Internal politics in the Holy Roman Empire ranged from byzantine to totally incomprehensible, as alliances between statelets rose up, shifted and collapsed over the course of months or even weeks. A collection of almost, but not-quite autonomous city-states, baronies, princedoms, bishoprics and miscellaneous other political units, which ranged in size from literally a few city blocks to a few thousand square miles (or square kilometers, if that's your thing), all of differing degrees of power, allegiance to each other, and religious, ethnic and ideological orientations, united by a vague allegiance to an elected (though not democratically in any modern sense) Emperor, whose powers would be overstated by calling them purely symbolic. The Holy Roman Empire always walked a fine line with total disintegration.
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