Why did the Holy Roman Empire have no single government?

Answer 1

The medieval Holy Roman Empire was derived from the Carolingian Empire, which seems to have been consciously intended to resurrect ancient Rome.

The Roman Empire had allowed kingdoms to operate within it, even from its beginnings, and these were originally called client kingdoms. Early on, they were usually terminated and more direct control put on them, but later, they broke away and the West Roman Empire fell as a result.

When the Carolingian Empire was created, it had different Kingdoms within it already, including the Kingdom of the Franks and the Kingdom of Lombardy. Subsequently, when the Carolingian Empire divided into the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire, it was naturally accepted that an empire could have kingdoms within it, and that is what the Holy Roman Empire did.

Under the Holy Roman Empire, there were not only kingdoms, but principalities, duchies, counties, bishoprics, free cities, communes, and possibly other sorts of governmental entities within it. There were hundreds of these, each with its own government bodies and laws. The empire was a super government over all, but it had only weak control over them.

We might take the existence of the Hanseatic League as an example of the weak control the empire had. Free cities within the empire, mostly republican cities controlled by guild organizations, entered into a league with other cities outside the empire. This international organization had its own separate governing body, entered into its own treaties with foreign nations, controlled trade in the Baltic Sea and other maritime areas, had its own military, and waged its own wars. All of this was outside the control of the emperor, who was the theoretical ruler of the territory within which many of the league's most important cities lay.

The rulers of these smaller territories were all jealous of their power and did not want to give it up to the emperor, so they resisted allowing a strong central government. Also the emperors were elected by seven people called prince electors, who were kings, bishops, and counts palatine, and so it was not possible to maintain a strong dynasty of emperors during the Middle Ages.