Francis I of France and Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, were rivals who engaged in wars against each other.
 On a more personal level, Charles failed to persuade the German princes to support his son Philip, whose "awkward and withdrawn character and lack of German language skills doomed this enterprise to failure"
 Treaty of Verdun, Treaty of Prm, Treaty of Meerssen and Treaty of Ribemont), and over the course of the later ninth century the title of Emperor was disputed by the Carolingian rulers of the Western Frankish Kingdom or West Francia and the Eastern Frankish Kingdom or East Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat), who briefly reunited the Empire, attaining the prize

