Succession Dispute in the Holy Roman Empire

Name: Succession Dispute in the Holy Roman Empire
Start: 1240
End: 1249

Type Event Region Holy Roman Empire Time 1240–1249

In the 1240s the Holy Roman Empire fell into a severe dual crisis of royal succession and conflict between the papacy and the princes.

Timeline

1240–1245Northern Italy · ItalyIn the early 1240s Frederick II continued fighting the papacy-supported Lombard League in northern Italy; the First Council of Lyon in 1245 formally deposed the emperor and called for a crusade against him, and German princes took the opportunity to question the Hohenstaufen's legitimacy to the imperial throne, making the succession crisis public.
1246–1249Germany · GermanyIn 1246 electors including the Archbishop of Cologne chose Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia, as antiking of Germany against Conrad IV, son of Frederick II; after Henry's death in 1247, William, Count of Holland, was elected as the new antiking. The empire had two (or even more) competing monarchs, with princes each holding their own ground and centralization existing in name only.

Great Interregnum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Interregnum
Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Raspe,_Landgrave_of_Thuringia