Did they claim all the other kingdoms (like France and England in the West; or Hungary and Poland in the East) to be some sort of Imperial fiefs? Or did they just pretend they didn't exist?
ITTL the Hohenstaufen dynasty of the HRE enjoyed the same degree of luck and success as the other best-performing royal families that developed their European states into strong, centralized monarchies. It got at least 200-300 years of reasonably long-lived, competent, healthy, lucky, and talented rulers, with no premature deaths, serious dynastic crises, lengthy and disruptive civil wars or interregna, or clearly unfit successors. This enabled the HRE to consolidate Germany and Italy into a multinational state using neo-Roman universalism, Latin, and Imperial civic identity as unifying elements. The Hohenstaufen Emperors merged the Kingdom of Sicily in the HRE and crushed the opposition of German princes, Italian municipalities, and the Popes to their rule. In due time, they leveraged their domestic success to expand the borders of the empire and absorb Poland, Hungary, and North Africa too.
The family success story began with Frederick I Barbarossa. In addition to all his OTL achievements, he was able to deal a decisive defeat on rebellious Italian cities and German princes including his treacherous cousin Henry the Lion, bringing the former into line and seizing most possessions of the latter. He fought off the Popes to a favorable draw. He died a few years after leading the Third Crusade to a successful conclusion, which allowed recovering Jerusalem and conquering Aleppo and Damascus. The rich booty he brought back from the crusade enabled his son to assert his rights on the Kingdom of Sicily which he got by marriage. He started his familyโs policy of using Roman legal tradition as a tool to centralize the HRE and legitimize the Emperorsโ rule, and building up the lower nobility, the โministerialesโ class, pro-Imperial burghers, and secular bureaucrats as a power base to counterbalance and overpower unruly princes and cities, and hostile Popes.
His son Henry VI lived to a ripe old age like his father and considerably advanced the work of centralizing Germany and Italy. He crushed the attempts of rebellious princes to defy his rule and mostly added their possessions to the Imperial demesne. This included the Welf, which he effectively wiped out, and the Dukes of Bohemia whose aspirations to royal dignity he suppressed. He dealt new decisive defeats to rebellious Italian city-states, consolidating Imperial power across northern and central Italy. He also successfully established the hold of his family on the Kingdom of Sicily, which he got from his wif
... keep reading on reddit โกSo to be clear, I fully understand that the german kingship was elective but it still followed dynastic favor.
After Henry died, he had both a young son and a younger brother, the Hohenstaufen House was secure but the Welf Otto jumped in a gained a small but important support base with the Archbishops and contested young Frederick and Philip's claims.
And from that moment on, Otto did jack shit, it seems. Philip rallied support, converted Otto supporters, defeated Otto in battle and was nearly to uncontested kingship when a Mad Count murdered him.
Then everyone happily switched to Otto, elected him King, and Otto had a lackluster rule, got his ass kicked by the French and was eventually deposed for Frederick II of house Hohenstaufen.
What was Otto thinking? why did anyone support him in the first place besides countering the power of the Hohenstaufens? His attempt and rule feels like a bad farce.
