If the pope was able to prosecute Luther in Germany and block his works in England and France, why do we not consider this an empire? Why are Germany and France called nations instead of state's of the Roman Catholic empire? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

If the pope was able to prosecute Luther in Germany and block his works in England and France, why do we not consider this an empire? Why are Germany and France called nations instead of state's of the Roman Catholic empire?

by HarboringOnALament

HarboringOnALament

States*

Anyway, this got me thinking about how we frame the past. It seems like nations didn't really exist until the secularization process.