AHC: Additional kings "within" HRE

In OTL, there was a broad principle that the Holy Roman Empire could not contain further kings, since (if I understand right) there was only a King of the Romans who became Holy Roman Emperor. Anyone who was a liege (in theory) of the Emperor could not claim the title of king, since that implied equality with the Emperor.

An exception was made for the title of King of Bohemia, since that had been a pre-existing title for territory which was gradually incorporated into the HRE. Most famously, the Electors of Brandenburg became Kings in Prussia (and eventually Kings of Prussia) while remaining within the HRE as Electors of Brandenburg.

What other HRE nobles could plausibly become kings while remaining part of the HRE, so that all of their HRE and non-HRE territory would be considered de facto part of their kingdom (a la Prussia-Brandenburg), or their outside territory is integrated into the HRE? This does not count for something like Denmark, where the Kings of Denmark were also Dukes of Holstein, since they were pre-existing kings outside of the HRE, and there was no question of Denmark becoming considered part of the HRE. Nor would examples like the Electors of Saxony becoming King of Poland, unless there's a way to have all of Poland considered part of the HRE.

Are there any plausible ways that other kingly titles could be created/re-created? Perhaps, say, something involving the title of King of Burgundy being resurrected for some portion of holdings outside of the (later) reduced HRE borders, so that there's now a King in Burgundy like there was a King in Prussia in OTL?
 
Depending on the POD, Kingdom of Burgundy and Kingdom of Italy seems plausible. They were attached to the King of the Germans title, but it could have gone to another individual or a cadet branch of an established imperial dynasty.

I also see a possibility for a Kingdom of Lotharingia. Nobody knows what Charles the rash and Emperor Frederik discussed, but creating a kingdom for the duke of Burgundy seems to have been possible. Instead of Lotharingia, Kingdom of Frisia might have been used instead (princes in historical Lotharingia might have taken offense of having a Burgundian lay claim to their lands).

Later, I think that the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piemont was theoritically in the HRE in its quality of Duke of Savoy. Contrary to the rest of the Italian States, Savoy remained a part of the Imperial Diet up to the Empire dissolution (for example, the Duke of Savoy was a member of the 1792 Imperial Diet).
Thus, you could consider the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piemont to be under a similar arrangement as the King in/of Prussia.

:)
 
If Otto II hadn't died in 983 with the lack of an adult heir, leaving Denmark able to throw off the yoke of vassalage that was forced on them by Otto I in 950, then Denmark might have been acknowledged as a kingdom within HRE as well, for many of the same reasons as Bohemia
 
Depending on the POD, Kingdom of Burgundy and Kingdom of Italy seems plausible. They were attached to the King of the Germans title, but it could have gone to another individual or a cadet branch of an established imperial dynasty.

I also see a possibility for a Kingdom of Lotharingia. Nobody knows what Charles the rash and Emperor Frederik discussed, but creating a kingdom for the duke of Burgundy seems to have been possible. Instead of Lotharingia, Kingdom of Frisia might have been used instead (princes in historical Lotharingia might have taken offense of having a Burgundian lay claim to their lands).

Later, I think that the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piemont was theoritically in the HRE in its quality of Duke of Savoy. Contrary to the rest of the Italian States, Savoy remained a part of the Imperial Diet up to the Empire dissolution (for example, the Duke of Savoy was a member of the 1792 Imperial Diet).
Thus, you could consider the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piemont to be under a similar arrangement as the King in/of Prussia.

:)
Actually,at one point I think Sardinia was actually considered to be a part of the HRE and it's ruler was declared a King.Classic example would be Frederick II's illegitimate son.
 
Hmm, so if things really fell out in the right way there might be Kings of Burgundy, Italy and Sardinia within the HRE? That might tempt other powerful nobles to see if they could find some small chunk of foreign territory to claim a kingly title over. It would be strange, though entertaining, to have a HRE where all of the Electors are also kings.
 
Frederick the Quarrelsome was supposed to become king of Austria as part of a marriage alliance with Frederick II.

The whole thing got cancelled when the bride refused to marry.
 
Frederick the Quarrelsome was supposed to become king of Austria as part of a marriage alliance with Frederick II.

The whole thing got cancelled when the bride refused to marry.

I always found it fascinating that Austria, when it became the foremost power inside the HRE, went to great lengths to "elevate" itself above the level of dukedom, and managed to fabricate the privilegium maius. It shows how seriously they took the legal concept of the Imperial standings. I mean, what prevented the "Archduke" of Austria from the 16th to the early 19th century from simply adopting a native monarchical title besides the Bohemian crown?
 
I also see a possibility for a Kingdom of Lotharingia. Nobody knows what Charles the rash and Emperor Frederik discussed, but creating a kingdom for the duke of Burgundy seems to have been possible. Instead of Lotharingia, Kingdom of Frisia might have been used instead (princes in historical Lotharingia might have taken offense of having a Burgundian lay claim to their lands).

However Charles the Brash/Bold controled most of the lands that made up the northern portions Kingdom of Lotharingia. And calling it the Kingdom of Frisia is kinda out since it was only a County at the time and not in the control of the Duke of Burgundy. The one stick in the mud was the Duchy of Lorraine/Lotheringia wasn't under the control of Charles the Brash, though he was trying really hard when he got himself killed
 
However Charles the Brash/Bold controled most of the lands that made up the northern portions Kingdom of Lotharingia. And calling it the Kingdom of Frisia is kinda out since it was only a County at the time and not in the control of the Duke of Burgundy. The one stick in the mud was the Duchy of Lorraine/Lotheringia wasn't under the control of Charles the Brash, though he was trying really hard when he got himself killed

Parts of Frisia, for instance West Friesland (between the Zuiderzee (now IJsselmeer) and the North Sea) in Holland were under his control. Both the county of Holland and the duchy (initially county) of Gelre had historic claims on Frisia.
East Friesland wasn't even a county yet, except for North Frisia (Schleswig, Denmark) the rest of of the Frisian territories were a part of the Frisian Freedom, under imperial immediacy without a feudal ruler, though there was local (lower) nobility.
Anyway Frisia/Friesland does seem like an ideal compromise solution from an Imperial perspective, it's an kingdom of old without much territorial claims on other vassals from the Empire. Though even Burgundy, the least prominent of the imperial kingdoms (the others being the German Kingdom and Italy) with many territories de facto lost to France might also be considered.
However even Lotharingia is possible, since they also held the title duke of Lothier, Brabant and Limburg, which was the heir of Lower Lorraine/Lotharingia.

It's also clear, that the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, well his chancellor (Kaspar Schlick) only proposed a kingdom, which would be an imperial fief (like Bohemia), to both Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. There were talks about, which territories should for such a kingdom.
Philip the Good considered the proposal, but would have preferred an independent crown, which was unacceptable for any emperor. Then there's Charles the Bold, who's initially dream was to become king of the Romans and potentially Holy Roman Emperor, so he saw it as a valuable consolation price. Both also wanted certain vassals being transferred to their kingdom, also more than any Emperor was willing to do.
 
The House of Hozenholler were able to crown themselves Kings in Prussian in 1702 (König in Preußen), and that was legally close to the Danish situation if i understand it correctly. Similar options might work for others. And as others have pointed out, there were more royal titles used during the history of the empire.
 
However even Lotharingia is possible, since they also held the title duke of Lothier, Brabant and Limburg, which was the heir of Lower Lorraine/Lotharingia.

Typically whoever was the duke of Brabant also got to call themselves the Duke of Lotheir. Having a Kingdom of Lotharingia and a Duchy of Lorraine/Lotharingia at the same time is possible. After all there was a Duchy of Burgundy and a County of Burgundy that were two separate things.

One of these days Im going to take the Alt History plunge and write this out as a TL, with the later reign of Charles V as a divergent point.
 
I've thought about this quite a bit. There seems ton have been a sudden rush for crowns in the German states, although they were less picky about how they got it than Jared. Within a relatively short period the houses of Brandenburg, Saxony, and Hannover all found themselves sporting crowns.

As with so many questions of late imperial Germany, it gets a bit dizzying considering all the possibilities.
 
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