Early modern period
In the early modern period, the Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor the first of which was Otto I. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. Despite its name, for much of its history the Empire did not include Rome within its borders.
Battle of Pollentia
Theodosius I, the last emperor of both eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire, died in 395, leaving his sons Arcadius and Honorius emperors of the East and West, respectively. However, the weakness of character of the two brothers, and their young age upon their accession to the throne, made it possible for ambitious and sometimes unscrupulous ministers to assume the effective rule of the Empire.