Ruler: Emperor Frederick III, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Styria, Carinthia & Carniola. Born 1415, Elected 'King of the Romans' 1440, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1452 in Rome, marrying Eleanor of Portugal at the same ceremony. Heir Maximilian, born 1459.

The Holy Roman Empire straddles Europe with borders that in theory stretch from Rome to the Baltic and from the Rhone and Meuse in the west to Prussia and Prague in the east. Founded in 962 by Otto the Great, the Empire claims a spiritual and political authority over all Christendom, basing it's pretensions on the political and spiritual authority of earlier Christian Emperors: Constantine the Great, Justinian, Charlemagne and ultimately back to Caesar Augustus.

On paper the Empire looks impressive; the title of Emperor carries with it enormous prestige, a post that makes its holder the theoretical secular head of Christendom (the Papacy being the Spiritual counterpart). In reality, the Empire's internal conflicts between princes, territorial bishoprics, free cities, leagues and confederations (like the Swiss) reduce many parts to almost constant warfare.

One other important fact to note is that the office of Emperor, (or more strictly 'King of the Romans': only a papal coronation makes an Emperor), is elective. In theory any king, duke, count or even a landless knight, (as long as they are Catholics), can be elected by the college of seven electors as established by the Empire's constitutional charter called "The Golden Bull". One previous King of the Romans was Richard Earl of Cornwall, brother to King Henry III of England in the 13^th Century.

The Electors: the Archbishops of Treves, Mainz and Cologne, the King of Bohemia, the Count of the Palatinate, the Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg and the Margrave of Brandenburg, not only have the power to elect but they can also depose. Nor is there anything against them putting themselves forward as candidates for the Imperial throne.

Compared to his immediate imperial predecessors: Sigismund and Albert II, both also Kings of Hungary and Bohemia, Frederick III's resources are limited. There are some vestigial Imperial lands and taxes but none produce any useful revenue, so Frederick has to rely on other lands owned or controlled.

For a number of years, he managed to exercise some power in Bohemia and Hungary by acting as regent for his relative Ladislas, (son of Albert II). However, the latter's death in 1457 has led to these Kingdoms selecting their own rulers: Podebrand and Matthias Corvinus, respectively. However, a dissident group of Magyar nobles proclaimed Frederick King of Hungary and he has inherited Styria and Carinthia, part of the Duchy of Austria.

His Habsburg relatives cause him problems. He has to share the titles and income of the ancestral family lands with his brother Albert and the two do not get on. In fact, they are more or less at war over Austria. Albert gained the edge by ceding the Habsburgs' Rhineland territories in Alsace and southern Swabia to their cousin Sigismund in return for the Duchy of Tyrol. The Hanseatic League and King Podebrand of Bohemia are also thorns in Frederick's side while Freibourg and Solothurn joined the cantons of the Swiss Confederation in their campaign for independence, which have proved unmanageable to everyone who's tried.

Finally, the German Church resents the fact that Frederick sacrificed their traditional liberty in return for a Papal coronation, making him Emperor.

So Frederick's position is weaker today than in 1440 and there is much talk of deposition, but the Electors are undecided. They despise a weak Emperor but fear a strong one and the most powerful prince in the Empire, thanks to his holding lands nominally part of the Empire, is the Duke of Burgundy.

Frederick is well aware of the power of Burgundy but he also has ambitions to marry his infant son Maximilian to a rich heiress. Though the East has fallen to other rulers, perhaps a Burgundian match is possible. This would make Frederick a possible enemy of France and thus ultimately influence the fate of England.

With a truculent brother, a quarrelsome Empire and unresolved issues in Bohemia and Hungary, Frederick needs to use diplomacy and patience to maintain his precarious position. However, it is rumoured that he sits in his garden at his court in Wiener Neustadt indulging his hobbies of killing flies and collecting mouse droppings [sic].