List of Holy Roman Emperors

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This page lists those considered Holy Roman Emperors from the time of Charlemagne until the abolition of the Empire in 1806. For the early rulers in this list, the title Holy Roman Emperor is anachronistic – Charlemagne, for instance, variously called himself imperator Romanorum ("emperor of the Romans") and imperator Romanum gubernans imperium ("emperor ruling the Roman Empire"), and many simply used the title imperator ("emperor"). However, most contemporaries and historians consider the rulers in this list to represent a historically continuous sequence.

Charlemagne received his imperial title when crowned by Pope Leo III. Subsequently, a papal coronation was considered a prerequisite for becoming emperor. After the coronation of Otto I, the imperial title became a prerogative of the ruler of Germany; however, while not all German rulers were crowned, the numbering of the various rulers reflects the complete list of German monarchs, so there are gaps in the sequence of ordinals in a strictly imperial list. For instance, King Henry the Fowler was never crowned as emperor and is thus not on this list; nevertheless, his great-grandson, who was crowned, is referred to as Henry II, not Henry I.

This situation changed somewhat in the early modern period. In 1508, Maximilian I, after a failed move towards Rome, was granted permission by the pope to call himself imperator electus, or emperor-elect. His successor Charles V was crowned emperor by the Pope in 1530, but Ferdinand I and all his successors did not seek a papal coronation and remained emperors-elect. In common usage this title was elided to just imperator, and all emperors-elect are included in this list.

• Charles I the Great (Charlemagne), 800-814
• Louis I the Pious, 814-840
• Lothair I, 843-855
• Louis II, 855-875
• Charles II the Bald, 875-877
• Charles III the Fat, 881-887

Spoleto

• Guy of Spoleto, 891-894
• Lambert of Spoleto, 894-898

• Arnulf of Carinthia, 896-899
• Louis III the Blind, 901-905
• Berengar of Friuli, 915-924

• Otto I the Great, 962-973
• Otto II, 973-983
• Otto III, 996-1002
• Henry II the Saint, 1014-1024 (note that this ruler is called Henry II as successor of Henry I who was German king 919-936 but not emperor. Henry I was Otto I's predecessor.)

• Conrad II, 1027-1039 (note that this ruler is called Conrad II as successor of Conrad I who was German king 911-918 but not emperor)
• Henry III, 1046-1056
• Henry IV, 1084-1105
• Henry V, 1111-1125

Supplinburger

• Lothair III, 1133-1137 (note that this ruler is called Lothair III as successor of Lothair II, who was king of Lotharingia 855-869 but not emperor)

Staufen (or

• Frederick I Barbarossa, 1155-1190
• Henry VI, 1191-1197

• Otto IV of Brunswick, 1209-1215 (d.1218)

Staufen (or

• Frederick II, 1220-1250

• Henry VII, 1312-1313

• Louis IV the Bavarian, 1328-1347

• Charles IV, 1355-1378
• Sigismund, 1410-1437

• Frederick III, 1452-1493
• Maximilian I, 1508-1519 (emperor-elect)
• Charles V, 1530-1556 (emperor-elect 1519-1530)
• Ferdinand I, 1556-1564 (emperor-elect)
• Maximilian II, 1564-1576 (emperor-elect)
• Rudolf II, 1576-1612 (emperor-elect; note that this ruler is called Rudolf II as successor of Rudolf I who was German king 1273-1291 but not emperor)
• Matthias, 1612-1619 (emperor-elect)
• Ferdinand II, 1619-1637 (emperor-elect)
• Ferdinand III, 1637-1657 (emperor-elect)
• Leopold I, 1658-1705 (emperor-elect)
• Joseph I, 1705-1711 (emperor-elect)
• Charles VI, 1711-1740 (emperor-elect)

• Charles VII Albert, 1742-1745 (emperor-elect)

• Francis I, 1745-1765 (emperor-elect)
• Joseph II, 1765-1790 (emperor-elect)
• Leopold II, 1790-1792 (emperor-elect)
• Francis II, 1792-1806 (emperor-elect)

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