1198: The Erbreichsplan

Summary:
This timeline diverged from our own in 1198 when Emperor Heinrich VI von Hohenstaufen declared the title of Holy Roman Emperor to be hereditary to the Hohenstaufen Dynasty. Later Hohenstaufen emperors would carry on the task of establishing a centralized Holy Roman Empire by means of expanding the Hohenstaufen dynasty's holdings inside Swabia. This expansion of the royal domain mimics that which took place in France during the late middle ages (Which in frances case was one of the key methods used to centralize the kingdom). The Swabian Order of Knights was established in 1270 by Adolf I von Hohenstaufen, serving as his personal army loyal only to him. Legal reforms in the 1354 created the Imperial Diet (A permanent court similar to a parliament), which allowed for a more bureaucratic administration of the empire, another key step in centralization. By 1440, the Hohenstaufen Domain encompassed most of the duchy of Swabia, and the Emperor Adolf III was now in a position to begin reforming the Holy Roman Empire itself.

Many struggles laid ahead for the Hohenstaufen dynasty, however. The reformation of the Catholic Church in the early 16th century resulted in the German Wars of Religion. These bloody conflicts ultimately resulted in the confiscation of all protestant lands inside the empire, which were subsequently redistributed to Catholic dukes at the diet of Nuremberg in 1597.

By the mid 17th century the Holy Roman Emperor was at the forefront of all European affairs and was the dominant power in Western Europe, rivalled only by Czar of Russia himself. In the year 1697 Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich VI summoned the princes of the Holy Roman Empire to a diet at Aachen. Here he instituted massive legal reform aimed at ending the autonomy of the nobility inside the Holy Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire had been restored.