 The Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France were also often considered the foremost powers in Europe, due to their size and population, even if they lacked a global empire comparable to that of other European nations.The Kingdom of England and the Dutch Republic, rising in Europe and globally, have also been described as the "foremost powers" of this period.Giovanni Botero, one of the first scholars of international relations, identified instead the Papacy as the foremost power of the Renaissance and Counter-Reformation era.