial cities

Question 18

when did the imperial diet meet

Answer 18

• only met when it was summoned by the emperor
• however since the emperor could only raise taxes or troops or address national concerns by going through the diet, this happened reasonably frequently
  > 10 diets met between 1501-1521 and 18 between 1521-1555
• each diet named after the place it meets

Question 19

how did the diet work

Answer 19

• the emperors propositions were read out
• the colleges then met separately to discuss and vote on these
• the colleges then passed on their views and recommendations back to the empeor, whilst also raising grievances or concerns of their own
• if the emperor and diet were in agreement, their conclusions were published as a ‘recess’
• decisions made by the diet were then transmitted to the circles to be implemented. That was the theory, though of course it only worked if the interests of the emperor and the princes happened to coincide

Question 20

The swabian league

Answer 20

• the only effective armed force in the empire
• closest thing there was to an imperial army
• Maximilian used its 13,000 troops to crush expansionist attacks being made by Bavaria in 1504 and to evict Ulrich of Wurttemberg in Jan 1519

Question 21

Imperial election of 1519

Answer 21

• Maximilian died in January 1519
• He had not pre-organised the elction of his grandson Charles
• 19 year old Charles was therefore forced to compete for the title of emperor aganst King Francis I of France

Question 22

Why was charles so rich

Answer 22

• almost by accident he became the most powerful man in Europe
• As the oldest surviving male on both sides of his fam, his inhertiance at a young age was vast

Question 23

Why did the electors choose Charles? (Charles)

Answer 23

• He handed out the largest bribes (850,000 florins)
• He was a Habsburg, as the greatest land owner in the empire, he would be most likely to defend Germany against external threats i.e. ottomans
• Given the rest of his inheritance, he was likely to be absent most of the time and therefore less likely to challenge the princes power
• He agreed to sign the Capitulation of 1519

Question 24

Why did the electors choose Charles? (Franics)

Answer 24

• a french candidate would be unwelcome in the empire, given its new sense of German national identity
• the swabian league surrounded the town where the ectors were meeting and made it clear that it faoured Charles, not Franis

Question 25

Capitulation of 1519

Answer 25

• not to appoint foreigners to imperial postiions
• not to bring any foreign troops into the empire
• not to declare war without the consent of the electors

power = limited