Perhapsburg they also ended up with superior cognitive capacities as well.
After all they ruled nearly all of Europe for over 500 years, and were the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire for 400 of that.
And The Holy Roman Empire ruled all of Europe for a thousand years.
What we know today about Western Civilization sprouted there and blossomed into the very pinnacle of art and wealth.
Not such a bad legacy.
The Holy Roman Empire arguably existed for 1000 years -- though that would take some creative counting -- but never really ruled more than Greater Germany and northern Italy. It was also rather fractious, so it didn't have the degree of centralized control as did France, England, or Spain.
There was a period of a couple hundred years when it was arguably the strongest single entity in Europe, but even then it didn't even control a quarter of Europe as a whole.