The Holy Roman Empire: holy, Roman, AND an empire

Weird Medieval Guys

It's time to get continental because on this episode of the Weird Medieval Guys podcast, we're heading to the Holy Roman Empire! When Voltaire famously said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire, he probably didn't think that his words would haunt history classrooms and conversations centuries in the future. Unfortunately they did, and so we are left to deal with the legacy of this smarmy soundbite. Join Olivia and Aran as they unpack what on earth this crazy, crazy thing really was and try to deliver a verdict on whether Voltaire was right.

For more on some of what we discuss, please check out:

• Nation States as Empire, Empires as Nation States by Krishan Kumar
  • https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Krishan-Kumar-13/publication/227138385_Nation-states_as_empires_empires_as_nation-states_two_principles_one_practice/links/56a7ae0a08ae860e0255800e/Nation-states-as-empires-empires-as-nation-states-two-principles-one-practice.pdf
• Rulers on the Road: Itinerant Rule in the Holy Roman Empire, AD 919–1519
  • https://www.carlmueller-crepon.org/publication/itinerant_rule/MNKM_itin_rulers_20240430.pdf
• IMPERIAL FANTASIES: IMAGINING CHRISTIAN EMPIRE IN THREE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY VERSIONS OF "THE BOOK OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE by Marianne O'Doherty
  • https://www.jstor.org/stable/26396423

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