The Rise And Fall of the Holy Roman Empire: From Charlemagne to Napoleon

by David Criswell

The Rise and Fall of the Holy Roman Empire is the only complete history of the Holy Roman Empure currently in print. The vain attempt of the Holy Roman Empire to restore the legacy of ancient Rome is recounted in full. Unlike other histories, Dr. Criswell covers both emperors and popes, who were by charter co-rulers of the empire, and discusses the whole empire as it extended at various times far beoynd Germany and Italy to Spain, England, France, and even to Constantiniople, Jerusalem, and the Americas. Preferring facts to interpretation, Dr. Criswell has presented this history as a chronoligcal narrative, discussing each and every emperor and pope, as well as the dominant kings of Europe, from the time of Charlemagne to the empire's fall under Napoleon. The result is a history that combines Church history with secular history and is the first comprehensive, yet conscise, history of the Holy Roman Empire.

656 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2005

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I found the content of this book very informative, the editing was shockingly bad. I barely skimmed the 650 pages of this book and found no less than 20 glaring spelling or grammatical errors. Even the bio on the back is poorly written. Kudos to Criswell on his research but his editor should have his eyes put out.

[Simon Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I persisted with this book because it is a unique piece of work in its scope and ambition and as a crash course in medieval European history it does the job admirably. Sadly it is so badly written that reading it is a painful experience.

[Spike Spikey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Its not often I read a book that's actually poorly written, edited, and researched.