I’m reading about the end of the Middle Ages in Europe and there is a lot about the Holy Roman Empire and it’s various kingdoms. It seemed to me that the various kingdoms often fought and didn’t always act cohesively.
Therefore, how did the Holy Roman Empire coexist with the various kingdoms with individual kings that they ruled over? Where did true power reside? How unified did the various kingdoms in the HRE feel? How did kings rule over the empire and their own individual kingdom at the same time?
Also how in the world did Richard of Cornwall (son of King John of England), get elected to be Kjng of Germany? Do they just elect any member of a royal family in Europe?
Although not part of my school’s curriculum I’m quite interested to learn!
Hi!
During the "Middle Ages", it might be easier to imagine the Holy Roman Empire as not a "country" as you might think of today (e.g. Modern France, Modern Germany, etc.) but more of like a longer and more drawn out Warlord-era state, similar to the Three Kingdoms Period of China or the Sengoku Jidai of Japan. I will focus answering how Richard actually got elected and in general, on the time period near the election of Richard of Cornwall since I am separated from my books since I am currently stuck in a mission house in the provinces because of a national quarantine in my country so I cannot answer the intricate politics that the Emperor had with his de-jure vassal-king, which was essentially the King of Bohemia, and his other myriad of vassals. In this time period, an interregnum, or a time without a king, developed in the Holy Roman Empire, after the previous emperor Frederick II died in 1250 and his son Conrad IV died in 1254 without having been coronated as Holy Roman Emperor, stopping short as only becoming King of Germany. Now, this was due to the Pope at that time setting up an anti-king, a sort of contender to the throne of the HRE, in the form of William of Holland. Now, since Conrad IV died in 1254, you'd think that Willie would take over since his contender to the throne died. Well, you’d be wrong as William himself died in 1256, two years after Conrad, without himself being coronated as Holy Roman Emperor. So, there was then a slight power vacuum inside the Holy Roman Empire, and it's this time that we go to the election of dear old Richard. The claim for Richard’s candidacy for election was simple; He was related to Frederick II due to Frederick’s marriage to Richard’s sister Isabella of England. Meanwhile, his contender to the throne of the King of the Germans, Alfonso X de Ivrea of Castile, also had a similarly valid claim; His mother Elisabeth of Swabia was a daughter of Philip Hohenstaufen of Swabia, who was a previously crowned King of Germany. So, they fought and bribed the seven electors, and the outcome was that Richard managed to bribe four electors (the electors of Cologne, Mainz, the Palatinate and Bohemia) while Alfonso only bribed and convinced three (the electors of Brandenburg, Saxony and Trier), thus making Richard win by simple majority. Of course, the title at that time had about as much power as Emperor Norton had as Emperor of the United States, and so Richard held no sway in the affairs of the HRE (within and without) and the interregnum crisis in the Holy Roman Empire actually continued after his death in 1272.