Come up with a way to include all of OTL Poland as a traditional part of the HRE.
(Nongenocidally of course).
(Nongenocidally of course).
At this time there was no concept of the Dutch being separate from other GermansGiven that the HRE included large chunks of Italy, some slavic areas and French speakers, in addition to Dutch and German, it should be pretty easy for it to expand to include Poland as well. "You're now Catholic. Great. That means you are part of the HRE."
Other options would, of course, include Charlemagne's Empire holding together better, so 'HRE=Western Christendom' is a common mindset (among people within the HRE, of course).
Poland was, at times, considered as vassal of the emperor. Of course, it's was not exactly the same to say it was part of the HRE (would it because the concept of the HRE didn't really existed until the XIIth century), but it wouldn't ask for much (relatively speaking) to prevent the regalisation of Poland (or, rather, how it did happened) in face of a failure of Polanes to rise over, say, Vistulans; an imperial maintain over their wendic marches after 983, an Hungarian invasion of Vistule's basin or a Polish defeat at Cedinya.Come up with a way to include all of OTL Poland as a traditional part of the HRE.
(Nongenocidally of course).
Poland was, at times, considered as vassal of the emperor. Of course, it's was not exactly the same to say it was part of the HRE (would it because the concept of the HRE didn't really existed until the XIIth century), but it wouldn't ask for much (relatively speaking) to prevent the regalisation of Poland (or, rather, how it did happened) in face of a failure of Polanes to rise over, say, Vistulans; an imperial maintain over their wendic marches after 983, an Hungarian invasion of Vistule's basin or a Polish defeat at Cedinya.
How much, tough, the tributarisation and vassalisation of slavic petty-states or states would be effective is another question altogether (altough I could see a super-Empire pulling the same on Jutland and effectively cutting down any rival in the region having more odds to do so, while not hugely plausible), but a *Polish duchy ackowledging imperial suzerainty to enforce its own rule over its own nobility (as did Bohemia, or Brittany with late Carolingians and Capetians) doesn't strikes me as implausible with the right set of events in the late IXth and Xth centuries.
The ensemble that became the HRE appeared in the Xth century, but you didn't have a concept of HRE (I should have added "as we understand it") before the XIIth (or, arguably, the latter third of the XIth); a bit like the transition between late Republic and "Dominate" in Roman history.The 12th century? I thought the HRE started with Otto I in the 10th century?
Yes and no : it's more or less the grey area I was referring to.The King of Bohemia was once King of Poland, and Bohemia was a constitute-kingdom of the Holy Roman Empire... does that count?
Separate lith. From poland. Have german hre. Send extra forces to tutonic knights. Win b of tannenberg in 1410 . Divide up poland into dukedoms. Do what many rulers did and take large segments of the population and relocate across germany. Then move germans into poland. Have those territories report direct to the emperor.