British HRE?

Is it possible for there to be a state that is known as "The Holy Roman Empire of the British Nation"? This state would be decentralized like OTLs HRE. How could it come about and how would it fare?
 
The problem with a "Holy Roman Empire" sort of entity developing in Britain is that Britain is far from Italy and control of Northern Italy was, at the start, a prerequisite to be crowned Emperor. The HRE did at one point also include Northern Italy and even pretty much Rome itself because the King of Germany inherited the Kingdom of Lombardia.

Britain would also have to own France, Aquitaine, and Burgundy just to get a border with Italy, at which point the Economic and Political center of this Empire will have shifted down into France.

Now getting an entity with a similar political structure to the HRE just in Britain is not impossible. Have the Magna Carta establish an elective monarchy with certain Dukes being elevated to the position of Elector and there you go. Of course the big problem with Britain just being much smaller than the territory of OTL's HRE. It won't be possible to have as many small states just because there aren't as many places for small states to be. But the basic idea, and problems, of the HRE can be established in Britain.

But it probably won't call itself the Holy Roman Empire.
 
Maybe we can get the Roman part with survival of the Romano-British culture after the Roman departure (avoiding Anglo-Saxon conquest)?
 
Is it possible for there to be a state that is known as "The Holy Roman Empire of the British Nation"? This state would be decentralized like OTLs HRE. How could it come about and how would it fare?

Not impossible, I suppose, as such an entity could come into being through a series of history contorting events, even if highly improbable and implausible ones. Would there be any reason for charlemagne to go to "England"? Perhaps to discover if Jerusalem was indeed builded there!?
 
Not impossible, I suppose, as such an entity could come into being through a series of history contorting events, even if highly improbable and implausible ones. Would there be any reason for charlemagne to go to "England"? Perhaps to discover if Jerusalem was indeed builded there!?

I think if Charlemagne seriously thought Jerusalem was anywhere in the British Isles, he would be deposed for being seriously brain damaged.
 
Maybe we can get the Roman part with survival of the Romano-British culture after the Roman departure (avoiding Anglo-Saxon conquest)?

Someone started a timeline this week where a Romano-Britain survives until at least the early middle ages. I think something like that is your best bet. Somehow have Britain view themselves as the only "true" Roman state to survive (whether it's actually true or not) and you're likely to get some kind of title similar to Holy Roman Empire.
 
Maybe the four English Kingdoms unite and defeat the Great Heathen Army and liberate the Northern Kingdoms. They then declare themselves guardians of Christendom in the west and crown an emperor to rule over all the isles, though at this stage its just England (with legitimacy from the old roman British emperors) and decide that they shall have a elective monarchy with a Witenagemot being called after every Emperors death to crown a new one.
Eventually they expand and cover the majority of the British Isles after a few hundred years maybe even making head way into France out of political gain etc
 

J.D.Ward

Donor
The House of Hanover leads the HRE

Is the House of Hanover the answer here?

Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, who are also Kings of Great Britain.

Let the union between Hanover and Great Britain become political rather than personal, and Hanover takes on the role within the Empire which Austria had in OTL. (There may be problems here with the other states of the Empire uniting against an over-mighty Hanover).

The Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the Principality of Wales, are recognized as states within the Empire, which is renamed "The Holy Roman Empire of the Germanic Nations". A few mavericks in Scotland, Wales and Ireland object to being considered "Germanic", but they are ignored by the vast majority in the British states of the Empire.

Either, Hanover abandons the Salic Law, or there is a male successor to William IV of England, and by 1864 (150 years after the accession to the British throne of George I), the Holy Roman Empire of the Germanic Nations is preeminent among the Great Powers.
 
Is the House of Hanover the answer here?

[...]

Either, Hanover abandons the Salic Law, or there is a male successor to William IV of England, and by 1864 (150 years after the accession to the British throne of George I), the Holy Roman Empire of the Germanic Nations is preeminent among the Great Powers.

The main problem with this is the preoccupation with the balance of power that was going on in the 18th century (Hanover-UK Union would have no chance in Metternich's Europe, for instance) so the only real opening here is during the Anglo-Austrian Alliance, either as a quid pro quo for the Pragmatic Sanction or as a trade for support during the WotAS.

The other problem is the succession law. Hanover changing to cognatic is unlikely, given the insistence on Luxembourg (a member of the German Confederation) staying Salic when the Dutch throne went over to the British way - it isn't contemporary, but hey. Anyway, butterflies could make this a non-issue in the end.

A possible alternative would be for Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall to be crowned Emperor and then inherit the English throne somehow. Then Scotland and the Welsh principalities might join under duress and England might possibly Balkanise if the Plantagenets go all Carolingian and dole out apanages to their male-line relatives (England didn't officially recognise cognatic succession until the War of the Roses, so that isn't an issue here).
 
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