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atic of the degradation to whi ch the
Holy Roman Empire had sunk. By
the middle of the eighteenth cen–
tury, there
is
in practica! fact no
empire. Prussia and France sign its
death warrant.
"The last decades of the Holy Ro–
man Empire's history," German his–
torian Heer w ill writ e, " are
overshadowed by the antagonism of
Austria and Prussia and in the west
by the ren ewe d thre a t from
France."
Meanwhile the papacy is virtually
excluded from the political affairs of
Europe. In 1781, the Edict ofToler–
a tion is signed. Within eight years,
Habsburg Emperor Joseph
li
( 1780-
1790) closes 700 monasteries and
36,000 members of orders are re–
leased. Schools are established using
the property of the churches. The
interna! organization of the church
is revamped. Pope Pius VI journeys
to Vienna in 1782 to put a stop to
these proceedings. But he is received
with reserve and cannot prevent the
changes being made. It is Canossa
in reverse. But it is not a question of
empire over church . The la tter is
simply irrelevant.
Year 1804: Napoleon 1 Becomes
Emperor.
France, too, is undergoing
violen t revolutions a t home. The
Reign of Terror ( 1793-94) is the
most poignant examp1e. Meanwhi le,
a charismatic leader of F renchmen
is ready to emerge: Napoleon Bona–
parte. By 1799, he is F irst Consul of
France; in fact Napoleon is dictator.
In early 1804, it is officially pro–
posed tha t Napoleon be declared
emperor. On May 3, the French Tri–
bunate votes in favor of th is pro–
posa!. There is only one dissenting
vote. The Senate passes the measure
soon thereafter.
A plebiscite is held in France and
the resul ts are: 3,572,329 votes in
favor and 2,569 votes against. The
people accept the idea of Napoleon
as emperor, and now on ly one fina l
step in the drama is yet to occur.
Pope Pius VIl crosses the Alps to
anoint the emperor with his own
hands. All the cardinals of the Ro–
roan chu rch and the bishops of
24
France are in his presence. Am–
bassadors from Austria , Prussia,
Spa in, Russia, Portugal , Turkey and
the United States come to congra tu–
late him. Only England sends no
representative.
The ceremony is held at Notre
Dame on December 2, 1804. To
everyone's surprise, Napoleon takes
the crown from the pope's hand and
crowns himself. Pius watches with
resignation. But he asserts his inde–
pendence by 1eaving when th e new
emperor is reading the constitu–
tional oath.
Bonaparte feel s that religion must
be in the hands of the state. He
seeks to unite French Catholics and
to obtai n the backing of the clergy.
Pius is glad to cooperate because the
church
in
France, after a century of
reason and revolution, is ready to
fade. For his part, Napoleon wants
to remove the church as a source of
opposition. In order to des troy the
power of dissident French bishops,
he boldly says, "l must have the
authority of the Pope."
A concorda t or religious agree–
ment had been reached in 180
l.
But
in 1804 the agreement between em–
peror and pope is shaky. By 1808
the pope wi ll be arrested and de–
ta ined by Napo1eon.
Napo1eon be lieves that France is
the hub of Eu ropean civil ization. He
personally assumes the burden of
carrying out the projects of Charle–
magne in the modern world. Europe
is to be ruled from Rome. During
his fifteen-year reign, he unde rtakes
a journey to N ijmegen (Nimwegen)
where he orders the ancien t Valkhof
pala~e
restored and his name in–
scribed on the wall below that of
Charles.
Year 1806: The Confederation of
the Rhine Created.
On December 2,
1805, Napoleon inflic ts a terri ble de–
feat on the Austrian and Russ ian
forces at A us t erli tz. He th en
strongly suggests tha t the German
princes should join themselves into
a new 1eague. Of course, the 1eague
is to support Napoleon.
The league is organized and im–
medi ately decla res its secess ion
from the moribund Holy Roman
Empire . The Act of th e Con–
federa tion of the Rhine, binding the
member German states, is signed in
París, J uly 17, 1806. Member states
tota l sixteen and include Bavaria,
Wurtemberg and Baden. All repu–
diate the laws of the Holy Roman
Empire. On August
1,
1806, it is
announced that Emperor Napoleon
has consented to become protector
of the confedera te princes.
The new confederation is led by
the former archbishop of Mainz.
Hundreds of formerly sovereign
petty princes including counts, bar–
ons and knigh ts of the Holy Roman
Empire are "mediatized." Their ter–
ritor ies are distributed among the
members of th e confederation.
An importan! politica1 reality is to
b e noted ca r efull y . T he co n–
federation is, in fact, the old Holy
Roman Em pi re in d isg uise but
minus the baubles of imperia l re–
galía and without the great Ge rman
powers of Austria and Prussia. Both
powers, however , are vassals of Na–
poleon. The Napoleonic paradox
needs to be seen in its true per–
spect ive. At one stroke, Bonaparte
has swept away the medieva l Holy
Roman Empire . At the same time,
he has revived it as a modern polit i–
cal institution. Mea nwhile, seeking
to reduce the number of German
states, Napoleon has unwittingly
created the framework for a fut ure
Germanic empire.
But for the present, all the Ger–
man principalities except Austria,
Prussia and Brunswick, plus the
elector of Hesse, are forced to join in
a French-controll ed confederation.
The forme r electors of the Holy Ro–
man emperor are now in the service
of Napoleon. In practice, the armies
of the confederation sta tes are units
of the French army.
Year 1806: The Holy Roman Em–
pire Dies.
On August 6, 1806, less
than one week after Napoleon "con–
sen ts" to his ro le as protector of the
confederation, the old Holy Roman
Empire is disso lved. Empe ro r
Francis II of Austria is ca lled upon
to dives t himself of the imperial
PLAIN TRUTH September 1974