Holy Roman Emperor List: Every Emperor From Charlemagne to Francis II

Contents14

• How a king became Holy Roman emperor
• Emperors before 962: Carolingian and Italian
• Holy Roman emperors from 962 to 1437
• Holy Roman emperors from 1452 to 1806
• Kings who ruled but were never crowned emperor
• The imperial election in practice
• Longest and shortest reigns
• What the Holy Roman emperor could and could not do
• Dynasties at a glance
• Emperors and the papacy
• Women and the imperial title
• After 1806: who inherited the imperial title
• The imperial regalia
• Verdict: the Holy Roman emperor list

The Holy Roman emperor was the elected ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. That central European state claimed the heritage of ancient Rome. The title passed through several dynasties over a thousand years, from Charlemagne to Francis II.

This page lists every emperor in order. It explains how a German king became emperor. It also shows where sources disagree about the list itself.

TL;DR: Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800. Otto I, crowned in 962, began the unbroken line most historians count. The title passed through the Ottonian, Salian, Hohenstaufen and Luxembourg houses. Then the Habsburgs held it almost without a break from 1438. Charles V, crowned in 1530, was the last emperor crowned by a pope. Francis II ended the empire in 1806.

How a king became Holy Roman emperor

Becoming emperor usually took two steps. The electors chose a king, called King of the Romans. He was crowned in Germany. He then went to Rome, where the Pope crowned him emperor.

Some kings never got there. That is why lists of emperors and lists of German kings differ. In 1508 Maximilian I took the title "elected Roman emperor" with the Pope's approval. From then on, election alone was enough.

Where the list begins

First Holy Roman emperor: Charlemagne or Otto I.

Status: Disputed Lists start in 800 or in 962.

Note: Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor in Rome on 25 December 800. Later emperors saw him as their founder. But the title then passed to weaker Carolingian and Italian rulers, and it lapsed in 924.

Otto I's crowning on 2 February 962 began an unbroken line of German emperors. The World History Encyclopedia dates the empire from 962. This page lists both groups. It marks the emperors before 962 apart.

Sources: World History Encyclopedia, "Holy Roman Empire"; Britannica, "Holy Roman Empire: Charlemagne's successors".

Emperors before 962: Carolingian and Italian

These rulers are marked disputed only because not every list counts them as Holy Roman emperors. Their crownings as emperor are not in doubt.

Holy Roman emperors from 962 to 1437

Dates are years as crowned emperor.

Between 1250 and 1312, no king was crowned emperor. Rudolf I of Habsburg was king from 1273, but he never got the imperial crown.

Holy Roman emperors from 1452 to 1806

Charles V's reign counts from his election in 1519. Ferdinand I ruled from his brother's abdication in 1556. He was formally recognised as emperor in 1558. The full story is on the Charles V page.

Kings who ruled but were never crowned emperor

Several German kings ruled the empire without getting the imperial crown. They appear in lists of kings of the Romans, but not of emperors.

The gap between king and emperor was real in medieval law. A crowned emperor had a claim to power in Italy. He also had a special rank in Christendom that a king of the Romans did not.

The imperial election in practice

The Golden Bull of 1356 made Frankfurt the place of election. It made Aachen the place of the royal crowning. Elections were fiercely political. In 1519 Charles of Habsburg, already King of Spain, beat King Francis I of France. Large loans from the Fugger bank of Augsburg helped him win over the electors.

From 1519, each new emperor had to accept a written pledge called an electoral capitulation. It set out the rights of the princes and the limits on his power. These pledges became a key part of the empire's constitution. After the Thirty Years' War, the Peace of Westphalia confirmed the princes' rights further.

Longest and shortest reigns

What the Holy Roman emperor could and could not do

The emperor was the highest-ranking ruler in Latin Christendom. But his powers were limited.

• He could lead the empire in war, grant titles and privileges, act as supreme judge, and summon the Imperial Diet.
• He could not tax the empire at will, raise an imperial army without the Diet's consent, or override the rights of the princes in their own lands.

So the most successful emperors were those with large family lands of their own. The Habsburgs, for example, held Austria, Bohemia and Hungary. The Holy Roman Empire page explains the empire's institutions.

Dynasties at a glance

The emperors after 962 came from a small number of families. The Ottonians, or Saxon dynasty, and the Salians held the title for most of the 900s and 1000s. The Hohenstaufen led in the 1100s and early 1200s.

After a long gap, the Luxembourg and Wittelsbach houses fought for the crown in the 1300s. From 1438 the Habsburgs held it in every generation but one. From 1745 their heirs, the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, held it until the end.

Emperors and the papacy

The papal crowning tied the emperor to Rome and to the Pope. It also led to conflict. The Investiture Controversy set Henry IV against Pope Gregory VII in the 1070s. Frederick I and Frederick II fought the popes and their allies in Italy for decades.

Louis IV was crowned in Rome in 1328 without the Pope's approval. The Pope had cast him out of the church. The last crowning of an emperor by a pope was that of Charles V, at Bologna in 1530.

Women and the imperial title

No woman was elected Holy Roman emperor. But several empresses held great influence as wives, mothers or regents. Theophanu, a Byzantine princess, ruled for her young son Otto III from 983 to 991.

Maria Theresa ruled the Habsburg lands from 1740. Her husband Francis I was elected emperor in 1745. She was empress as his wife, not in her own right.

After 1806: who inherited the imperial title

The title "Holy Roman emperor" ended with the empire in 1806. But emperors did not vanish from central Europe.

The German Empire of 1871 was a new state, not a revival of the Holy Roman Empire. Even so, nationalist writers sometimes called it the "Second Reich". The Austrian and German emperors both lost their thrones at the end of the First World War in 1918. The head of the Habsburg house now holds the family's claim. It carries no official title.

The imperial regalia

The emperors' crown jewels, the Imperial Regalia, survive largely intact. They include the imperial crown, the orb, the sceptre, the imperial sword and the Holy Lance. For centuries the city of Nuremberg kept them.

In 1796, as French armies advanced, they were moved for safety. In the end they reached Vienna. They are still there, in the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg.

Verdict: the Holy Roman emperor list

The Holy Roman emperor list runs from Charlemagne in 800, or Otto I in 962, to Francis II in 1806. It has three great phases. First came the medieval German dynasties. Then came a time of mixed houses, from 1250 to 1437.

Last came almost unbroken Habsburg rule from 1438. The disputed point is where the list starts. That is why this page lists the emperors before 962 apart. For the name of the empire, see the sacred Roman empire page.

The wider story, from Augustus to 1453, is on the Eastern Roman Empire page.

Sources checked for this page

• Britannica, "Holy Roman Empire"
• Britannica, "Holy Roman Empire: Charlemagne's successors"
• Britannica, "Otto I"
• World History Encyclopedia, "Holy Roman Empire"
• Heraldica (François Velde), "The Holy Roman Empire"
• Britannica, "Francis II, Holy Roman emperor"

Questions people also ask

Who was the first Holy Roman emperor?

Charlemagne, crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800, if the empire is dated from 800. Otto I, crowned on 2 February 962, if it is dated from 962, as many historians prefer.

Who was the last Holy Roman emperor?

Francis II, who reigned from 1792 until he dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806.

How was the Holy Roman emperor chosen?

The prince-electors chose a King of the Romans, who then became emperor, until 1508 only after coronation by the Pope. From 1356 the Golden Bull fixed the number of electors at seven.

How many Holy Roman emperors were there?

This list has 45: 11 crowned before 962 and 34 from Otto I to Francis II. Counts differ depending on whether the emperors before 962 are included, and on how co-emperors are treated.

Was Charles V a Holy Roman emperor?

Yes. He was elected in 1519, crowned by Pope Clement VII at Bologna in 1530, and gave up the imperial title in 1556. He was also King Charles I of Spain.

Were all Holy Roman emperors German?

Most were German princes, but not all. Charles V was born in Ghent and raised in the Netherlands, several early emperors were Italian nobles, and Francis I came from the Duchy of Lorraine.

Who was the most powerful Holy Roman emperor?

Historians often name Charles V, whose lands included Spain and its American empire, the Netherlands, much of Italy and the Habsburg lands in central Europe. Among medieval emperors, Otto I and Frederick I Barbarossa are frequently cited.