HRE (The Kalmar Union)

The Holy Roman Empire, HRE, The Empire, Germania, is a composite federation of hundreds of independent states, cities, duchies, principalities and petty kingdoms. It comprises a huge area of central Europe, the Italian peninsular and the eastern Baltic coastline. Denmark borders it to the North, to the West are the various states of Francia and Aragon, to the South, Venice, to the East; Poland-Lithuania and Hungary. It also incorporates three detached areas that only sometimes fall under its writ: the Swiss Confederation, Livonia and Prussia.

Each state or league has their own capital, though Frankfurt holds the Imperial Diet and is usually recognised as the Imperial capital.

The total combined population is estimated at around 170.5 million.

The Empire has no official language, though political discussions are usually conducted in German. Amongst the main languages spoken in the empire are: various varieties of German, various dialects of Italian, Romansch, Dutch, Frisian, French, Occitan, Czech, Pommersk, Ranish, Slovene, Prussian, Latvian, Livonian and Estonian.

Various currencies are used within the Empire including the Danish Krona, Luxembourg Guilder, Austrian Mark, Bohemian Crown, Milanese Florin and Swiss Mark. The Cologne Mark used to be a common currency but declined in use after the 2nd Austro-Luxembourg War. Moves to unify the currencies, or at least provide a common one for the central German states, have begun in various City Leagues and minor states, who have begun issuing 'Imperial Marks' (HRM).

History
(See Holy Roman Empire Timeline)

The Holy Roman Empire was created after the German King Otto defeated the Magyars at Lechfeld, then inherited Italy through marriage. He was crowned by the pope in 962 marking the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire.

The electorate system slowly developed as nobles demanded more control over the succession. Disputes with the pope led to a parade of anti-kings and anti-popes, numerous interregnums and a slow erosion of Imperial power, especially in Italy. This led many states to consolidate their own power. Each of the leading temporal states, alongside the front rank ecclesiastic states were given electoral votes in return for their support in the emperor's wars.

A return to strong rule came in the late 1200s with the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and a more fluid 'best candidate' system. William of Holland succeeded in bringing much of Pommerania back into the imperial fold but fell short of vassalising Hungary. Sixty years later Olaf of Viken proved himself even better, not only returning Italy to Imperial authority, as well as Prussia and Livonia, but also sowing the seeds for the almost permanent defeat of France during the Bar War (see Hordt).

Thereafter the Empire's borders have remained virtually stable. Small losses for Arles were more than offset by the gains of Anglia and Luxembourg in the north-west and the expansion to include the entire Italian peninsular.

Civil wars were common occurrences, often accompanying the death of an incumbent emperor as the various candidates jockeyed for position, or succession struggles over the lands of an extinct ruling house. However the Empire was unprepared for the advent of Lutheranism and other protestant creeds as it fundamentally divided the member states. Those Protestants to the north slowly coalesced into the Schmalkaldic League, later to split off into a separate empire.

Government
The lands as a rule have their own heads of state, governments and laws. The independent cities have the Emperor as their head of state, though in practice most belong to Leagues with an elected or semi-elected head. Many of the smaller states delegate their foreign policy to the Imperial Chancellery.

Various other European countries own areas that are technically part of the Empire. Denmark holds Pommerania, Gothenland holds Pomerelia, Svealand and Tver administer various parts of Livonia. Aragon rules Sardinia and Sicily. Participation in the Imperial Diet from representatives from those areas is limited and tends to only happen when those countries require something. They do not as a rule fly the Imperial flag in their territories except during the Imperial coronation week.

The current head of the Empire is Emperor _. The title is largely ceremonial and what little power remains in the position is chiefly exercised to break deadlocks in the Imperial Diet or guide the delegates towards matters of importance. An imperial chancellor, currently Prince Hans of Brunswick, is appointed by the Emperor to act as his go-between amongst the hundreds of individual sovereign lords.

Emperors are elected following a brief meeting of the electoral college. In the unlikely event of a deadlock in voting in theory the Pope has the deciding vote. However, Protestant member states have long argued that this breaches the terms of the Peace of and would probably disregard the pope's ruling if it was ever exercised. Since the mid-1700s it has been traditional to tactically vote against the Luxembourgiose candidate and then sort out the election once they are out of the running.

Electorates
The Imperial Electorates and their current incumbents are:

Archbishop of Mainz

Archbishop of Trier

Archbishop of Cologne

Archbishop (later Prince) of Utrecht	Queen Charlotta of Luxembourg

King of Bohemia			       _ of Austria

Margrave (later Prince) of Brandenburg

Count Palatine of the Rhine

Duke of Saxony

Prince of Prussia			Prince Olaf VII

Duke (later King) of Flanders		Queen Charlotta of Luxembourg

Grand Duke of Milan			Matteo III

King of Arles			       King Frederick VI of Arles

Duke (later King) of Luxembourg		Queen Charlotta of Luxembourg

Duke of Pomerania			_ of Denmark

Duke of Bavaria

Duke of Hesse

Grand Duke of Salzburg

Prince of Regensburg

Margrave of Baden

Grand-Duke of Wurzburg

There are 2 further electors who have only rarely used their vote:

Archbishop of Riga			Petor Ulmanis

Bishop (later Prince) of Basel