Holy Roman Empire, Batman

Rex Mundi

Banned
With a POD after the end of the Ottonian dynasty - that is to say, after the death of Henry II in 1024 - is there a way to have the Holy Roman Empire disintegrate gracefully without balkanizing? My original idea was to have the HRE lose Italy early on and consequently rule as a king of Germany or some such, but it seems quite likely that a sufficiently large German state would refuse to relinquish (or if worse came to worst, attempt to recreate) the HRE title if for no other motive than prestige. Also, the Holy Roman Empire in centuries to come didn't seem to regard the loss of Italian land as sufficient cause for discontinuing claims to Roman heritage, while the decentralized state of the HRE means that a disaster on a scale that caused the sudden loss of Italy might imply a situation where the emperor can no longer control his vassals.

So basically, after Henry II, what would carve up the Holy Roman Empire into as small a group of states possible (yet with none of them large enough to claim or to carry on the HRE mantle)? I'd like to avoid a situation where Germany explodes into its hundreds of constituent realms.
 
With a POD after the end of the Ottonian dynasty - that is to say, after the death of Henry II in 1024 - is there a way to have the Holy Roman Empire disintegrate gracefully without balkanizing? My original idea was to have the HRE lose Italy early on and consequently rule as a king of Germany or some such, but it seems quite likely that a sufficiently large German state would refuse to relinquish (or if worse came to wyorst, attempt to recreate) the HRE title if for no other motive than prestige. Also, the Holy Roman Empire in centuries to come didn't seem to regard the loss of Italian land as sufficient cause for discontinuing claims to Roman heritage, while the decentralized state of the HRE means that a disaster on a scale that caused the sudden loss of Italy might imply a situation where the emperor can no longer control his vassals.

So basically, after Henry II, what would carve up the Holy Roman Empire into as small a group of states possible (yet with none of them large enough to claim or to carry on the HRE mantle)? I'd like to avoid a situation where Germany explodes into its hundreds of constituent realms.
You want to balkanize the hre without balkanizing it?

"Balkanize" means to split into smaller states, which is precisely what you are asking for. So im confused.
 
Dang. I thought the comma was a typo and assumed this thread was going to be about a Batman-like character arising in the Holy Roman Empire. :(
Perhaps after the Black Death, culture is not only influenced by images of death, but also those of night.

Bats become associated with death and evil, like the black cat.

The Holy Roman Empire colonizes the New World in the 1500s and 1600s. The existence of vampire bats becomes known to them.

Later on stories are written about the Batman, a bloodsucking monster or demon that attacks people at night.
 
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