Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire

by Peter H. Wilson

Overview

An Economist and Sunday Times Best Book of the Year

“Deserves to be hailed as a magnum opus.”
—Tom Holland, The Telegraph

“Ambitious…seeks to rehabilitate the Holy Roman Empire’s reputation by re-examining its place within the larger sweep of European history…Succeeds splendidly in rescuing the empire from its critics.”
—Wall Street Journal

Massive, ancient, and powerful, the Holy Roman Empire formed the heart of Europe from its founding by Charlemagne to its destruction by Napoleon a millennium later. An engine for inventions and ideas, with no fixed capital and no common language or culture, it derived its legitimacy from the ideal of a unified Christian civilization—though this did not prevent emperors from clashing with the pope for supremacy.

In this strikingly ambitious book, Peter H. Wilson explains how the Holy Roman Empire worked, why it was so important, and how it changed over the course of its existence. The result is a tour de force that raises countless questions about the nature of political and military power and the legacy of its offspring, from Nazi Germany to the European Union.

“Engrossing…Wilson is to be congratulated on writing the only English-language work that deals with the empire from start to finish…A book that is relevant to our own times.”
—Brendan Simms, The Times

“The culmination of a lifetime of research and thought…an astonishing scholarly achievement.”
—The Spectator

“Remarkable…Wilson has set himself a staggering task, but it is one at which he succeeds heroically.”
—Times Literary Supplement

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674244863
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	06/02/2020
Pages:	1008
Sales rank:	127,187
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 6.00(h) x 2.40(d)

About the Author

Peter H. Wilson is the author of Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire, an Economist and Sunday Times Best Book, and The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy, winner of the Distinguished Book Award from the Society of Military History. He has appeared on BBC Radio and has written for Prospect, the Los Angeles Times, and the Financial Times. President of the Society for the History of War and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Wilson is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford. His work has been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, and Spanish.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

List of Tables xiii

Maps xv

Family Trees xlvii

Note on Form lxiii

Acknowledgements lxv

Introduction 1

Part I Ideal

1 Two Swords 19

2 Christendom 77

3 Sovereignty 137

Part II Belonging

4 Lands 179

5 Identities 233

6 Nation 255

Part III Governance

7 Kingship 295

8 Territory 353

9 Dynasty 422

Part IV Society

10 Authority 485

11 Association 547

12 Justice 603

13 Afterlife 655

Glossary 687

Appendix 1 Emperors 800-1806 693

Appendix 2 German Kings to 1519 695

Appendix 3 Kings of Italy 774-962 697

Chronology 699

List of Abbreviations 755

Notes 757

Index 885

Editorial Reviews

An impressive and inspiring magnum opus that tells the history of the Holy Roman Empire from its medieval beginnings to its end in the nineteenth century…Wilson gives an overview on the history of its perception in the following centuries and its role in modern political debates. What is even more impressive is Wilson’s approach to the book’s structure: instead of telling the empire’s history chronologically, he chooses an analytical outline. In this way, he points out connections as well as breaks between the medieval and the early modern empire…[A] tour de force.

Austrian History Yearbook - Lena Oetzel

If, like most people, you know little more about the Holy Roman Empire than Voltaire’s bon mot—that it ‘was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire’—then this is the book for you. In his masterly study of the original ‘1,000-year Reich’ (Hitler’s was merely a grotesque caricature), the Oxford professor Peter H. Wilson condenses a great deal of modern scholarship while wearing his learning lightly… Wilson’s account is distinctive in treating the empire neither as a sequence of obstacles on the path to national self-determination, nor as a blueprint for the European Union. Instead, he seeks to understand how and why it worked.

Sunday Times - Daniel Johnson

Hugely impressive… Wilson is an assured guide through the millennium-long labyrinth of papal–imperial relations.

Literary Review - John Adamson

An ambitious, sprawling tome that seeks to rehabilitate the Holy Roman Empire's reputation by re-examining its place within the larger sweep of European history…Heart of Europe succeeds splendidly in rescuing the empire from its critics.

Wall Street Journal - Mark Molesky

Distils in over a thousand pages the millennium from Charlemagne to Napoleon. It is indispensable to any serious library.

Daily Telegraph - Simon Heffer

In his remarkable book, Wilson argues that a broad and deep perspective on the old Reich—broader and deeper than those available to either Charles IV or Goethe—discloses a fundamentally positive vision of that much-maligned institution. Wilson has set himself a staggering task, but it is one at which he succeeds heroically. Over the course of nearly a thousand pages, Wilson recounts with unflagging lucidity the history of an empire spanning continental Europe from the North Sea to the Vistula and from the Baltic to southern Italy, which endured for more than a millennium, between Charlemagne and Napoleon. Wilson does more. He tracks the medieval Empire back to its ancient roots, and he excavates its subterranean modern afterlife. His book amounts to a panoramic vision of pre-modern Europe, expanding outward from the vast and varied landscapes of the Reich…Despite its vast sweep, this is remarkably fine-grained history.

Times Literary Supplement - Len Scales

Wilson has given [the Holy Roman Empire] its longest and most readable one-volume history in the modern era.

Christian Science Monitor - Steve Donoghue

Superb… Wilson attempts something very ambitious—to treat the history by categories… Wilson’s history represents the culmination of a lifetime of research and thought, and in its scope and depth of detail is an astonishing scholarly achievement. The author moves from the grand themes to detail with felicity…Wilson uses a relaxed and easy prose, turning antiquated and odd pieces of evidence or description into approachable and comprehensible explanations… [What] pleasure that a massive work of scholarship like Wilson’s can give the conscientious reader… This book [is] a very stimulating read.

The Spectator - Jonathan Steinberg

Engrossing… Even those who know the empire well will read this book with profit… Peter Wilson is to be congratulated on writing the only English-language work that deals with the empire from start to finish and on the basis of staggering erudition.

The Times - Brendan Simms

"Hugely impressive . . . Wilson is an assured guide through the millennium-long labyrinth of papal–imperial relations." ---Literary Review

From the Publisher

2015-11-04
Wilson (History/Univ. of Hull; The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy, 2009, etc.) delves into the makeup, structure, and lands of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted "more than a millennium, well over twice as long as imperial Rome itself." Beginning with the coronation of Charlemagne in 800, the empire lasted until the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars brought about its dissolution. The author takes Voltaire to task with his comment that it was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, and he meticulously explains how it was structured and ruled. The Holy Roman Empire was unlike any other, defined by countless autonomous kingdoms led by an emperor with a divine mission. The emperor combined secular and ecclesiastical roles, and he existed as a protector of the papacy—but not a master. The empire lacked the things that constituted a single political core, such as a stable heartland, a capital city, central political institutions, or even a single "nation." The Reichstag, representing the imperial estates, not the general population, had a broader remit than other countries, enacting law codes, military regulations, and policy implementation. The author avoids chronological narration, arguing that the empire never had a linear development. He traces the power and influence of the imperial church system and the educated clergy as well as the lords' power over clerical appointments. As princes gained power, structure switched to a status hierarchy, persistent and increasingly rigid. To explain the details of this nebulous empire ruled by autonomous princes, Wilson takes thoroughness to a painful threshold. Many aspects can only be pinpointed with semantics. The author's scholarship is unassailable, and his writing ability is clean and readable, but the subject is just too convoluted and even tedious to readers without deep historical background knowledge of this enormous federation. An encyclopedic reference work to be consulted but likely not completely read by anyone other than fellow academics.

Kirkus Reviews