(Germany)
East Frankish kingdom- descendants of Charlemagne died out by 936 AD
Nobles- elected Otto I to be their king
962 AD- Pope declared Otto to be the Holy Roman Emperor
- Otto limited the power of the nobles- barely
Emperor Henry III- ruled 1046-1056 AD- most powerful ruler
- interfered in elections for Pope- wanted a particular one to win
Emperor Henry IV- tried to do the same
Pope Gregory VII- stopped him
1077- Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII argued about appointing Church officials
- Pope Gregory excommunicated the Emperor
- kicked him out of the Church, stripped him of his title, and nobody could have anything to do with him
- Henry begged forgiveness at Canossa after 3 days in the snow
Church- established power over the Holy Roman Emperors for a time
Frederick Barbarossa- "Red-beard"- tried to remove the Pope's power by requiring the emperor to be elected by the nobles
- side effect- German nobles did not unite as a country until 1871 AD
