Secondary Religions: Lutherianism since 1555, and Calvinism since 1648.
Currency: Solidus > Triens > Denarius > Pfennig
Flags
Imperial Banner 1430-1806
Coat of Arms(Francis II 1792-1806)
Ancient era
200 - (c.) Alemanni invade the Roman province of Germania. They expanded from the Main River basin.
300 - (c.) Western Roman Empire overrun by Germanic tribes. Since the earliest days they could not be daunted, not even by Julius Caesar. Right now, the Germanic tribes are fleeing the advances of the Huns from the East.
Medieval era
496 - Alemannia is conquered under the Frankish Empire.
746 - Alemannia is now under Carolingian rule.
800 - (25 December) Pope Leo crowns Frankish king Charlemagne: He becomes the first Emperor of the Romans and creates the first "Reich"("Empire") - Roman Empire. This act revived the title of Roman Emperor in Western Europe for the first time since 476. Retroactively, historians call the 800-814 period as being "Frankish Empire". Charlemagne and his successors had recieved the "translatio imperii"("transfer of rule"), meaning that the Emperor had the highest power, which had been passed down from the Ancient Roman emperors. Latin is the main language, AT LEAST until 962.
814 - Charlemagne dies. His Frankish Empire is given to the sons. Charlemagne is succeeded by Louis the Pious.
and splits into three countries: West Francia, Lotharingia, and East Francia.
840 - Louis the Pious dies. Oldest son Lothair I then claims that he rules his younger brothers and their lands.
841 ⚔ - Battle of Fontenoy. Lothair I lost the battle against his brothers Louis the German and Charles the Bald. Lothair was already a ruler of Italy, Louis in Bavaria, and Charles in Aquitaine.
843 - Treaty of Verdun. Lothair I lost the battle against his brothers Louis the German and Charles the Bald. and after the treaty they all split: Lothair gets the central part of the empire; the Low Countries, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and Italy. This becomes Lotharingia. Louis the German gets East Francia, all the lands east of the Rhine and north of Italy. Charles recieves West Francia.
843-919 - After the Treaty of Verdun, this land becomes "Francia Orientalis"(Kingdom of the East Franks/East Francia). East Francia is divided into four Duchies: Swabia(Alamannia), Franconia, Saxony, and Bavaria(with Carinthia).
869 - Death of Lothair II - Eastern parts of Lotharingia added to East Francia.
900 - East Francia also gets the moniker "Regnum Teutonicum"("Teutonic Kingdom"/"Kingdom of Germany").
912 - Henry I the Fowler(Heinrich der Finkler / Henricius Auceps) becomes the Duke of Saxony. He's called "the Fowler"(someone who hunts wildfowl), due to his love for hunting.
919-936 - Henry I becomes King of the Germans and rules until his death in 2 July. He starts the Ottonian Dynasty and is condiered to be the founder of the medieval German state, that was until then known as East Francia. It was said that when he got the news he became king, that he was on a hunting trip fixing birding nets.
962-973 - (2 February) Otto I is crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope John XII, thus turning East Francia into the Roman Empire. People had various different ways of referring to this country. People called it "universum regnum"("the whole kingdom"), and "imperium christianum"(Christian empire"). Some people consider this the "true" start of the Holy Roman Empire. Otto won a big war against the Magyars and later conquered northern Italy.
1024 - Conrad II, son of Count Henry of Speyer and Adelheid of Alsace, elected king.
1027-1039 - Rule of Conrad II, as emperor(crowned 26 March), starts Salian Dynasty. He proves that German monarchy had become strong enough that it no longer depended on contracts between king and dukes alone.
1033 - (2 February) Conrad II assumes crown of Burgundy.
1158-1268 - Rule of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. The Roman Empire reaches its widest extent.
1158-1190 - Rule of Frederick Barbarossa. The rare Emperor who would truly unite the Empire for a little while.
1200 - Population: 5,000,000.
1280-1806 - The House of Habsburg assumes the mantle of Imperial dynasty. Impressively, the Habsburgs had a line of elected Roman Emperors all the way to the empire's fall. They ruled parts of Switzerland at first, then Austria-Hungary. It ruled Spain and the Netherlands for a while. And Kingdom of Sardinia until the mid-1800s.
1356 - The Golden Bull recommends the sons of prince-electors to learn: German, Latin, Italian, and Czech.
1430 - The Roman Empire is now called the Holy Roman Empire. Imperial Banner adopted as flag.
1454 - Guttenberg publishes his first mass-printed copy of the Bible, thus starting a printing revolution.
1483-1806 - The Residenz City of the Emperor is Vienna.
1500 - Population: 16,000,000.
1515 - Treaty between Emperor Maximilian I(and Duke of Austria), and the King of Poland and Duke of Lithuania. Stated that if the Jagiellon dynasty kings of Bohemia and Hungary died without a male heir, the Habsburg dynasty will take over their territory. This was signed in Vienna.
1515-1523 - Rebellion of the Frisians, led by Pier Gerlofs Donia and Wijerd Jelckama.
1517 - (31 October) Martin Luther publishes the Ninety-five Theses on the castle church in Wittenberg, launching the Protestant Reformation. He protested against corruption like simony or the sale of indulgences at first. Later it became clear that Luther had different ideas about the church doctrine, and that Christians only needed the Bible, not priests. Three important traditions came from the Protestant Reformation: Lutheran, Reformed(Calvinist, Presybterian etc), and Anglican traditions.
1555 - (25 September) Peace of Augsburg, which recognises Lutherianism. It's a temporary settlement of religious conflict and says that each Prince can now decide whether Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism would prevail in his land("cuius regio, eius religio")
1618 - Population: 21,000,000.
1618-1648 - Thirty Years War. A continuation of the wars of religion after the Peace of Augsburg.
1648 - (24 October) Peace of Westphalia, which recognises Calvinism. The peace was actually two treaties, the Treaty of Osnabrück and the Treaty of Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24 of 1648(cities that are really close to each other, 50km), which ended both the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War. Osnabrück was more Protestant(visited by Swedes) and Münster was more Catholic(prefered by French), and they were signed there cos the Catholic and Protestant leaders refused to meet each other. The treaties involved Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, the other German princes, Spain, France, Sweden and representatives of the Dutch Republic. The Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed in 1659, ending the war between France and Spain, is also often considered part of the overall agreement. The results were: 1. Spanish acceptance of the independent Dutch republic, 2. stripping Ferdinand III of power and reinstituting the Holy Roman Empire constitution(where every German Prince can determine the religion of their land again), 3. All parties now recognise the Peace of Augsburg(now with Catholicism, Lutheranism or Calvinism), 4. guaranteed right to citizens to practice their faith even if it doesn't match the majority(in allotted hours or in private), and 5. territorial adjustments. Population of Germany: 16,000,000!
1663-1806 - Seat of the "Eternal Diet" in Regensburg.
1685-1750 - The life of Johann Sebastian Bach.
1700 - The senior branch of Habsburg dies with Charles II of Spain(the messed up one), and is replaced by the House of Bourbon.
1713-1740 - Rule of King Frederick William I of Prussia. Prussia was the small duchy on the shores of the Baltic sea, but it was the one that would succeed in bringing all of the German states together. Frederick William I trained the Prussian army to be one of the finest in Europe.
1740 - Male line of the Habsburgs dies with Charles VI.
1740-1786 - Frederick II "The Great", son of Frederick William I. He used his father's army to win a series of military victories against the much larger Austria and Russia.
1756-1791 - The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
1770-1827 - The life of Ludwig van Beethoven.
1780 - Habsburg branch vanishes with the death of Maria Theresa of Austria. It is succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Loraine, styled formally as House of Habsburg-Lorraine("Habsburg-Lothringen"), but colloquially shortened to Habsburg.
1786 - Population: 26,265,000.
1792-1806 - Rule of Francis II, last Holy Roman Emperor.
1805 - (2 December) Battle of Austerlitz.
1806 - (6 August) Francis II abdicates. End of the Holy Roman Empire, during the Napoleonic Wars.
Modern era
1989 - Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma, wife of Charles I(1916-1918), the last of the Austrian emperors, dies in Switzerland.
Subfactions
Alemannia
Alemannia takes the place in the very southwest of today's Germany(where Stuttgart is), bordering Switzerland almost perfectly. Historically it bordered Burgundy where Switzerland is today. Located near Lake Constance, Black Forest, Alsace, and Danube basin, with border near Burgundy in the Aare River basin.
Alemannia was ruled by a Germanic king in the 4th and 5th centuries. It was then invaded by the Franks and became a duchy in the 6th century. In early 10th century, the HOly Roman Empire turned it into the Duchy of Swabia.
Alemannic Germans have their own dialect of Upper German("Alemannisch"). Today it is spoken by 10 million people in Southern Germany, and Switzerland, France, Austria, Liechtenstein and Italy. In Switzerland it is simply known as Swiss German. From the 2nd to 8th century it used the runic Elder Futhark script, before transitioning to Latin.
Free State of Bavaria (Freistaat Bayern / bav. Freistoot Bayern / lat. Bavaria)
Bavaria is directly east of Alemannia, it takes the southeast of today's Germany and its biggest city is Munich. It is the biggest state of modern Germany. Modern Bavaria has subregions such as the Bavarias, Franconias, and Swabia. It has the highest mountain of Germany(Zugspitze), and has the city of Nuremberg(Nürnberg), famous for its gingerbread. Augsburg and Regensburg are also here. Pope Benedict XVI was born here.
The Bavarian(Bairisch) language came from Upper German. It is also spoken in most of Austria and a small village in Switzerland.
The Denarius was the (bronze?) coin inherited from the Roman Empire. The Solidus was gold.
Organisation
The Holy Roman Empire was far from centralised: It was divided into dozens and eventually hundreds of individual entities, governed by Kings, Dukes, Counts, Bishops, Abbots, and other rulers. Collectively, they were all known as "Princes". The Emperor directly ruled some areas, but could not simply issue decrees and govern autonomously over the Empire. His power was severely restricted by various local leaders.
Rare for Europe, the position of the Emperor was elective. The Emperor is chosen by a small group of prince-electors. Although usually the previous Emperor's dynastic heir is commonly elected to the throne.
Magistrate: A law officer who administers the law in a court. Comes from the ancient Roman "magistratus", a high ranking office who had judicial and executive powers.
(Sovereign) Prince: Ruling Princes are the rulers of a monarchy known as a principality: that are too small to become actual kingdoms, duchies or empires.
