The political complex—neither Roman nor holy—established in 800, and exercising its hegemony over most of central Europe until it was dissolved in 1806 by its last emperor to prevent it from falling into the hands of Napoleon Bornaparte.
Tracing its origin back to the time of Charlesmagne who was crowned its Emperor by the pope in 800 CE, the Holy Roman Empire was a complex political entity composed of dozens of different pricipalities, provinces and cities, with the local jurisdiction of each falling under local princes, dukes and lords. Centered on what is now modern Germany, its also encompassed at one time what is now Austria, Czech Republic, Switzerland, the Low Countries as well as parts of France, Italy and Poland.
Ruled over by an Emperor, the nature of this office, however, ceased to be hereditary when a new constitution, known as the Golden Bull, came into effect in 1356. Now, instead, the emperor (or Kaiser) was elected by seven prince-electors; these included the three prince-archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier and four other secular princes from Bohemia, Brandenburg, the Palatinate, and Saxony. Once elected by them, he was crowned by the pope. While the pope had no say in the election, it was always advantageous for him to exert his influence on the prince-electors as much as possible. Major decisions affecting the empire was discussed and decided by periodical gatherings of the princes and magnates at imperial parliaments called diets or Reichstag (the Diet of Worms which condemned Luther for heresy, e.g., meant the parliament meeting in the city of Worms). In 1273 Rudolf I (putative 'founder' of the Habsburg dynasty) gained the German crown, followed by Austria five years later, and thus became; except for several short interruptions, emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were, from then on, elected from the Habsburg dynasty.
While Spain was never part of the Empire as it were, Charles V—the king of Spain but also a member of the Habsburg dynasty—was elected Emperor in 1519; from then on Spain was very much involved in its affairs and the Empire became in effect a Habsburg possession. The Empire survived until 1806, which it was dissolved by its last emperor, Francis II, to prevent its crown from falling into the hands of the rapaciously ambitious and glory-thirsty Napoleon Bornaparte.
Bibliography:
R. J. W. Evans, at al., eds., The Holy Roman Empire, 1495-1806 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Charles Ingrao, The Habsburg Monarchy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Peter Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire 1495-1806. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999.
Brendan Simms, Europe. The Struggle for Supremacy. 1453 to the Present. London: Penguin, 2014. Though not about the Holy Roman Empire per se, this book traces the significance of it for subsequent European history. "Breath-stopping," as one review puts it, but it is not a book for beginners; it assumes the reader is already familiar with the fundamental facts of European history.
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