The continuation, succession, and revival of the Roman Empire is a running theme of the history of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. It reflects the lasting memories of power, prestige, and unity as
Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious represented as a Roman soldier holding a Christian cross, with superimposed poem De Laudibus Sanctae Crucis by Rabanus Maurus, 9th century
Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, designed under the Ostrogothic Kingdom in 526
Palatine Chapel, Aachen, designed under Charlemagne around 792
Presumed portrait of Emperor John VIII at the Council of Florence, by Benozzo Gozzoli, ca. 1459
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity comprised of and controlling much of Central Europe and Western Europe, headed by the Holy Roma
Succession of the Roman Empire
…and Russian Empire, which both claimed succession of the Byzantine Empire after 1453; and in the West, the Carolingian Empire (9th century) and the Holy Roman Empire from 800 to 1806. Many of these claims were monarchist in nature, with the ethnic or national identity of the Ancient Romans never actually becoming…
The Holy Roman Empire during the Ottonian dynasty
Henry begging Matilda of Tuscany and Hugh of Cluny in Canossa Castle (miniature in an illuminated manuscript kept in the Vatican Library, 1115)
Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor