Book excerpt: The main goal of this edition is to present the Holy Roman Empire as an institution or system, the wonderful offspring of a body of beliefs and traditions which have passed away from the world. Such a description, however, would not be intelligible without some account of the great events which accompanied the growth and decay of imperial power; and it has therefore appeared best to give the book the form rather of a narrative than of a dissertation; and to combine with an exposition of what may be called the theory of the Empire an outline of the political history of Germany, as well as some notices of the affairs of medieval Italy. The Roman Empire Before the Invasion of the Barbarians The Barbarian Invasions Restoration of the Empire in the West Empire and Policy of Charles Carolingian and Italian Emperors Theory of the Mediæval Empire The Roman Empire and the German Kingdom Saxon and Franconian Emperors Struggle of the Empire and the Papacy The Emperors in Italy: Frederick Barbarossa Imperial Titles and Pretensions Fall of the Hohenstaufen The Germanic Constitution—the Seven Electors The Empire as an International Power The City of Rome in the Middle Ages The Renaissance: Change in the Character of the Empire The Reformation and Its Effects Upon the Empire The Peace of Westphalia: Last Stage in the Decline of the Empire Fall of the Empire