Elizabeth of Bohemia (1292–1330)
Elizabeth of Bohemia was a princess of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty who became queen consort of Bohemia as the first wife of King John the Blind. She was the mother of King of Bohemia, she was the daughter of Wenceslaus II of Judith of Habsburg. Her mother died when Elizabeth was five years old, of her ten children only four of them lived to adulthood: Wenceslaus, Anne and Margaret. Elizabeth and her siblings had a half-sister called Agnes. Six years after the death of her mother, her father remarried, to a Polish princess called Elizabeth Richeza, from the Piast dynasty. Elizabeth's father gained the Crown of Poland. Many notable events occurred during Elizabeth's youth, including a devastating fire at Prague Castle in 1303, the death of her father, the assassination of her brother Wenceslaus. Elizabeth was lived with her sister, Anne, her other sister, Margaret was married at the age of seven to Bolesław III the Generous, after he had come to the court of Bohemia with his mother, Elisabeth of Greater Poland.
Elizabeth went to live with her aunt Kunigunde in a nunnery near Prague Castle. Without a mother, Elizabeth was influenced by her aunt, her sister-in-law, Viola of Teschen and her stepmother, Elizabeth Richeza, came to live with Anne and Elizabeth until the relationship between the sisters deteriorated. In 1306, after the murder of Elizabeth's brother Wenceslaus, Elizabeth's brother-in-law Henry became King of Bohemia. Elizabeth was now the only unmarried princess in the family, at fourteen she was considered a good age to marry, as a result played an important role in the power struggle for the Kingdom of Bohemia; the quarrels of the Bohemian throne between Henry of Bohemia and Rudolph of Habsburg resulted in Rudolph taking Bohemia and marrying Queen Elizabeth Richeza. Elizabeth went to live in Prague Castle with Viola Elisabeth of Cieszyn. However, on Rudolph's death in 1307 the crown returned to her brother-in-law and sister, who wanted Elizabeth to marry the Lord of Bergova for political reasons.
Elizabeth refused to marry Otto and so Elizabeth and Anne fell out with each other. An opposition group was formed with Elizabeth as the figurehead. Elizabeth married the son of Holy Roman Emperor, John of Luxembourg, she knew Henry's weaknesses and this marriage was one of them. The wedding took place on 1 September 1310. Henry and Anne fled to Carinthia where Anne died in 1313; the coronation of John and Elizabeth took place on 7 February 1311. The marriage was a disaster, as Elizabeth needed to give birth to a son to prevent the inheritance of the descendants of her sisters and Agnes, but did not have a son until six years into the marriage, when she gave birth to Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor; the marriage improved for a while as the succession was safely secured, but after a while, Elizabeth grew jealous of John, who had listened to her but whose political opinions differed to hers. In 1319 an alleged plot was uncovered, to replace him with their eldest son Charles. John had the culprits punished.
John decided to prevent his wife from interfering in the education of their children, took the three eldest children: Margaret and Charles, from Elizabeth's custody. Queen Elizabeth lived at Mělník Castle and young Charles was imprisoned by his own father, before being sent to France in 1323, he never saw his mother again. In total isolation and abandoned by all, Elizabeth left Bohemia and went to live in exile in Bavaria, her actions were considered an act of open hostility towards his nobles. In exile Elizabeth gave birth to her last children, twin daughters Elizabeth. John did not support Elizabeth during her exile. Elizabeth returned to Bohemia in 1325, with her daughter Anne, Elizabeth having died a few months before; when she returned she was ill. Her final years were affected by her lack of finances, she died of tuberculosis in 1330, at the age of thirty-eight. Elizabeth and John were parents to seven children Margaret, married in Straubing 12 August 1328 to Henry XIV, Duke of Bavaria Bonne, married in Melun 6 August 1332 to King John II of France Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Přemysl Otakar, Prince of Bohemia John Henry, Margrave of Moravia Anna, twin of Elisabeth, married 16 February 1335 to Duke Otto of Austria Elizabeth Agnew, Hugh LeCaine.
The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. Hoover Institution Press. Antonín, Robert; the Ideal Ruler in Medieval Bohemia. Brill. Boehm, Barbara Drake. Prague: The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437. Yale University Press. Herde, Peter. "The Empire:From Adolf of Nassau to Lewis of Bavaria, 1292-1347". In Jones, Michael; the New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, C.1300-c.1415. Cambridge University Press. Michaud, Claude. "The kingdoms of central Europe in the fourteenth century". In Jones, Michael; the New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, C.1300-c.1415. Cambridge University Press. Opačić, Zoë. Prague and Bohemia: Medieval Art and Cultural Exchange in Central Europe. British Archaeological Association
St. Vitus Cathedral
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus and Adalbert is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Until 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, is still named only as St. Vitus Cathedral; this cathedral is a prominent example of Gothic architecture and is the largest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex. Cathedral dimensions are 124 by 60 metres, the main tower is 102.8 metres high, front towers 82 metres, arch height 33.2 metres. The current cathedral is the third of a series of religious buildings at the site, all dedicated to St. Vitus; the first church was an early Romanesque rotunda founded by Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia in 930. This patron saint was chosen because Wenceslaus had acquired a holy relic – the arm of St. Vitus – from Emperor Henry I.
It is possible that Wenceslaus, wanting to convert his subjects to Christianity more chose a saint whose name sounds much like the name of Slavic solar deity Svantevit. Two religious populations, the increasing Christian and decreasing pagan community, lived in Prague castle at least until the 11th century. In the year 1060, as the bishopric of Prague was founded, prince Spytihněv II embarked on building a more spacious church, as it became clear the existing rotunda was too small to accommodate the faithful. A much larger and more representative Romanesque basilica was built in its spot. Though still not reconstructed, most experts agree it was a triple-aisled basilica with two choirs and a pair of towers connected to the western transept; the design of the cathedral nods to Romanesque architecture of the Holy Roman Empire, most notably to the abbey church in Hildesheim and the Speyer Cathedral. The southern apse of the rotunda was incorporated into the eastern transept of the new church because it housed the tomb of St. Wenceslaus, who had by now become the patron saint of the Czech princes.
A bishop's mansion was built south of the new church, was enlarged and extended in the mid 12th-century. Construction of the present-day Gothic Cathedral began on 21 November 1344, when the see of Prague was elevated to an archbishopric. King John of Bohemia laid the foundation stone for the new building; the patrons were the chapter of cathedral, the Archbishop Arnost of Pardubice, above all, Charles IV, King of Bohemia and a soon-to-be Holy Roman Emperor, who intended the new cathedral to be a coronation church, family crypt, treasury for the most precious relics of the kingdom, the last resting place cum pilgrimage site of patron saint Wenceslaus. The first master builder was a Frenchman Matthias of Arras, summoned from the Papal Palace in Avignon. Matthias designed the overall layout of the building as an import of French Gothic: a triple-naved basilica with flying buttresses, short transept, five-bayed choir and decagon apse with ambulatory and radiating chapels. However, he lived to build only the easternmost parts of the choir: the ambulatory.
The slender verticality of Late French Gothic and clear rigid respect of proportions distinguish his work today. After Matthias' death in 1352, 23-year-old Peter Parler assumed control of the cathedral workshop as master builder, he was son of the architect of the Heilig-Kreuz-Münster in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Parler only worked on plans left by his predecessor, building the sacristy on the north side of the choir and the chapel on the south. Once he finished all that Matthias left unfinished, he continued according to his own ideas. Parler's bold and innovative design brought in a unique new synthesis of Gothic elements in architecture; this is best exemplified in the vaults he designed for the choir. The so-called Parler's vaults or net-vaults have double diagonal ribs that span the width of the choir-bay; the crossing pairs of ribs create a net-like construction, which strengthens the vault. They give a lively ornamentation to the ceiling, as the interlocking vaulted bays create a dynamic zigzag pattern the length of the cathedral.
While Matthias of Arras was schooled as a geometer, thus putting an emphasis on rigid systems of proportions and clear, mathematical compositions in his design, Parler was trained as a sculptor and woodcarver. He treated architecture as a sculpture as if playing with structural forms in stone. Aside from his bold vaults, the peculiarities of his work can be seen in the design of pillars, the ingenious dome vault of new St Wenceslaus chapel, the undulating clerestory walls, the original window tracery and the blind tracery panels of the buttresses. Architectural sculpture was given a considerable role while Parler was in charge of construction, as can be seen in the corbels, the passageway lintels, in the busts on the triforium, which depict faces of the royal family, Prague bishops, the two master builders, including Parler himself. Work on the cathedral, proceeded because the Emperor commissioned Parler with many other projects, such as the construction of the new Charles Bridge in Prague and many churches throughout the Czech realm.
By 1397, when Peter Parler died, only the choir and parts of the transept were finished. A
History of Poland during the Piast dynasty
The period of rule by the Piast dynasty between the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of the Polish nation. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gallus Anonymous in the early 12th century: Siemowit and Siemomysł, it was Mieszko I, the son of Siemomysł, now considered the proper founder of the Polish state at about 960 AD. The ruling house remained in power in the Polish lands until 1370. Mieszko converted to Christianity of the Western Latin Rite in an event known as the Baptism of Poland in 966, which established a major cultural boundary in Europe based on religion, he completed a unification of the West Slavic tribal lands, fundamental to the existence of the new country of Poland. Following the emergence of the Polish state, a series of rulers converted the population to Christianity, created a kingdom of Poland in 1025 and integrated Poland into the prevailing culture of Europe. Mieszko's son Bolesław I the Brave established a Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Gniezno, pursued territorial conquests and was crowned in 1025 as the first king of Poland.
The first Piast monarchy collapsed with the death of Mieszko II Lambert in 1034, followed by its restoration under Casimir I in 1042. In the process, the royal dignity for Polish rulers was forfeited, the state reverted to the status of a duchy. Duke Casimir's son Bolesław II the Bold revived the military assertiveness of Bolesław I, but became fatally involved in a conflict with Bishop Stanislaus of Szczepanów and was expelled from the country. Bolesław III, the last duke of the early period, succeeded in defending his country and recovering territories lost. Upon his death in 1138, Poland was divided among his sons; the resulting internal fragmentation eroded the initial Piast monarchical structure in the 12th and 13th centuries and caused fundamental and lasting changes. Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to help him fight the Baltic Prussian pagans, which led to centuries of Poland's warfare with the Knights and the German Prussian state. In 1320, the kingdom was restored under Władysław I the Elbow-high strengthened and expanded by his son Casimir III the Great.
The western provinces of Silesia and Pomerania were lost after the fragmentation, Poland began expanding to the east. The period ended with the reigns of two members of the Capetian House of Anjou between 1370 and 1384; the consolidation in the 14th century laid the base for the new powerful kingdom of Poland, to follow. The tribe of the Polans in what is now Greater Poland gave rise to a tribal predecessor of the Polish state in the early part of the 10th century, with the Polans settling in the flatlands around the emerging strongholds of Giecz, Poznań, Gniezno and Ostrów Lednicki. Accelerated rebuilding of old tribal fortified settlements, construction of massive new ones and territorial expansion took place during the period ca. 920–950. The Polish state developed from these tribal roots in the second half of the century. According to the 12th-century chronicler Gallus Anonymus, the Polans were ruled at this time by the Piast dynasty. In existing sources from the 10th century, Piast ruler Mieszko I was first mentioned by Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae, a chronicle of events in Germany.
Widukind reported that Mieszko's forces were twice defeated in 963 by the Veleti tribes acting in cooperation with the Saxon exile Wichmann the Younger. Under Mieszko's rule, his tribal state became the Polish state; the viability of the Mieszko's emerging state was assured by the persistent territorial expansion of the early Piast rulers. Beginning with a small area around Gniezno, the Piast expansion lasted throughout most of the 10th century and resulted in a territory approximating that of present-day Poland; the Polanie tribe conquered and merged with other Slavic tribes and first formed a tribal federation later a centralized state. After the addition of Lesser Poland, the country of the Vistulans, of Silesia, Mieszko's state reached its mature form, including the main regions regarded as ethnically Polish; the Piast lands totaled about 250,000 km2 in area, with an approximate population of under one million. A pagan, Mieszko I was the first ruler of the Polans tribal union known from contemporary written sources.
A detailed account of aspects of Mieszko's early reign was given by Ibrâhîm ibn Ya`qûb, a Jewish traveler, according to whom Mieszko was one of four Slavic "kings" established in central and southern Europe in the 960s. In 965, allied with Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia at the time, married the duke's daughter Doubravka, a Christian princess. Mieszko's conversion to Christianity in its Western Latin Rite followed on 14 April 966, an event known as the Baptism of Poland, considered to be the founding event of the Polish state. In the aftermath of Mieszko's victory over a force of the Velunzani in 967, led by Wichmann, the first missionary bishop was appointed: Jordan, bishop of Poland; the action counteracted the intended eastern expansion of the Magdeburg Archdiocese, established at about the same time. Mieszko's state had a complex political relationship with the German Holy Roman Empire, as Mieszko was a "friend", ally and vassal of Holy Roman Emperor Otto I and paid him tribute from the western part of his lands.
Mieszko fought wars with the Polabian Slavs, the Czechs, Margrave Gero of the Saxon Eastern March in 963–964 and Margrave Odo I of the Saxon Eastern March in 972 in the Battle of Cedynia. The victories over Wichmann an
Paris
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an area of 105 square kilometres and an official estimated population of 2,140,526 residents as of 1 January 2019. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, commerce, fashion and the arts; the City of Paris is the centre and seat of government of the Île-de-France, or Paris Region, which has an estimated official 2019 population of 12,213,364, or about 18 percent of the population of France. The Paris Region had a GDP of €681 billion in 2016, accounting for 31 percent of the GDP of France, was the 5th largest region by GDP in the world. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey in 2018, Paris was the second most expensive city in the world, after Singapore, ahead of Zurich, Hong Kong and Geneva. Another source ranked Paris as most expensive, on a par with Singapore and Hong-Kong, in 2018; the city is a major rail and air-transport hub served by two international airports: Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly.
Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris Métro, serves 5.23 million passengers daily, is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro. Gare du Nord is the 24th busiest railway station in the world, the first located outside Japan, with 262 million passengers in 2015. Paris is known for its museums and architectural landmarks: the Louvre was the most visited art museum in the world in 2018, with 10.2 million visitors. The Musée d'Orsay and Musée de l'Orangerie are noted for their collections of French Impressionist art, the Pompidou Centre Musée National d'Art Moderne has the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe; the historical district along the Seine in the city centre is classified as a UNESCO Heritage Site. Popular landmarks in the centre of the city include the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and the Gothic royal chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, both on the Île de la Cité. Paris received 23 million visitors in 2017, measured by hotel stays, with the largest numbers of foreign visitors coming from the United States, the UK, Germany and China.
It was ranked as the third most visited travel destination in the world in 2017, after Bangkok and London. The football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris; the 80,000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros. Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics; the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the 1960, 1984, 2016 UEFA European Championships were held in the city and, every July, the Tour de France bicycle race finishes there. The name "Paris" is derived from the Celtic Parisii tribe; the city's name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. Paris is referred to as the City of Light, both because of its leading role during the Age of Enlightenment and more because Paris was one of the first large European cities to use gas street lighting on a grand scale on its boulevards and monuments.
Gas lights were installed on the Place du Carousel, Rue de Rivoli and Place Vendome in 1829. By 1857, the Grand boulevards were lit. By the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps. Since the late 19th century, Paris has been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in French as Parisiens, they are pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the area's major north–south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité; the Parisii minted their own coins for that purpose. The Romans began their settlement on Paris' Left Bank; the Roman town was called Lutetia. It became a prosperous city with a forum, temples, an amphitheatre. By the end of the Western Roman Empire, the town was known as Parisius, a Latin name that would become Paris in French. Christianity was introduced in the middle of the 3rd century AD by Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris: according to legend, when he refused to renounce his faith before the Roman occupiers, he was beheaded on the hill which became known as Mons Martyrum "Montmartre", from where he walked headless to the north of the city.
Clovis the Frank, the first king of the Merovingian dynasty, made the city his capital from 508. As the Frankish domination of Gaul began, there was a gradual immigration by the Franks to Paris and the Parisian Francien dialects were born. Fortification of the Île-de-la-Citie failed to avert sacking by Vikings in 845, but Paris' strategic importance—with its bridges prevent
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that lasted from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Austria. The state was founded by one of the polytheistic Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija; the Grand Duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other Slavic lands, including what is now Belarus and parts of Ukraine and Russia. At its greatest extent, in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe, it was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state, with great diversity in languages and cultural heritage. Consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late 12th century. Mindaugas, the first ruler of the Grand Duchy, was crowned as Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253; the pagan state was targeted in the religious crusade by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. The multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state emerged only at the late reign of Gediminas and continued to expand under his son Algirdas.
Algirdas's successor Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo in 1386, bringing two major changes in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: conversion to Catholicism and establishment of a dynastic union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The reign of Vytautas the Great marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, it marked the rise of the Lithuanian nobility. After Vytautas's death, Lithuania's relationship with the Kingdom of Poland deteriorated. Lithuanian noblemen, including the Radvila family, attempted to break the personal union with Poland. However, unsuccessful wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact; the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the federation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintained its political distinctiveness and had separate government, laws and treasury; the federation was terminated by the passing of the Constitution of 3 May 1791, when there was supposed to be now a single country, the Commonwealth of Poland, under one monarch and one parliament.
Shortly afterward, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. However, the newly-reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between the neighbours, with a truncated state remaining only nominally independent. After the Kościuszko Uprising, the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Austria in 1795; the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania have the complete name of the state as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Samogitia. The title of "grand duchy" was applied to Lithuania from the 14th century onward. In other languages, the grand duchy is referred to as: Belarusian: Вялікае Княства Літоўскае German: Großfürstentum Litauen Estonian: Leedu Suurvürstiriik Latin: Magnus Ducatus Lituaniae Latvian: Lieitija or Lietuvas Lielkņaziste Lithuanian: Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė Old literary Lithuanian: Didi Kunigystė Lietuvos Polish: Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie Russian: Великое княжество Литовское Ruthenian: Великое князство Литовское Ukrainian: Велике князiвство Литовське The first written reference to Lithuania is found in the Quedlinburg Chronicle, which dates from 1009.
In the 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by the Rus'. Pagan Lithuanians paid tribute to Polotsk, but they soon grew in strength and organized their own small-scale raids. At some point between 1180 and 1183 the situation began to change, the Lithuanians started to organize sustainable military raids on the Slavic provinces, raiding the Principality of Polotsk as well as Pskov, threatening Novgorod; the sudden spark of military raids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands in Aukštaitija. The Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights, crusading military orders, were established in Riga in 1202 and in Prussia in 1226; the Christian orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes and further galvanized the formation of the state. The peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians and Samogitians; this treaty lists 21 Lithuanian dukes, including five senior Lithuanian dukes from Aukštaitija and several dukes from Žemaitija.
Although they had battled in the past, the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced a common enemy. Živinbudas had the most authority and at least several dukes were from the same families. The formal acknowledgment of common interests and the establishment of a hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state. Mindaugas, the duke of southern Lithuania, was among the five senior dukes mentioned in the treaty with Galicia–Volhynia; the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, reports that by the mid-1230s, Mindaugas had acquired supreme power in the whole of Lithuania. In 1236, the Samogitians, led by Vykintas, defeated the Livonian Order in the Battle of Saule; the Order was forced to become a branch of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, making Samogitia, a strip of land that separated Livonia from Prussia, the main target of both orders. The battle provided a break in the wars with the Knights, Lithuania exploited this situation, arranging attacks towards the Ruthenian provinces and annexing Navahrudak and Hrodna.
Belarusian historians consider that Mindаugas was invited to rule Navahrudak and that the union was peaceful. In 1248 a civil war broke out be
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was a title used by Syagrius by the German king following his election by the princes from the time of Emperor Henry II onward. The title was predominantly a claim to become Holy Roman Emperor and was dependent upon coronation by the Pope; the title referred to any elected king who had not yet been granted the Imperial Regalia and title of "Emperor" at the hands of the Pope. It came to be used for the heir apparent to the Imperial throne between his election and his succession upon the death of the Emperor, their actual title varied over time. During the Ottonian period it was King of the Franks, from the late Salian period it was Roman King or King of the Romans. In the Modern Period, the title King in Germania came into use. Modern German historiography established the term Roman-German King to differentiate it from the ancient Roman Emperor as well as from the modern German Emperor; the territory of East Francia was not referred to as the Kingdom of Germany or Regnum Teutonicum by contemporary sources until the 11th century.
During this time, the king's claim to coronation was contested by the papacy culminating in the fierce Investiture Controversy. After the Salian heir apparent Henry IV, a six-year-old minor, had been elected to rule the Empire in 1056 he adopted Romanorum Rex as a title to emphasize his sacred entitlement to be crowned Emperor by the Pope. Pope Gregory VII insisted on using the derogatory term Teutonicorum Rex in order to imply that Henry's authority was local and did not extend over the whole Empire. Henry continued to use the title Romanorum Rex until he was crowned Emperor by Antipope Clement III in 1084. Henry's successors imitated this practice, were called Romanorum Rex before and Romanorum Imperator after their Roman coronations. Candidates for the kingship were at first the heads of the Germanic stem duchies; as these units broke up, rulers of smaller principalities and non-Germanic rulers were considered for the position. The only requirements observed were that the candidate be an adult male, a Catholic Christian, not in holy orders.
The kings were elected by several Imperial Estates in the imperial city of Frankfurt after 1147, a custom recorded in the Schwabenspiegel code in about 1275. All noblemen present could vote by unanimous acclamation, but a franchise was granted to only the most eminent bishops and noblemen, according to the Golden Bull of 1356 issued by Emperor Charles IV only the seven Prince-electors had the right to participate in a majority voting as determined by the 1338 Declaration of Rhense, they were the Prince-Archbishops of Mainz and Cologne as well as the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Saxon duke, the Margrave of Brandenburg. After the Investiture Controversy, Charles intended to strengthen the legal status of the Rex Romanorum beyond Papal approbation. Among his successors only Sigismund and Frederick III were still crowned Emperors in Rome and in 1530 Charles V was the last king to receive the Imperial Crown at the hands of the Pope; the Golden Bull remained effective as constitutional law until the Empire's dissolution in 1806.
After his election, the new king would be crowned as King of the Romans at Charlemagne's throne in Aachen Cathedral by the Archbishop of Cologne. Though the ceremony was no more than a symbolic validation of the election result, it was solemnly celebrated; the details of Otto's coronation in 936 are described by the medieval chronicler Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae. The kings received the Imperial Crown from at least 1024, at the coronation of Conrad II. In 1198 the Hohenstaufen candidate Philip of Swabia was crowned Rex Romanorum at Mainz Cathedral, but he had another coronation in Aachen after he had prevailed against his Welf rival Otto IV. At some time after the ceremony, the king would, if possible, cross the Alps, to receive coronation in Pavia or Milan with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy, he would travel to Rome and be crowned Emperor by the Pope. Because it was possible for the elected King to proceed to Rome for his crowning, several years might elapse between election and coronation, some Kings never completed the journey to Rome at all.
As a suitable title for the King between his election and his coronation as Emperor, Romanorum Rex would stress the plenitude of his authority over the Empire and his warrant to be future Emperor without infringing upon the Papal privilege. Not all Kings of the Romans made this step, sometimes because of hostile relations with the Pope, or because either the pressure of business at home or warfare in Germany or Italy made it impossible for the King to make the journey. In such cases, the king might retain the title "King of the Romans" for his entire reign; the title Romanorum Rex became functionally obsolete after 1508, when the Pope permitted King Maximilian I to use the title of Electus Romanorum Imperator after he failed in a good-faith attempt to journey to Rome. At this time Maximilian took the new title "King of the Germans" or "King in Germany", but the latter was never used as a primary title; the rulers of the Empire thereafter ca
Speyer
Speyer is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities. Speyer is dominated by a number of churches and the Altpörtel. In the cathedral, beneath the high altar, are the tombs of eight Holy Roman Emperors and German kings; the city is famous for the 1529 Protestation at Speyer. The first known names were Noviomagus and Civitas Nemetum, after the Teutonic tribe, settled in the area; the name Spira is first recorded in the 7th century, taken from villa Spira, a Frankish settlement situated outside of Civitas Nemetum. In 10 BC, the first Roman military camp is established. In AD 150, the town appears as Noviomagus on the world map of the Greek geographer Ptolemy. In 346, a bishop for the town is mentioned for the first time. 4th century, Civitas Nemetum appears on the Peutinger Map. 5th century, Civitas Nemetum is destroyed. 7th century, the town is re-established, named Spira after a nearby Frankish settlement.
In 1030, emperor Conrad II starts the construction of Speyer Cathedral, today one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In the 11th century, the first city wall is built. In 1076, emperor Henry IV embarks from his favourite town, for Canossa. In 1084, establishment of the first Jewish community in Speyer. In 1096, as Count Emicho's Crusader army rages across the Rhineland slaughtering Jewish communities, Speyer's Bishop John, with the local leader Yekutiel ben Moses, manages to secure the community's members inside the episcopal palace and leads them to stronger fortifications outside the town, it was ruled. In 1294, the bishop loses most of his previous rights, from now on Speyer is a Free Imperial Town of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1349, the Jewish community of Speyer is wiped out. Between 1527 and 1689, Speyer is the seat of the Imperial Chamber Court. In 1526, at the Diet of Speyer interim toleration of Lutheran teaching and worship is decreed. In 1529, at the Diet of Speyer the Lutheran states of the empire protest against the anti-Reformation resolutions.
In 1635, Marshal of France Urbain de Maillé-Brézé, together with Jacques Nompar de Caumont, duc de La Force, conquers Heidelberg and Speyer at the head of the Army of Germany. In 1689, the town is damaged by French troops. Between 1792 and 1814, Speyer is under French jurisdiction after the Battle of Speyer. In 1816, Speyer becomes the seat of administration of the Palatinate and of the government of the Rhine District of Bavaria, remains so until the end of World War II. Between 1883 and 1904, the Memorial Church is built in remembrance of the Protestation of 1529. In 1947, the State Academy of Administrative Science is founded. In 1990, Speyer celebrates its 2000th anniversary. Cathedral Altpörtel – old town gate Gedächtniskirche – memorial church Dreifaltigkeitskirche – trinity church Jewish courtyard – remnants of medieval synagogue and intact mikve Technikmuseum Speyer – transportation museum Historical Museum of the Palatinate Speyer lies on the Schifferstadt-Wörth railway and offers hourly connections to Mannheim and Karlsruhe.
Since 1923 the mayor was a Lord Mayor. Speyer is twinned with: Spalding, United Kingdom, since 1956 Chartres, since 1959 Kursk, since 1989 Ravenna, since 1989 Gniezno, since 1992 Yavne, since 1998 Rusizi, since 1982/2001 Ningde, since October 2013 together with: Worms, since October 2014 Samuel of Speyer, Exeget of Torah and Midrash Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg and philosopher Julian of Speyer, medieval choir master and poet from the Order of the Franciscans Gabriel Biel, scholastic philosopher Dietrich Gresemund, author Egon VIII of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg, Reichsgraf of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg Johann Joachim Becher, German physician, precursor of chemistry and adventurer Moritz Georg Weidmann and bookseller Adolf von Dalberg, Prince of Fulda Simha of Speyer German rabbi and tosafist, he was one of the leading signatories of the Takkanot Shum. Philipp Hieronymus Brinckmann and historical painters as well as copper cutters Johann Martin Bernatz, landscape painter Anselm Feuerbach, German painter Carl Jakob Adolf Christian Gerhardt, German physician Henry Villard, German-American journalist Hermann von Stengel, Bavarian Administrative Officer Wilhelm Meyer, classical philologist and librarian Karl Heinrich Emil Becker, general of the artillery and defense scientist Hans Purrmann, graphic artist, art writer and collector Hermann Detzner, leader of the German Schutztruppe in German New Guinea Karl-Adolf Hollidt, Army officer and war criminal George Waldbott, German-American physician Jakob Brendel, wrestler Karl Haas, German-American music educator and radio presenter Helmut Bantz, gymnast Alfred Cahn, German musician and composer Edgar E. Stern, clinical social worker and aut
