Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a great European power that existed for over a millennium, from 800 CE to 1806, and dominated the central European continent.

History

Origins

The spiritual successor to Charlemagne's Frankish Empire, itself a successor to the Western Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire's dominion extended from Denmark in the north, through Germany, and into northern Italy.

Renaissance

By 1459, the Empire encompassed numerous city states, such as Milan and Florence, which allowed the Auditore International Bank to provide services throughout the Empire. Despite this dominion, the Empire's military presence in Italy was negligible.

During the reign of Emperor Maximilian I, the Empire developed an antagonistic relationship with the Borgia Papacy, stemming from the Pope recruiting Swiss mercenaries who had defeated him during the Swabian War into the Papal Guard. After the Italian Assassins kidnapped these mercenaries and delivered them to Maximilian in Vienna, the shocked but grateful Emperor had them form the Landsknechte, and later promised that they would aid the Assassins should they ever request it.

Intending to curb the Venetian influence in northern Italy, Maximilian joined the League of Cambrai created by Pope Julius II, which served as an anti-Venetian alliance that also included Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon. The League was initially a success, but the friction between Julius and Louis caused it to collapse by 1510. While the Holy League managed to drive the French from Italy in 1512, the French later regained territory in 1515, with hte war coming to an end the following year.

The Renaissance partly began in the Holy Roman Empire after Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, and under Maximilian I, culture, science, and reform blossomed with German, Dutch, and Swiss intellectuals like Conradus Celtis, Martin Luther, Desiderius Erasmus and Bombastus, some of whom became members or allies of the Assassins—with Erasmus in particular becoming leader of the Northern European Assassins.

This scientific growth extended to the reign of Rudolf II during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, who invited the occultists John Dee and Edward Kelley to his court in Prague. However, encouraging such pursuits came with a price, as during Rudolf's reign the Golem was unleashed on the city, to which he was criticized for allowing too much intellectual freedom.

Decline

By the 18th century, the Empire had fractured, becoming little more than a disparate collection of loosely-affiliated states. Mercenaries from a number of German states, such as the Jägers, fought on both sides of the American Revolutionary War.

During the French Revolution, the fall of Louis XVI and the House of Bourbon worried the Holy Roman Empire, which joined a Coalition of other European monarchies as they all declared war against the newly-formed French Republic. The conflict lasted ten years and allowed Napoleon Bonaparte to gain power within the French Republic, ultimately declaring himself "Emperor of the French" and establishing the French Empire in 1804. The Coalition subsequently fought against the French in what became known as the Napoleonic Wars and, though the conflict saw Napoleon's defeat and exile, it also led to the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire.

Appearances

This list is incomplete. You can help the Assassin's Creed Wiki by expanding it.

• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Identity (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Echoes of History (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR (mentioned in Database entry only)