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The Holy Roman Empire originated with Charlemagne in the year 800 when he was crowned with the title Roman Emperor. While ruled by a succession of Germanic kings, in the 1200s it began being called the Holy Roman Empire in association with Christianity and the authority of the Pope. It was a collection of principalities and never nation-state, and considered a continuation of the Roman Empire. It included what today is Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and bits of Italy and Austria, After 1500, the Emperor was an Austrian Habsburg with the Roman Emperor's authority subject to the policies of Austria. Napoleon of France defeated Austria, followed in 1801 by the treaty of Lunéville and Austria renouncing claims to the Holy Roman Empire. In 1804, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II took the title Francis I, Emperor of Austria. In 1806 he abdicated his title as Roman Emperor, and the Holy Roman Empire was formally dissolved, with Napoleon reorganizing much of it into his Confederation of the Rhine, to last till 1813.
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