In fact, it is their reverence of the old ways that has brought the empire to a point of stagnation, in a world that has gradually kept moving on. It is a mere shadow because despite retaining the civilised ways of the Roman legacy, the Byzantines have done little to further it. Though this time it won't be a simple matter of bettering the barbarians.Byzantium is the shadow that remains of the old Roman Empire.

Should the Kaiser successfully deal with the dissent that lingers within the Reich at present, there seems no reason the Reich cannot consolidate and expand into something to rival the first Roman Empire. Now France is a separate entity, Italy has become a formidable group of city states, the Danes block the route into Scandinavia and the kingdoms to the east are more of a threat than a place to lay claim to. It is a far cry from the days of Charlemagne when all of Western Europe answered to the Emperor.

The Empire itself is Europe's middle ground, centrally located, with opportunities to expand in almost every direction, but also potential competition to come with each opportunity. With both extremes looking like perilous choices the Kaiser will need to find the best middle ground he can, very much the same situation he faces when looking at his borders. Of course, if he leads his people into open conflict with the church itself, he is arguably setting an even worse one. When a ruler of nations allows a man of the cloth to dictate what he can and can't do, he sets a bad precedent. How the Kaiser should react to this is undoubtedly the biggest dilemma facing the Holy Roman Empire at present. For starters, it is the Byzantine Empire that truly carries on the legacy of the ancient Romans, and the notion that the Kaiser (the Germanic name for 'Emperor') truly serves the Roman Catholic Church is presently quite laughable.Ī great rift in opinion exists between Kaiser Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII as to the legitimacy of the Papacy's recent move to do away with secular investiture, a change of law that has taken away all of the Kaiser's power over the Catholic Church.

The Holy Roman Empire is a particularly misleading name for Europe's largest collective of kingdoms and fiefdoms, regardless which way one looks at it.

Ancient empires medieval total war 1