Holy Roman Empire A loosely federated central European political entity that began with the coronation of the German king Otto I as the first emperor in 962. The empire was long troubled, first by the conflict between papal and civil authority and later by religious strife and political fragmentation, and after the 1200s the emperors had little power in most of its constituent states. Upon Francis II’s renunciation of his title at Napoleon’s instigation in 1806, the empire ceased to exist.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Holy Roman Empire n (Historical Terms) the complex of European territories under the rule of the Frankish or German king who bore the title of Roman emperor, beginning with the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 ad. The last emperor, Francis II, relinquished his crown in 1806 Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014Ho?ly Ro?man Em?pire n. a Germanic empire located chiefly in central Europe, considered as beginning with the coronation of Charlemagne in a.d. 800 or of Otto the Great in a.d. 962 and lasting until the renunciation of the crown by Francis II in 1806. Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.