The Holy Roman Empire

Bayard Taylor narrates the history of the Holy Roman Empire in vivid detail, beginning with the foundation of the Carolingian Empire and the subsequent outgrowth of the Holy Roman Empire out of East Francia, a division of the Carolingian realm, to the final abdication of Francis II during the Napoleonic Wars. This abdication marked the end of the complex political union that was the Holy Roman Empire, whose Emperors ruled central Europe continuously from 962 to 1806 and were major powers in European and global affairs.