The Archbishop of Germany

[Baldamundo]

In a game of Crusader Kings I was playing the other day I noticed that the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor had ended up being the same person.

Does anyone know how this could possibly have happened?

Now presumably he must have become King of Germany before he became the Pope because a Pope counts as a king and kings can't be vassals of other kings, and one has to be a vassal to be the heir in an elective monarchy like what the HRE was (I think, unless it changed in the course of that game. Does the AI do that?). But according to the wiki you need to be a secular ruler to be considered for succession in an elective monarchy, but do you not need to be a prince-bishop to be elected to the Papacy?

I'm so hopelessly confused :wacko:

EDIT: oops, accidentally posted this in the wrong place and can't figure out how to delete the thread. I sure feel stupid right now <.<
Could a kindly mod please move it?

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Well the HRE (which doesn't really exist in the game, but is a combination of 3 kingtitles. Germany, Italy and Burgundy) doesn't have elective law.

What most likely happened is a bishop rebelled against the king of Germany and then took that title, becaming Archbishop of Germany and then this Archbishop was elected Pope.

 

[Baldamundo]

Well the HRE (which doesn't really exist in the game, but is a combination of 3 kingtitles. Germany, Italy and Burgundy) doesn't have elective law.

Oh, I had just assumed it had elective law - not having elective law is pretty ahistorical, no? (And it includes Bohemia too, doesn't it?)

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Oh, I had just assumed it had elective law - not having elective law is pretty ahistorical, no? (And it includes Bohemia too, doesn't it?)

No, it is not a-historical at all for the 11th/12th century. When Emperors had a son, then that son was proclaimed Emperor after his father (sometimes they were even already proclaimed co-emperor with their father), that is why you have the Ottonian, Salian and Stauffen dynasties as emperors.


f.e. France was technically also an elective kingdom, but because there was a long line of Capetian kings who produced a male heir, the election was mute.

 

[Baldamundo]

Oh right, I didn't realised (I'm quite a novice when it comes to the Medieval period). Just assumed the dynasties occurred thanks to inordinate amounts of bribes and whatnot