The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western, Central and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
The empire was created by joining in personal union and with the imperial title the crown of the Kingdom of Italy with the Frankish crown, particularly the Kingdom of East Francia, as well as titles of other smaller territories. Soon, these kingdoms would be joined by the Kingdom of Burgundy and Kingdom of Bohemia. By the end of the 15th century, the empire was still in theory composed of three major blocks – Italy, Germany and Burgundy. Later territorially only the Kingdom of Germany and Bohemia remained, with the Burgundian territories lost to France. Although the Italian territories were formally part of the empire, the territories were ignored in the Imperial Reform and splintered into numerous de facto independent territorial entities. The status of Italy in particular varied throughout the 16th to 18th centuries.