Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: When did the Holy Roman Empire end?
The Holy Roman Empire (Latin: Sacrum Romanum Imperium; German: Heiliges Römisches Reich) was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western and Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.[3] The largest territory of the empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also came to include the neighboring Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other territories.[4][5][6]
The Army of the Holy Roman Empire (German "Reichsarmee", "Reichsheer" or "Reichsarmatur"; Latin "exercitus imperii") was created in 1422 and came to an end when the Holy Roman Empire dissolved in 1806 as the result of the Napoleonic Wars. It must not be confused with the Imperial Army ("Kaiserliche Armee") of the Emperor.
After his death his line did not survive, and the House of Hohenstaufen came to an end. Furthermore, the Holy Roman Empire entered a long period of decline which it did not completely recover from until the reign of Charles V.
In 1804, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, who was also ruler of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, founded the Empire of Austria, in which all his lands were included. In doing so he created a formal overarching structure for the Habsburg Monarchy, which had functioned as a composite monarchy for about three hundred years. He did so because he foresaw either the end of the Holy Roman Empire, or the eventual accession as Holy Roman Emperor of Napoleon, who had earlier that year adopted the title of an Emperor of the French; Francis II eventually abandoned the title of German-Roman Emperor later in 1806. To safeguard his dynasty's imperial status he adopted the additional hereditary title of Emperor of Austria. Apart from now being included in a new "Kaiserthum", the workings of the overarching structure and the status of its component lands at first stayed much the same as they had been under the composite monarchy that existed before 1804. 
The papacy launched the Catholic revival in an attempt to halt the growth of Protestantism and put an end to the Ottoman wars in Europe. Despite some successes, such as the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the Siege of Paris (1590), the Anglo-Spanish War and the Long Turkish War questioned the Catholic ambitions. Ultimately, the Papacy lost its status and influence with the Thirty Years' War and many Protestant states experienced a golden age: the Netherlands (now independent of the Holy Roman Empire) formed the Dutch East India Company in Indonesia; Sweden formed an empire in northern Europe; and England began the colonization of North America. By the Treaty of Westphalia at the end of the Thirty Years War, the Holy Roman Empire became a more decentralized entity in which constituent states, such as Prussia, were allowed to pursue their own foreign policy independent of that of the House of Hapsburg of Austria which continued to rule as Holy Roman Emperor. Hapsburg Austria did directly control some states outside of the Holy Roman Empire. It was France who took the status of dominant continental power from the Habsburgs thanks to the Treaty of Westphalia and the Treaty of the Pyrenees.
However, the dispute did not end with the Concordat of Worms in 1122; future disputes between popes and Holy Roman Emperors continued until northern Italy was lost to the empire entirely. The church would Crusade against the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick II. As historian Norman Cantor put it, the controversy "shattered the early-medieval equilibrium and ended the interpenetration of "ecclesia" and "mundus"". Indeed, medieval emperors, which were "largely the creation of ecclesiastical ideals and personnel", were forced to develop a secular bureaucratic state whose essential components persisted in the Anglo-Norman monarchy.
At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, was no longer bound to the emerging independent state of Austria, since the latter did not consider itself the legal successor to the empire. This is partly contradicted by the Liechtenstein perception that the dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor still maintained an abstract heritage of the Holy Roman Empire.
Under threat from Napoleon, emperor Francis II dissolved the thousand-year old Holy Roman Empire and proclaimed the Austrian Empire on August 11, 1804. He did not use the crown of the Holy Roman Empire but the old crown of Rudolf II as the crown of the new empire.
The German Emperor ( ) was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the official abdication of Wilhelm II on 28 November 1918. The Holy Roman Emperor is sometimes also called "German Emperor" when the historical context is clear, as derived from the Holy Roman Empire's official name of "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" from 1512.
The rulers of "Francia Orientalis", who soon claimed the imperial title and wanted to reunify the Frankish Empire, dropped the name "Francia Orientalis" and called their realm the Holy Roman Empire (see History of Germany). The kings of "Francia Occidentalis" successfully opposed this claim and managed to preserve "Francia Occidentalis" as an independent kingdom, distinct from the Holy Roman Empire. The Battle of Bouvines in 1214 definitively marked the end of the efforts by the Holy Roman Empire to reunify the old Frankish Empire by conquering France.
In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (German: Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation, Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum Nationis Germanicæ),[20][21] a form first used in a document in 1474.[18] The new title was adopted partly because the Empire had lost most of its Italian and Burgundian (Kingdom of Arles) territories to the south and west by the late 15th century,[22] but also to emphasize the new importance of the German Imperial Estates in ruling the Empire due to the Imperial Reform.[23] By the end of the 18th century, the term "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" had fallen out of official use. Besides, contradicting the traditional view concerning that designation, Hermann Weisert has stated in a study on imperial titulature that, despite the claim of many textbooks, the name "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" never had an official status and points out that documents were thirty times as likely to omit the national suffix as include it.[24] This, or the shortened "Roman Empire of the German Nation", is often used in Germany to refer to the Holy Roman Empire.
The Frankish state consolidated its hold over the majority of western Europe by the end of the 8th century, developing into the Carolingian Empire. With the coronation of their ruler Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800 AD, he and his successors were recognised as legitimate successors to the emperors of the Western Roman Empire. As such, the Carolingian Empire gradually came to be seen in the West as a continuation of the ancient Roman Empire. This empire would give rise to several successor states, including France, the Holy Roman Empire and Burgundy, though the "Frankish" identity remained most closely identified with France.
In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire ended when Napoleon dictated its dissolution. Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated his title. He became Francis I, Emperor of Austria.
Changes shaping the nature of the Holy Roman Empire took place during conferences in Rastatt (1797–1799) and Regensburg (1801–1803). On 24 March 1803, the Imperial Recess () was declared, which reduced the number of ecclesiastical states from 81 to only 3 and the free imperial cities from 51 to 6. This measure was aimed at replacing the old constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, but the actual consequence of the Imperial Recess was the end of the empire. Taking this significant change into consideration, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II created the title Emperor of Austria, for himself and his successors.
There were many imperial interregna in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, when there was no emperor.
Interregna in which there was no emperor-elect (king of the Romans) have been rarer.
Among the longest periods without an emperor were between 924 and 962 (38 years), between 1245 and 1312 (67 years), and between 1378 and 1433 (55 years).
The crisis of government of the Holy Roman Empire and the German kingdom thus lasted throughout the late medieval period, and ended only with the rise of the House of Habsburg on the eve of the German Reformation and the Renaissance.
The term Great Interregnum is occasionally used for the period between 1250 (death of Frederick II) and 1273 (accession of Rudolf I).
On 12 July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was established, comprising 16 sovereigns and countries. This confederation, under French influence, put an end to the Holy Roman Empire. On 6 August 1806, even Francis recognized the new state of things and proclaimed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, as he did not want Napoleon to succeed him. This action was unrecognized by George III of the United Kingdom who was also the Elector of Hanover and had also lost his German territories around Hanover to Napoleon. His claims were later settled by the creation of the Kingdom of Hanover which was held by George's British heirs until Queen Victoria's accession, when it split into the British and Hanoverian royal families.
History of Germany Holy Roman Emperor List of Frankish kings List of German monarchs Carolingian Empire Francia Family tree of the German monarchs Gothic art List of states in the Holy Roman Empire Papal States and the Empire Third Rome Translatio imperii Roman Empire Western Roman Empire House of Habsburg-controlled empires: Habsburg Monarchy Austrian Empire Austria-Hungary German confederations and states: Confederation of the Rhine (controlled by the First French Empire) German Confederation German Empire (1848–49) German Empire (sometimes considered a successor) Third Reich (claims to succession of both HRE and the German Empire)
The rulers of "Francia Orientalis", who soon claimed the imperial title and wanted to reunify the Frankish Empire, dropped the name "Francia Orientalis" and called their realm the Holy Roman Empire (see History of Germany). The kings of "Francia Occidentalis" successfully opposed this claim and managed to preserve "Francia Occidentalis" as an independent kingdom, distinct from the Holy Roman Empire. The Battle of Bouvines in 1214 definitively marked the end of the efforts by the Holy Roman Empire to reunify the old Frankish Empire by conquering France.
Several states claimed to be the Roman Empire's successors after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire, an attempt to resurrect the Empire in the West, was established in 800 when Pope Leo III crowned Frankish King Charlemagne as Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, though the empire and the imperial office did not become formalized for some decades. After the fall of Constantinople, the Russian Tsardom, as inheritor of the Byzantine Empire's Orthodox Christian tradition, counted itself the Third Rome (Constantinople having been the second). These concepts are known as Translatio imperii.
Originally, possessors of the princely title bore it as immediate vassals of the Empire, secular or ecclesiastical, who held a fief that had no suzerain except the Emperor. However, by the time the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, there were a number of holders of Imperial princely titles who did not meet these criteria.
The Battle of Leitzersdorf was a battle between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in 1484. Fuelled by the earlier conflicts of Matthias Corvinus and Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor it marked the end of anti-Ottoman preparations and initiations of a holy war. It was the only open field battle of the Austro-Hungarian War, and the defeat meant – in long terms – the loss of the Archduchy of Austria for the Holy Roman Empire.
After the end of the Holy Roman Empire, the winner of the title in Austria have been recognized as Knights (May 14, 1817), the leadership title "Knight of the Holy Roman Empire" was banned (10 April 1816, October 6, 1847). The award was presented to the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
On August 6, 1806, Habsburg Emperor Francis II had abdicated the throne of the Holy Roman Empire in the course of the Napoleonic Wars with France, thereby ending the loose Empire. Despite its later name affix "of the German Nation", the Holy Roman Empire had never been a nation state. Instead its rulers over the centuries had to cope with a continuous loss of authority to its constituent Imperial States. The disastrous Thirty Years' War proved especially fatal to the Holy Roman Emperor's authority, as the mightiest entities, the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and Brandenburg-Prussia evolved into rivaling European absolute powers with territory reaching far beyond Imperial borders. The many small city-states splintered, meanwhile. In the 18th century the Holy Roman Empire consisted of over 1800 separate territories governed by distinct authorities.
In addition to remaining as a concept for an administrative unit in the remaining Empire, the ideal of the Roman Empire as a mighty Christian Empire with a single ruler further continued to appeal to many powerful rulers in western Europe. With the papal coronation of Charlemagne as "Emperor of the Romans" in 800 AD, his realm was explicitly proclaimed as a restoration of the Roman Empire in Western Europe under the concept of "translatio imperii". Though the Carolingian Empire collapsed in 888 and Berengar, the last "Emperor" claiming succession from Charlemagne, died in 924, the concept of a papacy- and Germanic-based Roman Empire in the West would resurface in the form of the Holy Roman Empire in 962. The Holy Roman Emperors would uphold the notion that they had inherited the supreme power and prestige of the Roman Emperors of old until the downfall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
After a decisive victory of the Holy Roman Empire and Bohemia over invading Magyars in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld, Boleslaus I of Bohemia was granted the March of Moravia by German emperor Otto the Great. Bohemia would remain a largely autonomous state under the Holy Roman Empire for several decades. The jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire was definitively reasserted when Jaromír of Bohemia was granted fief of the Kingdom of Bohemia by Emperor King Henry II of the Holy Roman Empire, with the promise that he hold it as a vassal once he re-occupied Prague with a German army in 1004, ending the rule of Boleslaw I of Poland.