When was the first use of this term in English?

Ah, the Holy Roman Empire! Neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire as someone once remarked. OED has a 1698 exact cite and a 1610 developmental cite.

[1610 E. Bolton Elements of Armories 147 The sacred Romane Empire.]

1698 tr. J. Bernard Acts & Negotiations of Peace of Ryswick 77 The Sieur Henry John Stratman, Sieur de Puerbach, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Lord of Orth.

aldiboronti - 13 October 2012 03:12 AM

Ah, the Holy Roman Empire! Neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire as someone once remarked.

That was my high school history teacher.

Was the phrase a translation from something in medieval Latin or what?

Sacrum Romanum Imperium, dates to the twelfth century.

The quote is from Voltaire:

Ce corps qui s’appelait et qui s’appelle encore le saint empire romain n’était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire.
(The agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.)

—Essai sur l’Histoire Générale et sur les Moeurs et l’Esprit des Nations (1756)

One might dig deeper into the information suggested by the links below, following possibilities. For instance if a “Conrad II” origin could be found, it would place around 1027. Appearance in English could then be looked for slightly later.

Holy Roman Empire, The Book: Chapter XII: Imperial Titles And Pretensions. Author: Bryce, James Date: 1901 (link: http://history-world.org/holy_roman_empire12.htm [about 40% down the page])
Full text available here [see pp. 199-200](.pdf) http://www.archive.org/download/empireroman00brycrich/empireroman00brycrich.pdf

...At this epoch appears another title, of which more
must be said. To the accustomed ‘ Roman Empire ‘
Frederick Barbarossa adds the epithet of ‘ Holy.’ Of
its earlier origin, under Conrad II (the Salic), which
some have supposed[footnote]], there is no documentary trace,
though there is also no proof to the contrary[footnote]. So far
as is known it occurs first in the famous Privilege of
Austria, granted by Frederick in the fourth year of his ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

Frederick I Barbarossa (1122 – 10 June 1190) was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March as King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155. Two years later in 1157 the term “sacrum” (i.e. “holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire…

Dave Wilton - 13 October 2012 03:59 AM

Sacrum Romanum Imperium, dates to the twelfth century.

The quote is from Voltaire:

Ce corps qui s’appelait et qui s’appelle encore le saint empire romain n’était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire.
(The agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.)

—Essai sur l’Histoire Générale et sur les Moeurs et l’Esprit des Nations (1756)

That would be Voltaire quoting Faldage’s high school history teacher, presumably…

Richard Hershberger - 13 October 2012 06:00 PM

Dave Wilton - 13 October 2012 03:59 AM

Sacrum Romanum Imperium, dates to the twelfth century.

The quote is from Voltaire:

Ce corps qui s’appelait et qui s’appelle encore le saint empire romain n’était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire.
(The agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.)

—Essai sur l’Histoire Générale et sur les Moeurs et l’Esprit des Nations (1756)

That would be Voltaire quoting Faldage’s high school history teacher, presumably...

Must be.  I think my high school history teacher successfully sued Voltaire for copyright infringement.

My high school history teacher used it under license from Napoleon.