An army composed of soldiers from church-held lands and ministriales- knight-trained serfs who were indentured soldiers - maintained peace in the empire, squashing rebellions from the various principalities that made up Germany and fending off the Vikings from the north and the Magyars from the east. The German soldiers grew to become fierce and well-trained warriors. Many hired themselves out as mercenaries, lending immense help in the Crusades. The most famous of these mercenary warriors were the Teutonic Knights, a religious order of knights that spread Christianity through force.

Eventually, the weight of controlling two disparate states wore heavily on the Holy Roman crown. History recorded tension and sometimes outright war between the emperor and Rome. The German principalities were soon able to contest the emperor's might with their own armies, and the Italian city states were increasingly disdainful of German rule. By the 13th century, too weak to enforce its rule over the German tribes or the Italian states, the Holy Roman Empire remained that in name only.

Next: Age II's Teutons