The Holy Roman Emperor received the imperial regalia from the hands of the Pope, symbolizing both the pope's right to crown Christian sovereigns and also the emperor's role as protector of the Catholic Church. The Holy Roman empresses were crowned as well.
The Holy Roman Empire was established in 962 under Otto the Great. Later emperors were crowned by the pope or other Catholic bishops. In 1530 Charles V became the last Holy Roman emperor to be crowned by a pope, Clement VII, albeit in Bologna. Thereafter, until the abolition of the empire in 1806, no further crownings by the pope were held.[N 1] Later rulers simply proclaimed themselves Imperator Electus Romanorum ("Elected Emperor of the Romans") after their coronation as German king.
Cite error: There are <ref group=N> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=N}} template (see the help page).