allegiance to the emperor. Marisa tomei nude preview that empire retained its hold on portions of
eastern Europe until its final conquest by the Ottoman Turks in 1453,
but a thousand years earlier it had lost control of the West because of
external violence and internal weakness. So great, however, was the
strength of the idea of an "marisa tomei nude preview empire," even in the West, that Charlemagne
about the year 800 temporarily united what are now France, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, marisa tomei nude preview and Belgium into what he persisted in styling
the "Roman Empire." Nearly two centuries later, Otto the Great, a
famous prince in marisa tomei nude preview Germany, gave marisa tomei nude preview other form to the idea, in the "Holy
Roman Empire&
marisa tomei nude preview quot; of which he became emperor. This marisa tomei nude preview form endured from 962 to
1806.
[Sidenote: The Holy Roman Empire; Its Mighty Claims in Theory and its
marisa tomei nude preview Slight Power in Practice]
In theory, the Holy Roman Empire claimed supremacy marisa tomei nude preview over all Christian
marisa tomei nude preview rulers and peoples of central and western Europe, and after the
extinction of the eastern empire in 1453 it could insist that it was
the sole secular marisa tomei nude preview heir to the ancient Roman tradition. But the
greatness
of the theoretical claim of the Holy Roman Empire was matched only by
the
insignificance of its practical acceptance. The feudal nobles of
western Europe had never marisa tomei nude preview recognized it, and the national monarchs,
though they might occasionally sport with its honors and titles, never
admitted any real dependence upon it of marisa tomei nude preview England, France, Portugal, or
Spain. In central Europe, it had to struggle against the anarchical
tendencies of feudalism, against the rise of powerful and jealous city-
states, and against a rival marisa tomei nude preview organization, the Catholic Church, which in
its temporal affairs was at least as clearly an heir to the Roman
tradition as marisa tomei nude preview was the Holy Roman Empire. From marisa tomei nude preview the eleventh to the
thirteenth century the conflict raged, with results important for all
concerned,--results which were thoroughly obvious in the year marisa tomei nude preview 1500.
[Sidenote: The Holy Roman Empire practically