[TheCoelacanth]

Well, yes, as the old joke goes, the Holy Roman Empire wasn't holy, wasn't Roman and wasn't an Empire.

[piaste]

Voltaire made that joke in the late 18th century, when the dying HRE had been reduced to a multi-confessional German confederation.

The medieval HRE, especially the Carolingian one, had a much better claim to the titles.

[Bayart]

The Carolingian Empire isn't the HRE. The HRE started with the Ottonians.