Holy Roman Empire (Chaos)

After the death of the great emperor Friedrich II 1250, during 1254-1273, there was practically an Interregnum in the HRE: The electors had elected not one, but two Roman kings, who were both absent during their rule, and the various princes used the opportunity to make their lands hereditary. Thus, later kings lost most of their power, and Germany would stay split for centuries.

After the death of Roman king Richard of Cornwall and the forced abdication of the HRE had to elect a new king in 1273. Among the candidates were the French king and  of  and Carinthia. ITTL, he wasn't absent from the election and could influence it better. The other princes also considered him less dangerous, since his nephew reigned independent from him. Since his nephew, the elector of, voted for him, the Upper Bavarian duke and the three archbishops supported him too, he was elected king Ottokar I of the HRE.

1275, he lead the Empire against, defeated the new king and got Styria back for the HRE, which was divided between and (Upper).

1286, king Ottokar had decided to go on a crusade against the Muslims, after the pope had promised him to crown him Holy Roman Emperor, but unfortunately he died on the way, and the crusade fizzled. Now, Rudolf of Habsburg was elected new Roman king - the only Habsburg to do so. But his reign was short, and 1291 the Upper Bavarian duke Ludwig II (Ludwig IV as king) was elected Roman king. 1295, Ludwig died (one year later than OTL). The Ascanian became new king of the HRE. In 1309, King Otto died too, so (same as OTL - and the last recognizable one) became new king. He managed to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope in 1312, becoming the first emperor since Friedrich II.

1321-28, Waldemar of Brandenburg declared himself anti-king, until he was defeated.

In the year 1357, the Golden Bull was made in the HRE: It said that the Roman king was elected solely by the seven electors, and thus the pope wasn't necessary. The seven electors were the same ones as OTL.

1375-78, the Süddeutscher Städtebund (South German league of cities) formed. Various South German princes, led by those of and Habsburg, fought them. But with the help of the Swiss, the cities stayed victorious, and other than IOTL, their alliance wasn't interdicted by the Roman king. In this war, the Habsburgs lost most of their territories, except Freiburg with the Black Forest.

In the years 1394/95, the hit the HRE.

The Dutch kings
1381, the duke of Holstein, effective ruler of Denmark and count of Holland Gerhard had been elected Roman king.

1408, duke (and titular king of Bohemia) asked the Roman king to conquer Bohemia back for him. When king Gerhard II declined, Ottokar had himself elected anti-king with Bavarian help and started a war against Bohemia. In 1413, after his armies had been defeated severely several times by the Czech leader Prokop, he put down the crown again and apologized.

In 1414, Holland, important for its trade, got the eighth electoral vote in the HRE. 1419, Roman king Gerhard II was crowned emperor and also appointed himself king of the (which included Holland, Zeeland, Hennegau and Utrecht at that time), with the pope's OK.

1421/22, the took place in the HRE. The Empire proved unable to force and its allies of the South German city league back into the fold. The weakness of the empire also became apparent when in the 1430s simply annexed the patriarchate of Aquileia, which was part of the HRE.

The
1464, there had been great findings of silver in Tyrol, which made the er dynasty second-richest in the HRE. In 1472, their candidate Heinrich was elected Roman king.

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