The Kingdom of Germany first grew out of Eastern Francia after the Treaty of Verdun in 843. Until the formal creation of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 962, Germany was an elective monarchy, where noblemen were famed for electing incompetent and often mentally-challenged monarchs in order to preserve their own power. Under the Holy Roman Empire, the House of Hapsburg gained significant power, expanding their domains throughout Europe and her colonies, as well as becoming the ruling House in the short-lived Mexican Empire.