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Quiz about The Holy Roman Empire
Quiz about The Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire Trivia Quiz


The Holy Roman Empire ... Some say it was neither "holy," nor "Roman," nor an "empire." What do you know about this entity? This quiz is 'old-fashioned history' with names and dates.

A multiple-choice quiz by snediger. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
snediger
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
323,774
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
1502
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 103 (4/10), Guest 166 (9/10), Guest 188 (9/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Charlemagne is universally acknowledged as the father of the *concept* of a restored Roman Imperium in western Europe. He reluctantly allowed himself to be crowned "Emperor" by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day. What year did this happen? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. After Charlemagne's death, for the next hundred or so years, Charlemagne's restored Roman Empire was a vibrant, viable entity that grew stronger.


Question 3 of 10
3. The next person to embody the concept of a "united empire" was German king Otto I (912-973). But before he took the "Roman" throne, he was responsible for ending a civil war and uniting enough warring tribes within his domain to break the back of an invasion from the East at the battle of Lechfeld. Who were these fierce, feared invaders? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Like Charlemagne at his coronation, Otto was wary of Church influence and would have preferred to make his empire more secular.


Question 5 of 10
5. From Otto's son onward, the German kings began referring to themselves as "Kings of the Romans," although their patchwork kingdom only stretched as far as the tribes who submitted to it. However, these Kings assumed the mantle of leadership in an unusual way. What was it? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. It's now the beginning of the thirteenth century and an unusual German King, Frederick II, takes the throne. He was known to be a real Renaissance man - "stupor mundi" (wonder of the world) for his interest in the arts and his gift of languages. However, oddly enough, his favorite place to be was NOT Germany, but his native land, Italy. Where in Italy was this king's palace? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. By the early 1300s, it was set in stone by Charles IV, in the "Golden Bull," just how many electors of the Holy Roman Empire there could be. How many? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. First there was the Protestant reformation, and then the Thirty Years' War. Northern German influence over the Holy Roman throne was now nil, and the affinity between Germany and Italy was completely destroyed. To top it off, the Protestantism rampant in northern Germany was in opposition to the now-ruling Catholic Habsburg emperors. The focal point of the Empire migrates downward, and history books after this point begin to refer to the H.R.E. as another entity. What is this entity called? (Hint: think Hitler's birthplace.) Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. It's 1740, and there's a strong woman on the throne: Maria Teresa. Although she was set up as Empress and German Queen, a new energetic state arose to her north to challenge her leadership of all the Germanies. This state's taste for Habsburg lands precipitated the War of the Austrian Succession. What new state was this, known for its fast-moving, efficient army? (Hint: Think a pleasant shade of dark blue.) Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. And now the Holy Roman Empire stumbles to an end, and we come full circle. Napoleon had come to consider himself to be the new Charlemagne and leader of a "revived Rome." He was offended that another empire still existed that historically laid claim - however weakly - to this concept. He decided to abolish the title of Holy Roman Emperor and to dissolve whatever structure remained of it. Then what happened in 1806? Hint



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quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Charlemagne is universally acknowledged as the father of the *concept* of a restored Roman Imperium in western Europe. He reluctantly allowed himself to be crowned "Emperor" by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day. What year did this happen?

Answer: 800 A.D.

I say he was "reluctantly" crowned emperor because Charlemagne had no idea the Pope was going to do what he did. At the time the Western Roman Empire was defunct, and all imperial power in Italy was supposed to be Byzantine. Pope Leo, however, realized that having such a strong protector from another power base just might do two things: shatter what was left of Byzantine rule in Italy, and enhance his own power and prestige. Charlemagne, once he thought things over, soon warmed to the idea, so he ends up getting the credit for the concept of one empire under one church.
(www.enWikipedia.com)
2. After Charlemagne's death, for the next hundred or so years, Charlemagne's restored Roman Empire was a vibrant, viable entity that grew stronger.

Answer: false

Sadly, Charlemagne's empire crumbled after it passed to his third son Louis. Louis's sons were more interested in parceling out territory than continuing such a grand concept. Unable to resist not only the Viking raiders, but also petty squabbling among themselves, Charlemagne's "empire" was as dead as a doornail by 850 A.D. Charlemagne's grandsons did more to break up the empire than to unite it.
("Milestones of History: 100 Decisive Events in the History of Mankind," W.W. Norton & Company, 1971)

The empire fell apart and any alleged institutional continuity between Charlmagne's 'Roman' empire and the Holy Roman Empire is pure myth. German and Italian historians have long regarded 962 as the date of the foundation of a revived empire with a (more or less) continuous institutional existence.
3. The next person to embody the concept of a "united empire" was German king Otto I (912-973). But before he took the "Roman" throne, he was responsible for ending a civil war and uniting enough warring tribes within his domain to break the back of an invasion from the East at the battle of Lechfeld. Who were these fierce, feared invaders?

Answer: Magyars

Otto managed to unite four tribes (Franks, Swabians, Bohemians, Bavarians) to stop the Magyars in their tracks. The Magyars were the ancestors of the modern-day Hungarians. They themselves converted to Western Christianity from about 1000 A.D onwards.
("Milestones of History")
4. Like Charlemagne at his coronation, Otto was wary of Church influence and would have preferred to make his empire more secular.

Answer: false

On the contrary, Otto thought his victory at Lechfeld was due to Divine Providence, and saw his subsequent campaigns against the Eastern Slavs as Crusades. His Christianity by the sword paid dividends to the Western papacy (especially with the Hungarian conversion) for years to come, and stopped Eastern Orthodox Christianity from gaining a foothold in Central Europe.
("Milestones of History")
5. From Otto's son onward, the German kings began referring to themselves as "Kings of the Romans," although their patchwork kingdom only stretched as far as the tribes who submitted to it. However, these Kings assumed the mantle of leadership in an unusual way. What was it?

Answer: They were elected

They were elected by the five leading tribes. In the 900s and 1000s the leading tribes were the Salian Franks, Ripuarian Franks, Swabians, Bavarians, and Saxons. After the candidate became "king," he could only become "Emperor" if he was crowned by the Pope. That nicety was done away with in the mid-1500s, but not before the Papacy started to call the German Emperor "Holy."
(www.enWikipedia.com, Microsoft Encarta)
6. It's now the beginning of the thirteenth century and an unusual German King, Frederick II, takes the throne. He was known to be a real Renaissance man - "stupor mundi" (wonder of the world) for his interest in the arts and his gift of languages. However, oddly enough, his favorite place to be was NOT Germany, but his native land, Italy. Where in Italy was this king's palace?

Answer: Sicily

Frederick's mom, Constance, was queen of Sicily, and his father, Henry VI, was Holy Roman Emperor. His love for Sicily was very strong, and his patronization of the School for Poetry there led to a literary style that evolved into the modern Italian language. It's too bad for Sicilians that their history became tied up with the Angevin French and the Spanish Bourbons. Sicily (and Naples), because of bad rule, went from potential contenders to palookas.
(www.enWikipedia.com)
7. By the early 1300s, it was set in stone by Charles IV, in the "Golden Bull," just how many electors of the Holy Roman Empire there could be. How many?

Answer: seven

It was decided on seven - Trier, Mainz, Cologne (three archbishop-holdings), Brandenburg, Saxony, Bohemia, and the Rhine (or the Palatinate). During the Thirty Years War (because Bavaria was devoutly Catholic and supported the Catholic Emperor), the number of electors was expanded to eight.
(Henry Littlefield, "The History of Europe, 1500-1848," Barnes & Noble, 1964)
8. First there was the Protestant reformation, and then the Thirty Years' War. Northern German influence over the Holy Roman throne was now nil, and the affinity between Germany and Italy was completely destroyed. To top it off, the Protestantism rampant in northern Germany was in opposition to the now-ruling Catholic Habsburg emperors. The focal point of the Empire migrates downward, and history books after this point begin to refer to the H.R.E. as another entity. What is this entity called? (Hint: think Hitler's birthplace.)

Answer: Austria

Historians begin to refer to the Holy Roman Empire as "Austria" by the end of the seventeenth century. It's not that the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist; due to the vitality of the Habsburg line, it just moved downward. The Emperors were still, in name only, rulers of all the Germanies.
("Milestones of History")
9. It's 1740, and there's a strong woman on the throne: Maria Teresa. Although she was set up as Empress and German Queen, a new energetic state arose to her north to challenge her leadership of all the Germanies. This state's taste for Habsburg lands precipitated the War of the Austrian Succession. What new state was this, known for its fast-moving, efficient army? (Hint: Think a pleasant shade of dark blue.)

Answer: Prussia

This was an unfortunate coincidence for Maria Teresa: In the SAME year that she became Empress - 1740 - Frederick II of Prussia (known to the generations to come as "the Great," came to his throne. The Prussian war machine was the driving force in the coalition against Maria Teresa, but after they gained Silesia, they withdrew from the war. Austria then dispatched France and Bavaria easily. (Maria Teresa is the mother of Marie "Let-'em-eat-cake" Antoinette.)
("History of Europe")
10. And now the Holy Roman Empire stumbles to an end, and we come full circle. Napoleon had come to consider himself to be the new Charlemagne and leader of a "revived Rome." He was offended that another empire still existed that historically laid claim - however weakly - to this concept. He decided to abolish the title of Holy Roman Emperor and to dissolve whatever structure remained of it. Then what happened in 1806?

Answer: Holy Roman Emperor Francis II resigns and abolishes the Imperium himself

Francis II, who apparently believed "if I can't have it, nobody can," stole Napoleon's thunder by abolishing the Holy Roman Empire himself. He ended up making out okay, though, becoming the first president of the German Confederation, set up by Metternich after Napoleon was put down for good. Charlemagne's dream - under a German ruler - ended with a whimper in 1806, and Napoleon's dream ended in 1815; but the concept itself of a unified Europe remains alive even today.
("Encyclopedia Britannica, multimedia edition")
Source: Author snediger

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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