Roman Empire, Holy, or the Reich, the name of the old German Empire which, under sanction of the Pope, was established by Otho the Great in 962, and dissolved in 1806 by the resignation of Francis II., Emperor of Austria, and was called “Holy” as being Christian in contrast with the old pagan empire of the name.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Romaine, William * Romance Languages