• Holy Roman Empire

  • A Captivating Guide to the Holy Roman Empire and Carolingian Dynasty
  • By: Captivating History
  • Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
  • Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (33 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Holy Roman Empire  By  cover art

Holy Roman Empire

By: Captivating History
Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

If you want to discover the captivating history of the Holy Roman Empire, then pay attention...

Two captivating manuscripts in one audiobook:

  • The Holy Roman Empire: A Captivating Guide to the Union of Smaller Kingdoms That Started During the Early Middle Ages and Dissolved During the Napoleonic Wars
  • The Carolingian Empire: A Captivating Guide to the Carolingian Dynasty and Their Large Empire That Covered Most of Western Europe During the Reign of Charlemagne

Throughout the story of the Holy Roman Empire, a wealth of fascinating tales from interesting people proliferates. Monks and emperors will clash, poets sing the praises of kings, and the pope rides blind and bareback on a frightened donkey through the streets of Rome. The mightiest monarch in all of the world walks barefoot in the snow in repentance for his angry deeds, and two rival families stand toe-to-toe for the monarchy. Crusades are lost in war and won in diplomacy, while kings are held ransom, revolts are suppressed, and antipopes crowned.

Some of the topics covered in part one of this audiobook include:

  • The First Roman Empire
  • The Carolingians
  • A Formal Emperor
  • The Dissolution
  • And much, much more!

Some of the topics covered in part two of this audiobook include:

  • A Quick Overview
  • The World After Rome
  • Ending a Dynasty - Pepin, Charles, and Carloman
  • The Conquests of Charles
  • In the Name of Religion
  • The Division Effectively Ending the Empire
  • Echoes of the Roman Empire - How Outside Forces Picked Apart the Carolingian Empire
  • Lasting Effects and Hope of Reunification
  • And much, much more!

So if you want to learn more about the history of the Holy Roman Empire and Carolingian Empire, get this audiobook now!

©2019 Captivating History (P)2019 Captivating History

What listeners say about Holy Roman Empire

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

It is destined to be the definitive work

Amazingly detailed, possibly too many details for a casual listener, It explains a lot about the Carolingian Dynasty, jurisprudence, and conflict resolution that continues to influence to this day in both Europe and some extent North America.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Expecting More, average book.

This book is terminally dull, mainly because of a failed attempt at breaking the material topically, which involves a lot of backing and frothing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good narration, short on history

This version of the audiobook actually seems to be 2 books bunched together. The first was Capivating History's The Holy Roman Empire and the second was the Carolingian Empire.

Both books suffer from a highly repetitive writing style, but the one on the HRE is a useful SparkNotes style summary of nearly 1,000 years of Germanic history in just 4-5 hours. It was useful and generally informative, but as many other reviews claim, it just around in time a bit.

The second book The Carolingian Empire was much worse. Almost as long as the first book and covering no more than 100 years, the Carolingian book constantly felt like it was being judgemental about why these historical figures didn't just fundamentally change the structure of their culture and invent primogeniture half a millennium years earlier than it was acceptable. The book repeats this critique AD NAUSEAM, and I almost couldn't finish because of it. Still, it gave some new insight into the Carolingians and the gap between the Carolingian and Holy Roman Empires.

Get the first if you want a place to get started with learning about the HRE. SKIP the second.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Well done, but questionable accuracy

It does a good job if being captivating to a history nerd like me, but it states something's as facts that are debates, some things as debates that are only debated by fringe historians and states some things that are just wrong, even contradicting itself. For example, it states at one point that Carloman died of natural causes (there's suspicion Charlemagne or allies had him killed, which is worth noting) and later on states he abdicated.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I was initially hesitant to buy anything from the "Captivating History" line because I had some preconceived notion that it was a company that hired broke history majors to throw together a quick narrative, as opposed to an expert in a particular historical subject writing an engaging and informative work. Boy, was I wrong. I was very pleased with the quality of this book, and I learned a great deal about the Holy Roman Empire and Carolingian Empire. I'll definitely be getting more books from the Captivating History series in the future.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

One thousand years never a dull moment

This is an excellent book on the Holy Roman Empire. It is indeed an accurate captivating guide to the Holy Roman Empire and Carolingian Dynasty.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Informative and enjoyable.

This was an informative content that has data that you might not know — a recommended audible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

It's a fairly accurate book.

This book included the beginning with a brief history of the Roman Empire. It's vital that they did this because Roman is pretty much identical with him.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Another gem from Captivating History

Wow, great book! A real page-turner loved it. The fascinating history of some of Europe's significant rulers, don't miss it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Well written but not engaging.

Not so much for the enjoyment that I at times received from listening to it. The US founding fathers would have been informed of much of this history, and the US Constitution's safeguards would have been influenced by the efforts of the "Empire".

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!