What was the Holy Roman Empire?
Thereafter those who wanted to claim to be emperor in the west had to get Papal acquiescence, by consent or force. If this didn’t work, aspirants set up their own Pope – at one stage there were three men who were called Pope. The Holy Roman Empire shifted around, eventually ending up in Austria where it stayed until Napoleon conquered Austria-Hungary in the early 19th Century CE, when the title disappeared. Napoleon contented himself in his own New Rome with the title of First Consul, and just plain Emperor, as he was not in the Holy business.
