What was the political entity founded in 962, often dated from Otto I’s imperial coronation?

The story behind the answer

Otto I’s coronation by Pope John XII in 962 revived the Western imperial title and is conventionally taken as the start of a new, transalpine empire centered on the German duchies and northern Italy. That timing—and the papal-imperial alliance—distinguishes it from the earlier Carolingian realm (which peaked under Charlemagne in the 9th century), from the much later Austro-Hungarian state (created in 1867), and from the non-historical label “Germanic Empire.”

This polity was a patchwork of duchies, prince-bishoprics, and free cities under an elective monarchy, where powerful princes chose the emperor. Its tangled church–state relations sparked major conflicts like the Investiture Controversy, and its loose structure led Voltaire to quip it was “neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” It endured until 1806, when Napoleon’s wars forced its dissolution.