alternatehistory.com

For you Holy Roman Empire experts:
What was the deal with the Emperor being able to secularize archbishoprics?
I know that in the 16th century the Emperor did secularize a number of them leading up to the Protestant reformation, with Charles V an anti-Protestant secularizing a number of them.
I know the Church seemed to oppose some of them and later were able to roll back some of the secularizations, but it seems that the Pope didn't cause that much of a problem over it when it was occurring in the 1500's by order of the Emperor.

What about these things happening earlier?
I'm curious what would have happened if the Emperor secularized Salzburg in the 13th-14th centuries. The Pope was far more active in politics at this point; would he have excommunicated the Emperor over this or protested in some way?
Top