In No Way Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire

occupied the land that we know today as Germany. Well, surely it should have been known as the Holy German Empire then, and what makes it so holy? Anyways? If you found yourself asking those questions, know that you are not alone. The famous French writer Voltaire once famously wrote, quote, this body which was called, and which still calls itself, the Holy Roman Empire, was in no way holy, nor Roman,

nor an empire. Like many things medieval and monarchical, the term Holy Roman Empire seems to defy modern logic, but we do know at least the origins of the term. To understand why much of Central Europe was for centuries referred to as the Holy Roman Empire will have to go back to the eighth century, when an ambitious Frankish king, a bold Byzantine empress, a vulnerable pope, and a shocking coronation changed the shape of Europe forever. I'm Dani Schwartz,

and this is noble blood. The winding road that led to the creation of the Holy Roman Empire began fittingly in Rome. It was April twenty five, seven hundred and ninety nine, the day of the Procession of the Greater Litanies, and Christian Romans were marching in the streets, singing praises of God and praying for the favor of Heaven. At the head of the group was Pope Leo the Third. Relatively new to the office, Leo's reign had not always

been smooth sailing. He had been elected Pope on December seven hundred and nine, the same day that his predecessor, Pope Adrian the First, had been buried. It was a hasty election, too hasty, some thought, perhaps designed to exclude Leo's opponents from the process. The exact objections of these opponents, many of whom had been close to Pope Adrian, have been partially lost to history, but we do have vague outlines of their concerns. Some disliked Leo because of his

relatively humble background. Unlike many popes before and after, Leo did not come from the aristocracy. Others were concerned that Leo was unable to maintain the political balance between the two greatest Catholic powers, the Franks and the Byzantines. Over the first four years of Leo's rule as pope, these opponents had gradually ramped up their attacks on him, but no one foresaw just how far those men would go

to bring the new pope down. As the procession neared the Flaminian gate, arm assailants suddenly lunged at Pope Leo. Holding the pope down, they cut off his clothes, stabbed at his eyes, and wrenched open his mouth, trying to cut out his tongue. They didn't want to kill him, only remove his speech and sight, figuring that would prevent

him from fulfilling his papal duties. The flailing pope and the panicked crowd made it too difficult for the attackers to complete their work, though, so they dragged the pope into a nearby chapel, where they cut at his tongue and eyes and beat him bloody. Then they took the gravely injured pope to the monastery of Saint Erasmus, where he was locked in a cell. But inside the cell, something strange happened. Pope Leo began to heal. His eyes

could make out shapes, his tongue could form sound. We don't know exactly how injured Leo had been to begin with, but many medieval observers called his recovery miraculous. Once he was well enough, Leo escaped from the monastery and made his way to Saint Peter's Basilica, where loyal attendants met him and escorted him to safety, first in Spiletto and then on to Potterborn, where Pope Leo went to seek the protection of Charlemagne, King of the Franks, born plain

Old Charles sometime in the seven hundred forties. Charlemagne is a contraction of the French Charlemon or Charles the Great. He inherited the Kingdom of Francia, located in northwestern Europe, upon the death of his father, Pepin the Short in seven hundred and sixty eight. Peppin and his father Charles

Martel before him had greatly expanded France. His holdings, and over the course of Charlemagne's forties six year reign, he took the legacy of his conquering forebears even further, taking on and defeating nearly all neighboring kingdoms, including the Saxons to the north, the Lombards and the Moors to the south, and the Slavs of Ours and Bavarians to the east. His quest to dominate was both politically and religiously motivated. People conquered by the Franks were required to convert to

Christianity on pain of death. By seven hundred and ninety nine, Charlemagne's lands included nearly all of mainland western Europe. Charlemagne had a close relationship with the Church's leaders. He and his father Peppin had fought off the Lombards in northern Italy, regaining control of the areas around Rome on behalf of

the papacy. Upon Leo's appointment pope in seven hundred and ninety five, Charlemagne had sent him an enormous treasure captured from the Avars, which Leo used to strengthen Church institutions and secure his own tenuous position. And of course, there was Charlemagne's forcible and often violent conversion of pagan tribes, which brought thousands more into the Catholic Church's ranks. After escaping from the monastery, Leo hoped to get Charlemagne's support,

and he was not disappointed. Charlemagne received him in Paderborne, a city in present day north central Germany, with ceremony and honor. Unrest in the church leadership meant instability for Charlemagne's own realm, and he wanted the problem resolved quickly, and as we'll see later, he might have seen a way to gain more than he gave. After two weeks in Paderborne, Leo returned to Rome alongside a delegation of Frank's assigned to his enemies that he had at least

some degree of the powerful Charlemagne's protection. However, the Pope's opponents did not fully relent. They claimed that the Pope had committed adultery and perjury, and they demanded he stand trial for his crimes. After nearly a year of political maneuvering over Leo's fate, Charlemagne himself came to Rome, arriving at the steps of St. Peter's Basilica on November twenty four in the year eight hundred, resplendent in his power, laden with hundreds of pounds of gold and silver gifts

for the church, and surrounded by an enormous retinue. Final discussions began in haste. Leo's opponents demanded a trial in which Leo's accusers would testify against him. Leo's supporters, aided by charle Lemagne's religious advisers, argued that church law did not allow the pope to be tried, and they suggested instead that Leo performed a public oath of purgation, in which he could both declare his innocence and also pray for forgiveness for any alleged sins. Eventually, that plan one out.

On December twenty three hundred, Pope Leo stood in front of the congregation assembled at St. Peter's and performed the oath of purgation. His position as pope was now secure, and now that he was back on top, Leo had one more pressing piece of business. Two days later, on December twenty, Charlemagne celebrated Christmas in Rome. Like most of Rome's elite, he attended services in St. Peter's at the masses end Charlemagne approached the altar of the Basilica and

knelt to pray. As he rose, Pope Leo came to his side, and, as the Royal Frankish Annals describes it, quote, placed a crown on his head, and he was acclaimed by the whole people of the Romans to Charles Augustus, the god crowned great and Pacific, Emperor of the Romans, life and victory. And after the acclamations, he was saluted by the Pope in the customary manner of ancient emperors,

and he was called Emperor and Augustus end quote. Charlemagne had entered the church as King of the Franks, he left it as Emperor of the Romans, quite the Christmas present. There was only one slight problem with this ascension, though there was technically already a Roman emperor. Her name was Irene.

The Franks weren't the only ones to control massive swaths of territory in the eighth century, wrapping around the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, from the southern tip of Italy to the eastern reaches of present day Turkey, was another powerful empire, the Byzantines. For more on this history, which lasted more than a millennium, so for just a little bit more you can listen to the episode called the

Secret History of Emperor Justinian. But for now, all you need to know is that Byzantium was born from the ruins of the Eastern Roman Empire, and they saw themselves as being successors to that legacy, the legacy of the Romans. For this reason, they were known to themselves and to the rest of the world as the Romans or Eastern Romans. The term Byzantine is a more modern appellation, and will use it here to keep the distinction between the Byzantines

and the occupants of Rome clear. By eight hundred, Byzantium was more than four hundred years old and had seen its share of ups and downs, but it had never seen a crisis like the one it was now facing. Three years earlier, the dowager Empress Irene had had her son, Emperor Constantine the six, kidnapped, blinded, and possibly killed. Irene then took power for herself. Ruling was not new for Irene.

After the death of her husband, Emperor Leo the Fourth, not to be confused with Pope Leo the Third, Irene had served as regent for their son, Constantine, who was only nine. Her control lasted for more than a decade, but as Constantine grew older and more rebellious, her hold

on power became more tenuous. Tensions between mother and son escalated until afraid for his life, Constantine fled from the palace in Constantinople, but he wasn't fast enough, and Irene's allies seized him, returning him to the palace to be blinded. Irene was now the sole Empress of the Byzantines, or, as she would have called herself, Empress of the Romans. So how could Charlemagne be the Emperor of the Romans?

It's simple, says historian Janet Nelson. Quote. Charlemagne's contemporaries in West and East were willing to agree feminine rule was a contradiction. Nelson cites the lords Annals, a ninth century source, which stated, quote, because the name of the Emperor was at that time in cessation in the land of the Greeks, and they had a woman's rule among them, it seemed to the Pope, and to the Christian fathers and to the rest of the Christian people, that they ought to

give the name of emperor to Charles end quote. In other words, a woman in power was so illogical in the eyes of contemporary men that it rendered the very idea of empire invalid. This isn't too girl bossify Irene, because remember, she did, after all, have her own son blinded. But this is what happened. That logic that a woman couldn't rule then secured Charlemagne's title, but not for long. Irene was deposed in eight hundred and two, the first

and last sole Empress of the Byzantines. Her male successors all used the title Emperor of the Romans. The argument presented by the Franks then had to look to history. Charlemagne, the Lord Channels, explained quote, held Rome, where the Caesars had always been accustomed to sit, as well as many of the former Roman provinces like Italy and Gault end quote. Because he ruled those physical territories, then Charlemagne was thus the true inheritor of the Roman tradition and the rightful

Emperor of Rome. This argument was not entirely convincing to the Byzantines, and the conflict was never entirely solved, creating what historians have called the problem of two emperors. Constantine himself seemed to have recognized the diplomatic delicacy of the situation, and he preferred to refer to his role as Romans Gouberman's Imperium, or governing the Roman Empire, instead of as Emperor of the Romans. But Charlemagne wasn't ambiguous about his

new title, though. Einhardt, one of Charlemagne's contemporaries, writes that the Emperor had no idea what the pope had planned and was initially reluctant to accept. Other contemporaries and most modern scholars disagree. Charlemagne and Pope Leo had likely planned this Christmas ceremony together, perhaps when Leo was at Paderborne, perhaps the year after. It was an arrangement that suited both.

It allowed Charlemagne to add an additional seal of legitimacy to his ambitions, painting them as sanctioned by both the Church and the ancient Caesar's and it allowed Pope Leo, so newly returned to the papal throne, to tie himself publicly to the most powerful man on the continent. After all this fuss, though, did the title of emperor actually

change anything? For Charlemagne, ultimately not really. It cemented his relationship with the Church, solidified his identity as a defender of the faith, and gilded his family's name, but his power had already been enormous. The title, in many ways, was just the cherry on top of forty years of relentless,

merciless empire building. The greatest legacy of that Christmas Day in eight hundred was the idea of the Holy Roman Empire, though that exact term wouldn't be used until several centuries later. By the year nine hundred, Charlemagne's hard One Empire had crumbled,

having been subdivided into warring duchies controlled by various descendants. Otto, the first ruler of an eastern section of the former empire located in Germany, reunited the territories and revived the title of Emperor, being crowned by the pope in nine hundred and sixty two. Some historians argue that it is Otto's coronation, not Charlemagne's, that marks the real beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, but the origins of the concept.

Historian Joachim Whaley notes quote lay in the translation of the Inheritance of the Roman Empire northwards by Charlemagne end quote. Emperor Frederick the First Barbosa was the first to official attack wholly onto the title as part of his quest to reconquer Italy in the mid twelfth century. His quest would ultimately fail, and over time the bounds of the Holy Roman Empire drew in centered around Germany, Austria and Bohemia.

In fifteen twelve, at the Imperial Deity of Cologne, the name Holy Roman Empire of the German nation was made official. Throughout the centuries, the role of the Holy Roman Emperor himself, both who he was and what functions he served, changed dramatically. From nine hundred and eleven onward, the emperor was chosen by electors, the heads of noble families, who voted for the emperor at meetings of the Imperial Deit. The system occasionally caused chaos. In thirteen fourteen, two men were elected

by rival factions of electors, leading to war. To regulate the process, the Golden Bull of thirteen fifty six set a number of rules into place, the most important of which codified who the electors were, how the role of elector would be passed down, and how the elections would take place. Over time, power in the Empire shifted from the emperor to these electors, each of whom controlled vast

lands and treasuries. The role of emperor became more symbolic, and who was elected to the role mattered less than who had the power to elect him. Princely families in the Empire worked not to become emperor, but to enter the electorate, as you may remember the Hanover family doing in our episode the prince says imprisoned in her cell. Power became increasingly decentralized, with these various kingdoms, principalities, cities,

and territories of the Empire largely ruling themselves. By the time the Empire ended in eighteen o six, it looked much more like its successor, the Associated States of the German Confederation, than it did the medieval multi regional empire

of Charlemagne or Otto. Those men would likely have identified less with the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis the Second, than they would have identified with the man who defeated him at the Battle of Austerlitz, the man who ended the Holy Roman Empire at once and for all, Napoleon Bonaparte. So what of Voltaire's famous quote, was the Holy Roman Empire really neither holy nor Roman nor an empire? Well, yes and no. It was an empire, surely, although for

many years it operated as an electorate. It was occasionally Roman, both literally via control over Rome and metaphorically via its mythological ties to ancient Rome. As for the last criterion, can any empire born of battle and bloodshed ever really be holy? Whether or not it was blessed by a pope? I'll leave that one, dear listener, up to you. That's the story of the Holy Roman Empire. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit

more about Charlemagne's legacy. The term Holy Roman pier isn't Charlemagne's only linguistic legacy. If you look at the term for king in a number of Slavic and Baltic languages, among others, you'll notice their similarity. The Polish kroll sounds like the check krawl, and both are close cousins of

the Latvian girls and the Hungarian kley. The predominant theory among linguists is that all of these words can be traced back to the Old High German word karl, which you may have guessed, is the Germanic spelling of Charles, and is what many of Charlemagne's Slavic contemporaries would have known him as. That's right. Charlemagne was so influential that in many countries the very word for king comes from

his first name. Ye. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danishwartz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mirra Hayward, Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by rema Il Kayali, with supervising producer Josh Thane and executive producers

Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.