holy Roman empress

holy Roman empress (plural holy Roman empresses)

1. Rare form of Holy Roman Empress.
   • 1980, Elizabeth M[ary] Hallam, “Index”, in Capetian France, 987–1328, Harlow, Essex; New York, N.Y.: Longman, →ISBN, pages 356, column 2, and 364, column 1:

     Matilda [‘the Empress’] d[uche]ss of Normandy, c[oun]t[e]ss of Anjou, holy Roman empress, lady of England, [pages] 43, 49, 118, 120–1, 123, 208 […] Theophano, holy Roman empress, 22, 68

   • 2002 [2000], Umberto Eco, translated by William Weaver, “Baudolino talks with the emperor and falls in love with the empress”, in Baudolino, San Diego, Calif.: Harcourt, →ISBN, page 50:

     He was awakened by the heavy hand of Otto [of Freising], who struck his nape and muttered: “On your knees, jackass!” He remembered that before him stood the holy Roman empress and also the queen of Italy, and he bent his knees, and from that moment on he behaved like the perfect courtier, except that at night he was unable to sleep and, instead of rejoicing at this inexplicable road to Damascus, he wept for the intolerable ardor of his unknown passion.

   • 2021 [2017], Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, translated by Robert Savage, “The War of Succession”, in Maria Theresa: The Habsburg Empress in Her Time, Princeton, N.J.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 81:

     Now that the emperor had died without a male heir and without having arranged the election of a successor, all bets were off. A woman could inherit rule, but she could not be elected head of the Empire. Although this was nowhere formally spelled out in black and white, the idea of a holy Roman empress seemed inconceivable at the time.