Authoritative and accessible, The Holy Roman Empire is an incomparable introduction to this momentous period in the history of Europe.

Table of Contents

• Translator's Preface to the English Edition
• A Note on the Translation
• Introduction
• What Was the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation?
• A Body Made of Head and Limbs
• Institutional Consolidation, 1495–1521
• The Challenge of the Reformation, 1521–1555
• From the Consolidation to the Crisis of the Imperial Institutions, 1555–1618
• The Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia
• The Westphalian Order and the Renewed Rise of the Emperor
• Political Polarization, 1740–1790
• The Dissolution of the Empire, 1790–1806
• Once Again: What Was the Holy Roman Empire?
• The Roman-German Emperors of the Early Modern Period
• Select Bibliography