The Holy Roman Empire

Das hailig römisch reich mit sampt seinen gelidern (Augsburg, 1510). Drawn by Hans Burgkmair der Ältere, engraved by Jost de Negker, published by David de Necker. Dimensions: c. 285 x 400 mm, handcoloured. Wikimedia (public domain).

The imperial eagle, adorned with the arms of key estates of the Holy Roman Empire, shelters the central image of Christianity in the cover of its outstretched wings: a particularly poignant image in the sixteenth century due to the fear that Austria, the Empire, and then the whole of Latin Christendom herself might suffer the same fate as the Greek Church to the east: conquest by the seemingly unstoppable Islamic empire of the Ottoman Turks.

The highest row of armorial shields represent the seven Electors, the senior princes of the Empire, as well as the Holy See in Rome. The columns below them represent dozen other kinds of political entities which together made up the HRE.  For details, turn on the annotations.