The HRE evolved over time, and initially wasn't even a de jure title. When Otto III was crowned in the 10th century, he held effective feudal control directly over the territory that would become de jure the Holy Roman Empire as the Carolingian Empire (that is, he was King over Lombardy, Germany, as well as suzerain over the various Duchies contained within that Empire independent of those two territories). However, de facto power over the Carolingian Empire itself was always at risk. The Investiture Controversy in the 11th century pushed that limit to the breaking point in many ways, as both the status of the title of Holy Roman Emperor and the Salian dynasty's control over the territory within were both severely weakened in power.

In many ways, we can see parallels between the Carolingian fates in Germany and France, with roots often cited in earlier decentralized monarchies characteristic of the Germanic tribes of yore. As the 11th and 12th centuries wore on, both Germany and France saw Dukes growing in power compared with the monarchs. By the 14th century, throughout both Germany and France, the Dukes (and in Germany's case, a few Kingdoms below the title of the Emperor) were strong enough to essentially dictate policy to the King. However, at this time the fates of the two territories drastically change. In the HRE, the needs of the Emperor for financing external wars resulted in a codified weakening of the Emperor's authority (similar to the Magna Carta in many ways) that the Emperor never recovered. In France, the Hundred Years War could be argued to be the ineveitable result of the growing power of the Dukes. The Dukes of Normandy and Burgandy, de jure vassals of the French King, ruled territories that dwarfed the rest of the French realm. In the context of this discussion, we can therefore frame the Hundred Years War not as an English versus French conflict as is often the case, but instead a war over the rights of the dukes versus the rights of the monarchs. In Germany, the dukes won this one through military and political action. In France, it was the opposite result.