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Heart of Europe

A History of the Holy Roman Empire

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Heart of Europe

By: Peter H. Wilson
Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
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About this listen

The Holy Roman Empire lasted 1,000 years, far longer than ancient Rome. Yet this formidable dominion never inspired the awe of its predecessor. Voltaire quipped that it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. Yet as Peter H. Wilson shows, the Holy Roman Empire tells a millennial story of Europe better than the histories of individual nation-states.

Heart of Europe traces the empire from its origins within Charlemagne's kingdom in 800 to its demise in 1806. By the mid-tenth century, its core rested in the German kingdom, and ultimately its territory stretched from France and Denmark to Italy and Poland. Yet the empire remained abstract, with no fixed capital and no common language or culture. The source of its continuity and legitimacy was the ideal of a unified Christian civilization, but this did not prevent emperors from clashing with the pope over supremacy. Though the title of Holy Roman Emperor retained prestige, rising states such as Austria and Prussia wielded power in a way the empire could not. While it gradually lost the flexibility to cope with political, economic, and social changes, the empire was far from being in crisis until the onslaught of the French revolutionary wars.

©2016 Peter H. Wilson (P)2017 Tantor Europe Germany Medieval Modern Middle Ages Western Europe War Imperialism Italy Royalty Renaissance Refugee Latin America Socialism Ancient History Law Russia

Critic Reviews

"Hugely impressive...Wilson is an assured guide through the millennium-long labyrinth of papal - imperial relations." ( Literary Review)
All stars
Most relevant
A detailed exploration of several aspects of the political association that dominated Central Europe for a millennia.

Magisterial History of the HRE

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Although academically just fine , this piece could easily be misinterpreted as a tale of an accounting firm and its struggles with the Human Resourses department.
Making the “thirty years war” seem like a group of sweater vests sitting at a conference table arguing the finer points of calligraphy for example.
It is a history but not of great people doing great deeds or follies. I know things happened in the massive chunks of soil between France and Kiev . I’m almost positive that at some point an army of sword wielding lunatics fought another army of sword wielding lunatics but I must of skipped that part of the book ..
It is what it is the tale can not be improved with alcohol.

Not what I expected

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Very enjoyable linkage of the history of the church and empire at start. Given the vast expanse of the history of the emperor it has a number of interesting interactions with the history of the reformation, the conceptualisation of imperialism and the French revolution. Overall does much to counter the narrative of the Empire being an institution that long outlasted it's usefulness. The 20th century historical interprations have come at the Empire with a nationalist focus or a nation state interpretation nor a progressive constitutional center of reform. well worth a read I certainly walked away knowing far more and being far more interested in the subject matter overall

Deep dive into The Holy Roman Empire

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The book has a classical structure where a premise or point of conjecture is examined in detail that doesn’t always lend itself well to an audiobook. Narrative elements are subordinate to this examination of facts which can, at times, become quite tedious for the casual listener. Despite this and other peculiarities of the book I did quite enjoy it, particularly for the greater perspective on European history it engenders. Its summary chapters regarding the EU bring the book’s meticulous conceptualisation of the Empire into the present day are particularly well-conceived.
I’ve read a great deal of criticism regarding Napoleon Ryan’s narration, and I too found it a bit off-putting at first. But his pronunciation of German is refreshingly good and I found his narration suited the work quite well. In fact, by the time I finished the book I found that I rather liked his eccentric style, and missed it when I started on another book.

An extremely detailed appraisal of the Empire

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A truely indepth analysis of the Holy Roman Empire. If you want a simplified chronological history this is not the book for you.
The level of information given regarding the sociopolitical, economic and religious history of the HRE and its impact on Europe is enormous.
It can be fairly dry at times and doesn't lend itself well to intermittent listening, but overall its a very informative listen.

Thorough and detailed

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