Comparing Holy Roman Empire With European Union

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The Holy Roman Empire | European Disunion Done Right; The 'old empire' offers surprising lessons for the European Union today. Economist, Dec 22, 2012.
http://www.economist.com/news/ch ... opean-disunion-done

Note:
(1) "When Ferdinand III, the Habsburg monarch of the Holy Roman Empire, arrived in Regensburg, the Brussels of its time, in late 1652, he brought 60 musicians and three dwarves. There were sleigh rides, fireworks and the first Italian opera ever performed in Germanic lands. Aside from that, the Reichstag (imperial diet) was much like today’s European Council, the gathering for leaders of the member states. The emperor arrived with a retinue of 3,000 people to meet the empire’s princes, bishops, margraves and other assorted VIPs. They negotiated for more than a year. By the time Ferdinand left again for Vienna/"

(a) Holy Roman Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire
(962 (Otto I) – 1806 (Francis II); "The Kingdom had no permanent capital city and the kings travelled from residence to residence (called Kaiserpfalz) to discharge affairs. However, each king preferred certain places")

Take a good look at the eagle in Imperial Banner in the table, fo the essay later stated, "These [regional, or kreis, coins] usually had the imperial eagle on one side and the local prince's coat of arms on the other."
(b) Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_III,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
(1608-1657; Holy Roman Emperor 1637-1657; eldest son of Emperor Ferdinand II)

* Ferdinand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand
(Fernando and Hernando in Spanish)
(c) House of Habsburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Habsburg
(also Hapsburg; best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and Spanish Empire; The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a fortress built around 1020–1030 in present-day Switzerland by Count Radbot of Klettgau, who chose to name his fortress Habsburg)

* Habsburg Castle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg_Castle
(It is believed that he [Count Radbot] named the castle after a hawk (German: Habicht) seen sitting on its walls. Some historians and linguists believe the name may come from the Middle High German word 'hab / hap' meaning ford, as it is located near a ford of the Aar River)
* Klettgau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klettgau
(d) Regensburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regensburg
(a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers)
(e) Reichstag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag
(German for Diet of the Realm; It may refer to: Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire), the Imperial Diets (754-1806))

For that, see Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Diet_(Holy_Roman_Empire)
(The deputies convened occasionally at different cities, until in 1663 the Perpetual Diet was established at the Regensburg city hall)
(f) European Council
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Council
(comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council [who is not a head of state]; meets at Brussel)

(2) Thirty Years War (1618–1648; ended with Peace of Westphalia in 1648; "The end of the war was not brought about by one treaty but instead by a group of treaties" (en.wikipedia.org))
(3) Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
(1122-1190; crowned Roman Emperor by a pope in 1155; Two years later in 1157 the term "sacrum" (ie "holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire; The name Barbarossa came from the northern Italian cities he attempted to rule, and means "red beard" in Italian)
(4) Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
(1578-1637; Holy Roman Emperor 1619–1637; His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War)

(5) "The 1653 Reichstag was the first after that treaty. One last time, the empire could have gone either way, toward a centralised union or a decentralised federation. Ferdinand III would have preferred the former. But the princes, led by the charismatic elector of Brandenburg, an upstart power in the east, rejected the emperor’s proposal to make all estates pay imperial taxes authorised by the Reichstag"
(a) List of rulers of Brandenburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rulers_of_Brandenburg
(was created in 1157 as the Margraviate of Brandenburg by [the first margrave] Albert the Bear; In 1356 the Margrave of Brandenburg was given the permanent right to participate in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor with the title of Elector)
(b) Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_William,_Elector_of_Brandenburg
(German: Friedrich Wilhelm; 1620-1688; Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia: 1640-1688)
(c) Brandenburg-Prussia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg-Prussia
(1618–1701)

Quote:

"Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession upon the latter's extinction in the male line in 1618.

"In 1701, Frederick III [son of Frederick William], Elector of Brandenburg, succeeded in elevating his status to King in Prussia. * * * Brandenburg-Prussia is thence commonly referred to as the Kingdom of Prussia, or simply Prussia.

* thence (adv): "from that fact or circumstance"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thence
* Thus, the essay later stated, "His [Frederick William's] heir was then upgraded to king."

(6) Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
(1640-1705; reign 1658-1705)

The coin in the Economist essay showed his profile.
(7) "And many princes, after years of paying mercenaries, were drowning in debt. As Mr Whaley explains, these debts were dealt with through a combination of moratoria and debt commissions."

The moratoria is plural form of
moratorium (n; New Latin, from Late Latin, neuter of moratorius dilatory, from mora delay; First Known Use 1875):
"1a : a legally authorized period of delay in the performance of a legal obligation or the payment of a debt
* * *  
2: a suspension of activity"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moratorium

(8) Holy Roman Empire set up "two imperial courts, one usually in Speyer and one in Vienna."

Speyer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyer
(a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants)
(9) The essay said "a Saxon proposal to ban indigo dyes (to protect the woad industry) failed."

(10) For qualified majority, see supermajority
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermajority
(11) bloviate (vi; perhaps irregular from blow; First Known Use  circa 1879):
"to speak or write verbosely and windily"
(12) For Kreise, see Kreis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreis
(plural Kreise; German word for circle, and also refers to a type of country subdivision; In the Holy Roman Empire a Reichskreis (Imperial Circle) was a regional association of several principalities)

* Imperial Circle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Circle
(13) The essay then referred to groschen, florin, pfennig, taler and gulden. These were coins.
(14) benighted (adj):
"1: overtaken by darkness or night
2: existing in a state of intellectual, moral, or social darkness : UNENLIGHTENED"
(15) University of Hull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Hull
(a public university in England; founded in 1927; located in Kingston upon Hull)

* Kingston upon Hull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull
(a city frequently referred to as Hull; stands on the River Hull)

(16) "George I and his heirs, say, were simultaneously electors of Hannover (and thus vassals of the emperor) and kings of Britain."

George I of Great Britain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_I_of_Great_Britain
(1660-1727; born in Hanover; Elector of Hanover 1698-1727; King of Great Britain and Ireland 1714-1727; At the age of 54, after the death of Queen Anne of Great Britain, George ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover)
(17) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832; German writer)