The Holy Roman Empire

Book categories: Holy Roman Empire, Carolingians, Ottonians, Salians, Hohenstaufens, Alfonso X, Luxembourg, Charles IV, Medieval, Habsburgs, Maximilian I, Charles V, Maximilian II, Thirty Years' War, Germany, France, Crusades, Europe, Videos & DVDs

The Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire 1495-1806 by Peter H. Wilson. Explains key stages in the empire's development within the context of European history.

The Bee and the Eagle: Napoleonic France and the End of the Holy Roman Empire edited by Alan Forrest and Peter H. Wilson. Specialists present original findings on political cultures, war and military institutions, monarchy, nationalism and identity, and everyday experience.

The Holy Roman Empire by James Bryce. A classic history of the empire. Out of print, but available from Alibris.

An Annotated Bibliography of the Holy Roman Empire by Jonathan W. Zophy. An overview of more than 3,000 works. Limited to printed sources available in the U.S. Out of print, but available from Alibris.

More Books About the Holy Roman Empire
Books About German Royal History

The Carolingian Emperors

Books About Charlemagne and His Successors

The Ottonian Emperors (Saxons)

Continental Saxons From the Migration Period to the Tenth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective edited by Dennis H. Green and Frank Siegmund. The Continental Saxons developed from a subsistence economy to become rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. A historian introduces the topic, evaluating the reliability of sources. Archaeologists then describe the Saxons' living conditions and social customs.

The Complete Works of Luidprand of Cremona by Luidprand of Cremona. Includes Historia Ottonis, about Saxon emperor Otto the Great, and Liudprand's description of his own misadventures as Ottonian legate at the Byzantine court in 968.

Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg by Thietmar, translated by David A. Warner. One of the most important sources for the history of the 10th and early 11th centuries. Thietmar, who lived in eastern Saxony, had opinions on everything, from politics to shocking women's fashions.

Queenship and Sanctity: The Lives of Mathilda and the Epitaph of Adelheid by Sean Gilsdorf. About Catholic saints Mathilda (wife of Germany's King Henry I) and Adelheid (Adelaide), wife of German king and Holy Roman Emperor Otto I.

The Empress Theophano: Byzantium and the West at the Turn of the First Millennium edited by Adelbert Davids. The Byzantine princess Theophano married Holy Roman Emperor Otto II in the 10th century. This book includes essays on Theophano's education, surroundings, and the image of noble women in the Middle Ages.

Otto III by Gerd Althoff, translated by Phyllis G. Jestice. Otto III (980-1002) was one of the most powerful rulers in Europe in the late tenth century. His reign had a lasting impact on Germany and Italy for generations. This biography uses Otto's life to explain how early medieval kingship worked.

Heinrich the Fowler: Father of the Ottonian Empire by Mirella Patzer. Novel about German king Henry I (Henry the Fowler), founder of the Saxon dynasty, and his wife Matilda.

The Salian Emperors

Conrad II, 990-1039: Emperor of Three Kingdoms by Herwig Wolfram, translated by Denise A. Kaiser. Biography of emperor Conrad II -- ruler of Germany, Italy, and Burgundy -- who founded the Salian dynasty.

The Salian Century: Main Currents in an Age of Transition by Stefan Weinfurter, translated by Barbara M. Bowlus. A fresh look at the lives and ambitions of the Salian emperors. Includes maps and other illustrations.

Imperial Lives and Letters of the Eleventh Century by Theodor Ernst Mommsen and Karl F. Morrison. Letters of Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Germany.

Henry IV of Germany 1056-1106 by I. S. Robinson. The first book in English devoted to the German king and emperor Henry IV (1056-1106), whose reign was one of the most momentous in German history.

Germany in the High Middle Ages: c.1050-1200 by Horst Fuhrmann, translated by Timothy Reuter. Describes the gradual erosion of the power of the German emperors.

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, c.900-c.1024 edited by Timothy Reuter. Includes a section on the former Carolingian lands during this period.

The Hohenstaufen and Welf Emperors

The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa by Otto I, Bishop of Freising. The author, uncle of Frederick I Barbarossa, wrote this official biography, which covers the first eight years of the emperor's reign. Out of print, but available from Alibris.

Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor by David Abulafia. This biography dispels Frederick's reputation as a monarch tolerant to the Jews and Muslims, defiant of papal rule, and eager to create a secular world order. Out of print, but available from Alibris.

The Falcon of Palermo by Maria R. Bordihn. Fictional account of the life of 13th century Holy Roman emperor Frederick II.

More Books About Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen

Medieval Europe

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 1, c. 500-c.700 edited by Paul Fouracre. Covers Europe in the transitional period between the later Roman world and the early Middle Ages (before the Holy Roman Empire). Scheduled to be published in March 2005.

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 2, c.700-c.900 edited by Rosamond McKitterick. Covers most of the period of Frankish and Carolingian dominance in western Europe. The authors examine the interaction between rulers and ruled, how power actually worked, and the society and culture of Europe as a whole.

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, c.900-c.1024 edited by Timothy Reuter. Includes a section on the former Carolingian lands during the era of the Ottonian emperors.

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 4, c.1024-c.1198, Part 1 edited by David Luscombe and Jonathan Riley-Smith. Covers the radical reform of the Western Church; the appearance of new kingdoms and states; the Crusades, knighthood and law; and more.

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 4, c.1024-c.1198, Part 2 edited by David Luscombe and Jonathan Riley-Smith. About the western empire (mainly Germany), the papacy, Europe, the Byzantine empire, and the settlements in Palestine and Syria established by Crusaders.

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 5, c.1198-c.1300 edited by David Abulafia. Includes a chapter about the Welfs, Hohenstaufen and Habsburgs.

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, c.1300-c.1415 edited by Michael Jones. Provides a wide-ranging account of a period of major social, political and cultural change. Illustrated by maps, figures and plates.

The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 7, c.1415-c.1500 edited by Christopher Allmand. Presents a broad view of late medieval society across Europe.

Books About Alfonso X of Leon and Castile
Books About Charles IV of Luxemburg
Books About Luxembourg
More Books About Medieval Europe

Habsburg Emperors

Books About the Habsburgs

Maximilian I

Ruling the Waves by Harald Kleinschmidt. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, the search for islands, and the transformation of the European world picture, c. 1500. (Note that this book is very expensive.)

Marketing Maximilian: The Visual Ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor by Larry Silver. How the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) shaped his image to strengthen the power of the Hapsburg dynasty and establish the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Charles V

Emperor Charles V by Wim Blockmans. Examines how the 16th century Holy Roman emperor achieved his power.

The Reign of Charles V by William S. Maltby. Charles V ruled the first truly global empire. This study looks at the emperor as a person, and examines his policies and their consequences.

Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536 by James Reston Jr. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Turkish sultan Suleyman the Magnificent were remarkably similar. Each was a poet; each was the most powerful man on his continent; each was called Defender of the Faith. The epic clash between the two young rulers shook the world and ended the Renaissance.

Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War by James Tracy. Campaign strategy, international finance, and domestic politics.

The World of Emperor Charles V edited by W. P. Blockmans and Nicolette Mout.

Charles V: The World Emperor by Harald Kleinschmidt. Biography of the 16th century Holy Roman emperor, one of the most interesting and perplexing of the great European monarchs.

The Emperor and His Chancellor: A Study of the Imperial Chancellery Under Gattinara by John M. Headley. Examines the transformation of the administration of European monarchies and the tense relations between the young Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) and chancellor Mercurino de Gattrina.

More Books About Charles V

Maximilian II

Emperor Maximilian II by Paula S. Fichtner. Biography of the Holy Roman emperor (who was also king of Bohemia and Hungary).

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War by C. V. Wedgwood. Classic, comprehensive account of the war. Includes maps and charts.

The Thirty Years' War edited by Geoffrey Parker and Simon Adams. Covering the horrors of the war, the politics of the period and all the major figures, this book includes maps, a six-nation chronology, and genealogies.

The Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 by Richard Bonney. A brief look at this most devastating of wars and its impact.

The Thirty Years War: The Holy Roman Empire and Europe, 1618-48 by Ronald G. Asch. Explains that the Thirty Years' War was caused by a religious and constitutional struggle in the Holy Roman Empire.

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On DVD

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