An
emperor (from the
Latin
"
imperator") is a (male)
monarch, usually the
sovereign ruler of an
empire
or another type of imperial realm.
Empress is the
female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of
an emperor (
empress
consort) or a woman who rules in her own right
(
empress regnant). Emperors
and empresses are generally recognized to be above kings and queens
in
honour and
rank.
Today, the
Emperor of Japan is the
only remaining monarch in the world who has the title of
Emperor.
Distinction from other monarchs
Both kings and emperors are
monarchs. Within
the European context, "emperor" and "empress" are considered the
highest of monarchical titles, ironic in that "emperor" began as a
military honorific in a staunchly
anti-monarchical republic.
Emperors were once given
precedence over kings in international
diplomatic relations; currently, precedence is decided by the
length a
head of state is continuously
in office. Some emperors claimed inheritance (
translatio imperii) of the political
and religious authority of the
Roman
Emperors such as an important role in the
state church; see
Imperial cult and
Caesaropapism.
This inheritance has been claimed by,
among others, the rulers of the Holy
Roman Empire, the Byzantine
Empire, and the Russian Empire
; however, all types of monarchies have played
religious roles; see divine right
of kings and divine king. The
title was a conscious attempt by monarchs to link themselves to the
institutions and traditions of the Romans as part of state
ideology. Similarly, many republics have named a legislative
chamber after the
Roman Senate.
Outside the European context, "emperor" is a translation given to
holders of titles who are accorded the same precedence as European
emperors in diplomatic terms. In reciprocity, these rulers may
accredit equal titles in their native languages to their European
peers. Through centuries of international convention, this has
become the dominant rule to identifying an emperor in the modern
era.
Also, historians have liberally used "emperor" and "empire"
anachronistically and out of its Roman and European context to
describe any large state and its ruler in the past and present.
"Empire" became identified with vast territorial holdings rather
than the title of its ruler by the mid-18th century.
Voltaire sardonically described the
Holy Roman Empire as "neither Holy, nor
Roman, nor an Empire" since by his time it was little more than an
informal association of German states and its "Emperor", though at
Voltaire's time ruler of Austria and king of Hungary and Bohemia,
had almost no authority within the non-Austrian parts of the
territory.
Roman tradition
In the
Roman tradition a large variety
in the meaning and importance of the imperial form of monarchy
developed: in
intention it was always the highest office,
but it could as well fall down to a redundant title for nobility
that had never been near to the "Empire" they were supposed to be
reigning. Also the
name of the position split in several
branches of Western tradition, see below.
Importance and meaning of
Coronation
ceremonies and
regalia also varied within
the tradition: for instance
Holy
Roman Emperors could only be crowned emperor by the
pope, which meant the coronation ceremony usually took
place in Rome, often several years after these emperors had
ascended to the throne (as "king") in their home country. The first
Latin Emperors of
Constantinople on the other hand had to be present in the newly
conquered capital of their Empire, because that was the only place
where they could be granted to become Emperor.
Early
Roman Emperors avoided any type
of ceremony or regalia different from what was already usual for
republican offices in the
Roman
Republic: the most intrusive change had been changing the color
of their robe to purple. Later new symbols of worldly and/or
spiritual power, like the
orb became
an essential part of the Imperial accessories.
Rules for indicating successors also varied: there was a tendency
towards
male inheritance of the supreme office,
but as well election by noblemen, as ruling Empresses (for empires
not too strictly under
salic law) are
known. Ruling monarchs could additionally steer the succession by
adoption, as often occurred in the two first centuries of Imperial
Rome. Of course, intrigue, murder and military force could also
mingle in for appointing successors, the Roman Imperial tradition
made no exception to other monarchical traditions in this respect.
Probably the epoch best known for this part of the Imperial
tradition is
Rome's third
century rule.
Ancient Roman and Byzantine emperors
Classical Antiquity
When
Republican Rome turned into a
monarchy again, in the second half of the
1st century BC, at first there was no name for the title of the new
type of monarch: ancient Romans abhorred the name
Rex , and after
Julius
Caesar also
Dictator (which was
an acknowledged office in Republican Rome, Julius Caesar not being
the first to hold it).
Augustus, who can be considered the first
Roman Emperor, avoided naming himself
anything that could be reminiscent of "monarchy" or "dictatorship".
Instead, these first Emperors constructed their office as a
complicated collection of offices, titles, and honours, that were
consolidated around a single person and his closest relatives
(while in the republic the "taking of turns", often in shared
offices, had been the principle for passing on power). These early
Roman emperors didn't need a specific name for their monarchy: they
had enough offices and powers accumulated so that in any field of
power they were "unsurpassable", and besides: it was clear who had
supreme power. The supreme power could poison, exile, or try for
treason any who did not obey.
As the first Roman Emperors did not rule by virtue of any
particular republican or senatorial office, the
name given to the office of "
head
of state" in this new monarchical
form of government became different
depending on tradition, none of these traditions consolidated in
the early days of the
Roman Empire:
- Caesar (as, for
example, in Suetonius' Twelve Caesars). This
tradition continued in many languages: in German it became "Kaiser"; in certain Slavic languages it became "Tsar"; in Hungarian
it became "Császár", and
several more variants. The name derived from Julius Caesar's cognomen "Caesar": this cognomen was adopted by all
Roman emperors, exclusively by the ruling monarch after the
Julio-Claudian dynasty had
died out. In this tradition Julius Caesar is sometimes described as
the first Caesar/emperor (following Suetonius). This is one of the
most enduring titles, Caesar and its transliterations appeared in
every year from the time of Caesar
Augustus to Tsar Symeon II
of Bulgaria's removal from the throne in 1946.
- Augustus
was the honorific first bestowed on
Emperor Augustus: after him all Roman emperors added it to their
name. Although it had a high symbolical value, something like "akin
to divinity", it was generally not used to indicate the office of
Emperor itself. Exceptions include the title of the
Augustan History, a
half-mockumentary biography of the Emperors of the 2nd and 3rd
century. Augustus had (by his last will) granted the feminine form
of this honorific (Augusta) to
his wife. Since there was no "title" of Empress(-consort)
whatsoever, women of the reigning dynasty sought to be granted this
honorific, as the highest attainable goal. Few were however granted
the title, and certainly not as a rule all wives of reigning
Emperors.
- Imperator (as, for
example, in Pliny the Elder's
Naturalis Historia). In
the Roman Republic Imperator meant
"(military) commander". In the late Republic, as in the early years
of the new monarchy, Imperator was a title granted to
Roman generals by their troops and the Roman Senate after a great victory, roughly
comparable to field marshal (head or
commander of the entire army). For example, in 15 AD Germanicus was proclaimed Imperator
during the reign of his adoptive father Tiberius. Soon thereafter "Imperator" became
however a title reserved exclusively for the ruling monarch. This
led to "Emperor" in English and,
among other examples, "Empereur" in French. The Latin feminine form Imperatrix only developed after "Imperator" had
gotten the connotation of "Emperor".
- Αὐτοκράτωρ,
βασιλεύς: although
the Greeks used equivalents of "Caesar" (Καίσαρ, Kaisar)
and "Augustus" (in two forms: transliterated as ,
Augoustos or translated as , Sebastos) these were rather used as part of
the name of the Emperor than as an indication of the office.
Instead of developing a new name for the new type of monarchy, they
used (autokratōr, only partly overlapping with the modern
understanding of "autocrat") or
(basileus, until then the usual
name for "sovereign"). Autokratōr
was essentially used as a translation of the Latin
Imperator in Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire, but
also here there is only partial overlap between the meaning of the
original Greek and Latin concepts. For the Greeks
Autokratōr was not a military title, and was closer to the
Latin dictator concept ("the
one with unlimited power"), before it came to mean Emperor.
Basileus appears not to have been used exclusively in the
meaning of "emperor" (and specifically, the Roman/Byzantine
emperor) before the 7th century, although it was a standard
informal designation of the Emperor in the Greek-speaking
East.
After the problematic
year
69, the
Flavian Dynasty reigned
for about half a century. The succeeding
Nervan-Antonian Dynasty,
ruling for most of the 2nd century, stabilised the Empire. This
epoch became known as the era of the
Five Good Emperors, and was followed
by the short-lived
Severan
Dynasty.
During the
Crisis of the 3rd
century,
Barracks Emperors
succeeded one another at short intervals.
Three short lived
secessionist attempts had their own emperors: the Gallic Empire, the Britannic Empire, and the Palmyrene
Empire
though the latter used rex more
regularly. The next period, known as the
Dominate, started with the
Tetrarchy installed by
Diocletian.
Through most of the 4th century, there were separate emperors for
the
Western and
Eastern part of the Empire. Although
there were several dynastic relations between the Emperors of both
parts, they also often were adversaries. The last Emperor to rule a
unified Roman Empire was
Theodosius.
Less than a
century after
his death in 395, the last Emperor of the Western half of the
Empire was driven out.
Byzantine period
Prior to the 4th Crusade
Historians
generally name the eastern part of the Roman Empire the Byzantine Empire after its capital Constantinople
, whose ancient name was Byzantium (now Istanbul
).
After the fall of Rome to
barbarian forces
in 476, the title of "emperor" lived on in rulers of Constantinople
(
New Rome).
The Byzantine Emperors completed the transition from the idea of
the Emperor as a semi-republican official to the Emperor as a
traditional monarch when Emperor
Heraclius
retained the title of
Basileus, already a
synonym for "Emperor" (but which had earlier designated "King" in
Greek) in the first half of the
seventh century. A specifically Byzantine development of emperor's
position was
cesaropapism, position as
leader of Christians.
In general usage, the Byzantine imperial title evolved from simply
"emperor" (
basileus), to "emperor of the Romans"
(
basileus tōn Rōmaiōn) in the 9th century, to "emperor and
autocrat of the Romans" (
basileus kai autokratōr tōn
Rōmaiōn) in the 10th. In fact, none of these (and other)
additional epithets and titles had ever been completely
discarded.
The Byzantine empire also produced three powerful empresses who
effectively reigned as an emperor, in the form of a regent: the
Empress
Irene, and powerful
consorts: the Empresses
Zoe and
Theodora.
Latin emperors
In 1204, the
Fourth Crusade captured
Constantinople, and soon established a
Latin Empire of
Constantinople under one of the Crusader leaders. The Latin
Empire was, however, unable to consolidate control of the whole of
the former territories of the Byzantine Empire. Driven out of
Constantinople in 1261, some territories in Greece still recognized
their authority for some time. Eventually, the Imperial title
became redundant and did not even contribute any longer to the
prestige of the noblemen in their own country: it remained dormant
after 1383. It produced three reigning empresses, two of which
reigned outside of the city in the remnants of their empire.
After the 4th Crusade
In Asia Minor, after being driven out of Constantinople, relations
of the last pre-Crusader emperors established the
Empire of Nicaea and the
Empire of Trebizond. Similarly, the
Despotate of Epirus was founded
in the Western Balkans (the rulers of the latter took the title of
Emperor for a short time following their conquest of Thessalonica
in 1224).
Eventually, the Nicaean Emperors were successful in reclaiming the
Byzantine imperial title. They managed to force Epirus into
submission and retake Constantinople by 1261, but Trebizond
remained independent. The restored Byzantine empire finally fell to
Ottoman invasion in 1453. The
Trapezuntines produced three
reigning empresses before they too were defeated by the Ottomans in
1461.
Emperors in Germany
Holy Roman Empire
The
Roman of the Emperor's title was a reflection of the
translatio imperii
(
transfer of rule) principle that regarded the (Germanic)
Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of
the
Western Roman Empire, a
title left unclaimed in the West after the death of
Julius Nepos in 480.
From the time of
Otto the
Great onward, much of the former
Carolingian kingdom of
Eastern Francia became the Holy Roman
Empire. The various German princes elected one of their peers as
King of the Germans,
after which he would be crowned as emperor by the
Pope. The last emperor to be crowned by the pope was
Charles V; all
emperors after him were technically
emperors-elect, but
were universally referred to as
Emperor.
In the
face of aggressions by Napoleon, Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman
Empire feared for the future of the Holy Roman Empire and wished to maintain
his and his family's Imperial status in the event that the Holy
Roman Empire should be dissolved, as it indeed was in 1806 when
Austrian-led army suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of
Austerlitz
and the victorious Napoleon proceeded to dismantle
the old Reich by severing a good portion from the empire
and turning it into a separate Confederation of
the Rhine
. With the size of his imperial realm
significantly reduced, Francis II,
Holy Roman Emperor
became Francis I,
Emperor of Austria.
German Empire under Prussia
Under the
guise of idealism giving way to realism, German nationalism rapidly
shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848 to
Prussian
prime minister Otto
von Bismarck's authoritarian Realpolitik. Bismarck wanted to
unify the rival German states to achieve his aim of a conservative,
Prussian-dominated Germany.
Three wars led to military successes and
helped to convince German people to do this: the Second war of Schleswig against
Denmark in 1864, the Austro-Prussian War
against Austria
in 1866, and
the Franco-Prussian War against
the Second French Empire in
1870–71. During the Siege of
Paris in 1871, the North German Confederation
, supported by its allies from southern
Germany
, formed the German Empire
with the proclamation of the Prussian king Wilhelm I as German Emperor in the Hall
of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles
, to the humiliation of the French, who ceased to
resist only days later.
After his death he was succeeded by his son
Frederick III who was only
emperor for 99 days. In the same year his son
Wilhelm II became the third
emperor with in a year. He was the last German emperor. After the
empire's defeat in
World War I the
empire ceased to exist.
Austrian Empire
The first Austrian Emperor was the last Holy Roman Emperor Francis
II.
In the
face of aggressions by Napoleon, Francis feared for the future
of the Holy Roman Empire and
wished to maintain his and his family's Imperial status in the
event that the Holy Roman Empire should be dissolved, as it indeed
was in 1806 when Austrian-led army suffered a humiliating defeat at
the Battle of
Austerlitz
and the victorious Napoleon proceeded to dismantle
the old Reich by severing a good portion from the empire
and turning it into a separate Confederation of
the Rhine
. With the size of his imperial realm
significantly reduced, Francis II,
Holy Roman Emperor
became Francis I,
Emperor of Austria. The new imperial
title may have sounded less prestigious than the old one, but
Francis'
dynasty continued to rule from
Austria and a Habsburg monarch was still an emperor
(
Kaiser), and not just merely a king (
König), in
name.
The title
lasted just a little over one century until 1918, but it was never
clear what territory constituted the "Empire of Austria
". When Francis took the title in 1804, the
Habsburg lands as a whole were dubbed the
Kaisertum
Österreich. Kaisertum might literally be translated
as "emperordom" (on analogy with "kingdom") or "emperor-ship"; the
term denotes specifically "the territory ruled by an emperor", and
is thus somewhat more general than
Reich,
which in 1804 carried connotations of universal rule. Austria
proper (as opposed to the complex of Habsburg lands as a whole) had
been an Archduchy since the 15th century, and most of the other
territories of the Empire had their own institutions and
territorial history, although there were some attempts at
centralization, especially between 1848 and 1859.
When Hungary
was given self-government in 1867, the
non-Hungarian portions, although usually collectively called
Austria, were officially known only as the "Kingdoms and Lands
Represented in the Imperial Council (Reichsrat)".
The title
of Emperor of Austria and the associated Empire (if there
was such) were both abolished at the end of the First World War in 1918, when German
Austria
became a republic and the
other kingdoms and lands represented in the Imperial Council established their
independence or adhesion to other states.
Emperors of Eastern Europe
Byzantium's close cultural and political
interaction with its Balkan neighbors Bulgaria
and Serbia
, and with
Russia (Kievan Rus', then Muscovy) led to the adoption of Byzantine
imperial traditions in all of these countries.
Bulgaria
In 913
Simeon I of Bulgaria was
crowned Emperor (
Tsar) by the
Patriarch of Constantinople and
imperial regent
Nicholas Mystikos
outside of the Byzantine capital. In its final simplified form, the
title read "Emperor and Autocrat of all Bulgarians and Romans"
(
Tsar i samodăržec na vsički bălgari i gărci in the modern
vernacular). The "Roman" component in the Bulgarian imperial title
indicated both rulership over Greek speakers and the derivation of
the imperial tradition from the Romans (represented by the "Roman"
Byzantines).
Byzantine recognition of Simeon's imperial title was revoked by the
succeeding Byzantine government. The decade 914–924 was spent in
destructive warfare between Byzantium and Bulgaria over this and
other matters of conflict. The Bulgarian monarch, who had further
irritated his Byzantine counterpart by claiming the title "Emperor
of the Romans" (
basileus tōn Rōmaiōn), was eventually
recognized, as "Emperor of the Bulgarians" (
basileus tōn
Boulgarōn) by the Byzantine Emperor
Romanos I Lakapenos in 924. Byzantine recognition
of the imperial dignity of the Bulgarian monarch and the
patriarchal dignity of the
Bulgarian patriarch was again
confirmed at the conclusion of permanent peace and a
Bulgarian-Byzantine dynastic marriage in 927. In the meantime, the
Bulgarian imperial title may have been also confirmed by the
Pope. The Bulgarian imperial title "Tsar" was
adopted by all Bulgarian monarchs up to the fall of Bulgaria under
Ottoman rule.
14th century Bulgarian literary compositions
clearly denote the Bulgarian capital (Tărnovo
) as a successor of Rome
and Constantinople
, in effect, the "Third Rome".
It should be noted that after Bulgaria obtained full independence
from the
Ottoman Empire in 1908, its
monarch, who was previously styled "Knyaz", i.e Prince, took the
traditional title of "Tsar", but was recognized internationally
only as a King.
Serbia
In 1345
the Serbian King Stefan Uroš IV Dušan
proclaimed himself Emperor (Tsar) and was
crowned as such at Skopje
on Easter 1346 by the newly created Patriarch of Serbia,
and by the Patriarch of Bulgaria and the autocephalous Archbishop
of Ohrid. His imperial title was recognized by Bulgaria and
various other neighbors and trading partners but not by the
Byzantine Empire. In its final simplified form, the Serbian
imperial title read "Emperor of Serbians and Greeks" (
car Srba
i Grka in the modern vernacular). It was only employed by
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and his son Stefan Uroš V in Serbia (until his
death in 1371), after which it became extinct. A half-brother of
Dušan,
Simeon Uroš, and then his
son
Jovan Uroš, claimed the same
title, until the latter's abdication in 1373, while ruling as
dynasts in
Thessaly. The "Greek" component
in the Serbian imperial title indicates both rulership over Greeks
and the derivation of the imperial tradition from the Romans
(represented by the "Greek" Byzantines).
Russia
In 1472, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor,
Sophia Palaiologina, married
Ivan III, grand prince of Moscow, who
began championing the idea of Russia being the successor to the
Byzantine Empire. This idea was represented more emphatically in
the composition the monk Filofej addressed to their son
Vasili III. After ending Muscovy's
dependence on its
Mongol overlords in 1480,
Ivan III began the usage of the titles
Tsar and
Autocrat (
samoderžec' ). His insistence on recognition as
such by the emperor of the
Holy Roman
Empire since 1489 resulted in the granting of this recognition
in 1514 by Emperor
Maximilian I to Vasili III.
His son
Ivan IV emphatically
crowned himself Tsar (
Tsar) on 16
January 1547. The word Tsar derives from Latin Caesar, but this
title was used in Russia as equivalent to King; the error occurred
when medieval Russian clerics referred to the biblical Jewish kings
with the same title that was used to designate Roman and Byzantine
rulers - Caesar.
On 31 October 1721
Peter I was
proclaimed Emperor by the Senate - the title used was Latin
"
Imperator", which is a westernizing form equivalent to
the traditional Slavic title "
Tsar". He based his claim
partially upon a letter discovered in 1717 written in 1514 from
Maximilian I to Vasili III, in which the Holy Roman Emperor used
the term in referring to Vasili.
The title has not been used in Russia
since the
abdication of Emperor Nicholas
II on 15 March 1917.
Imperial
Russia
produced four reigning Empresses, all in the
eighteenth century.
Ottoman Empire
Ottoman rulers held several titles
denoting their Imperial status. These included:
Sultan (given name) Khan, Sovereign of the Imperial House of Osman,
Sultan of Sultans, Khan of Khans, Commander of the Faithful and
Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe (
Caliph), Protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca,
Medina and Jerusalem, Emperor of The Three Cities of
Constantinople, Andrinopole and Bursa, and of the Cities of
Damascus and Cairo, of all Azerbaijan, of the Magris, of Barka, of
Kairuan, of Aleppo, of Arabic Iraq and of Ajim, of Basra, of El
Hasa, of Dilen, of Raka, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyarbakır, of
Cicilia, of the Vilayets of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of
Karaman, Van, of Barbary, of Abyssinia, of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of
Damascus, of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Candia, of the Vilayet of the
Morea, of the Marmara Sea, the Black Sea and also its coasts, of
Anatolia, of Rumelia, Baghdad, Kurdistan, Greece, Turkistan,
Tartary, Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Georgia, of
the plain of Kypshak, of the whole country of the Tartars, of Kefa
and of all the neighbouring countries, of Bosnia and its
dependencies, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the Vilayet of
Serbia, with all the castles, forts and cities, of all Albania, of
all Iflak and Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and
borders, and many other countries and cities.
After the fall of the
Eastern Roman
Empire in 1453, the additional title of Kaysar-i Rum (Emperor
of the Romans) was used.
Emperors in Western Europe
France
The kings of the
Ancien
Régime and the
July Monarchy
used the title
Empereur de France in diplomatic
correspondence and treaties with the
Ottoman emperor from at least 1673 onwards.
The Ottomans insisted on this elevated style while refusing to
recognize the Holy Roman Emperors or the Russian tsars because of
their rival claims of the
Roman
crown. In short, it was an indirect insult by the Ottomans to
the HRE and the Russians.
The French kings also used it for Morocco
(1682) and Persia
(1715).
First French Empire
- See also: First French
Empire
Napoleon Bonaparte who was
already First Consul of the French Republic (
Premier Consul de
la République française) for life, declared himself
Emperor of the
French (
Empereur des Français) on 18 May
1804. Despite being ruled by an emperor, it continued to be the
French Republic
(
République Française) until 1808, when it was renamed the
French Empire (
Empire
Français).
Napoleon relinquished the title of Emperor of the French on 6 April
and again on 11 April 1814.Napoleon's infant son,
Napoleon II, was recognized by the
Council of Peers, as Emperor from the moment of his father's
abdication, and therefore reigned (as opposed to ruled) as Emperor
for fifteen days, 22 June to 7 July 1815.
Elba
Since 3
May 1814, the Sovereign Principality of Elba
was created
a miniature non-hereditary Monarchy under the exiled French Emperor
Napoleon I. Napoleon I was allowed, by the treaty of
Fontainebleau with (27 April), to enjoy, for life, the imperial
title. The islands were
not restyled an empire.
On 26 February 1815, Napoleon abandoned Elba for France, reviving
the French Empire for a
Hundred Days;
the Allies declared an end to Napoleon's sovereignty over Elba on
25 March 1815, and on 31 March 1815 Elba was ceded to the restored
Grand Duchy of Tuscany by the
Congress of Vienna. After his final defeat, Napoleon was treated as
a general by the British authorities during his second exile to
Atlantic Isle of
St. Helena. His title
was a matter of dispute with the governor of St Helena, who
insisted on addressing him as "General Bonaparte", despite the
"historical reality that he had been an emperor" and therefore
retained the title.
Second French Empire
- See also: Second French
Empire
Napoleon I's nephew,
Napoleon
III, resurrected the title of emperor on 2 December 1852, after
establishing the
Second French
Empire in a presidential
coup, subsequently
approved by a plebiscite. His reign was marked by large scale
public works, the development of social policy, and the extension
of France's influence throughout the world. During his reign, he
also set about creating the
Second
Mexican Empire (headed by his choice of
Maximilian I of Mexico, a member of
the
House of Habsburg), to regain
France's hold in the Americas and to achieve greatness for the
'Latin' race. Napoleon III was deposed on 4 September 1870, after
France's defeat in the
Franco-Prussian War. The
Third Republic followed and after the
death of his son Napoleon (IV), in 1879 during the Zulu War, the
Bonapartist movement split, and the Third Republic was to last
until 1940.
Iberian Peninsula
The origins of the title
Imperator totius Hispaniae
(
Latin for
Emperor of All
Spain) is murky. It was associated
with the
Leonese monarchy
perhaps as far back as
Alfonso the
Great (
r. 866-910). The last two kings of its
Pérez Dynasty were called emperors in a
contemporary source.
King
Sancho III of Navarre
conquered Leon in 1034 and began using it. His son,
Ferdinand I of Castile also took the
title in 1039. Ferdinand's son,
Alfonso VI of Castile took the title
in 1077. It then passed to his son-in-law,
Alfonso I of Aragon in 1109. His stepson
and Alfonso VI's grandson,
Alfonso VII was the only one who
actually had an imperial coronation in 1135.
The title
was not exactly hereditary but self proclaimed by those who had,
wholly or partially, united the Christian northern part of the
Iberian
peninsula
, often at the expense of killing rival
siblings. The popes and Holy Roman emperors protested at the
usage of the imperial title as a usurpation of leadership in
western Christendom. After Alfonso VII's death in 1157, the title
was abandoned.
After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the legitimate heir to the
throne,
Andreas Palaiologos,
willed away his claim to
Ferdinand and Isabella in 1503. This
claim seems to have been forgotten or abandoned quietly for the
last 300 years.
Britain
In the late 3rd century, by the end of the epoch of the
barracks emperors in Rome, there were two
Britannic
Emperors, reigning for about a decade.
After the Roman departure from Britain,
the Imperator Cunedda forged the Kingdom of
Gwynedd
in northern Wales
, but all his
successors were titled kings and princes.
England
There was no set title for the king of England before 1066 and
monarchs chose to style themselves as they pleased. Imperial titles
were used inconsistently beginning with
Athelstan in 930 and ended with the
Norman conquest of England.
Empress Matilda (1102 – 1167) is the
only British monarch commonly referred to as "emperor" or
"empress", but acquired her title through her marriage to
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and
had little legitimacy as Queen of England.
Henry VIII began claiming his
crown was an
Imperial Crown during
the
Reformation; however, this
did not lead to the creation of the
title of Emperor in
England.
United Kingdom
In 1801,
George III
rejected the title of Emperor when offered. The only period when
British monarchs were given the title of
Emperor in a
dynastic succession started when the title
Empress of India was created for
Queen Victoria. The
government led by
Prime Minister Benjamin
Disraeli, conferred the additional title upon her by an Act of
Parliament, reputedly to assuage the monarch's irritation at being,
as a mere Queen, notionally inferior to her own daughter (Princess
Victoria was the wife of the reigning German Emperor); the Indian
Imperial designation was also formally justified as the expression
of Britain succeeding as
paramount
ruler of the subcontinent the former
Mughal '
Padishah of
Hind', using indirect rule through hundreds of
princely states formally under protection,
not colonies, but accepting the British Sovereign as their
suzerain.
That title was relinquished by the last
Kaisar-i-Hind George VI when India
was granted
independence on 15 August 1947.
Two decades earlier the
Royal and Parliamentary
Titles Act 1927 had stated that the United Kingdom and the
dominions were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to
another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though
united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as
members of the
British
Commonwealth of Nations". Along with the
Statute of Westminster, 1931
this changed the way the British parliamentary monarchy ruled the
overseas dominions, moving from a colonial British Empire towards a
new structure for the interaction between the
Commonwealth Realms and the Crown.
The last Empress of India was HM
Queen Elizabeth, The Queen
Mother.
Post-colonial emperors modeled on Europe
Post-Columbian Americas
Brazil
When
Napoleon I ordered the invasion of Portugal
in 1807 because it refused to join the Continental System, the Portuguese
Braganças moved their capital to
Rio de
Janeiro
to avoid the fate of the Spanish Bourbons (Napoleon I arrested them and made his brother
Joseph king). When the French
general Junot arrived in Lisbon
, the
Portuguese fleet had already left with all the local
elite.
In 1808,
under a British naval escort, the fleet arrived in Brazil
.
Later, in 1815, the Portuguese Prince Regent (since 1816 king
John VI) proclaimed the
United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve, as a
union of three kingdoms, lifting Brazil from its colonial
status.
After the
fall of Napoleon I and the Liberal
revolution in Portugal
, the Portuguese Royals returned to Europe (1820). Prince Peter of Braganza (King
John’s older son) stayed in South America acting as regent of the
local kingdom, but, two years later in 1822, he proclaimed himself
Peter I, first Emperor of Brazil.
He did, however, recognize his father, John VI, as
Titular
Emperor of Brazil - a purely honorific title - until John VI's
death in 1826.
The empire came to an end in 1889, with the overthrow of Emperor
Pedro II (Pedro I's son and
successor), when the Brazilian republic was proclaimed.
Haiti
Haiti
was declared
an empire by its ruler, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who made
himself Jacques I, in 20 May 1805. He was assassinated the
next year. Haiti again became an empire from 1849 to 1859 under
Faustin Soulouque.
Mexico
In
Mexico
, the
First Mexican Empire was the
first of two empires created. Agustín de Iturbide, the
general who helped secure Mexican independence from Spanish rule,
was proclaimed Emperor
Agustín I in
12 July 1822, but was overthrown by the
Plan of Casa Mata the next year.
In 1863, the invading French, under
Napoleon III (see above), in alliance with
Mexican conservatives and
nobility,
helped create the
Second Mexican
Empire, and invited Archduke Maximilian, of the
House of Habsburg-Lorraine,
younger brother of the Austrian Emperor
Franz Josef I, to become emperor
Maximilian I of Mexico. The
childless Maximilian and his consort
Empress Carlota of Mexico, daughter of
Leopold I of Belgium, adopted
Agustín's grandsons Agustin and Salvador as his heirs to bolster
his claim to the throne of Mexico.
Maximilian and Carlota made Chapultepec
Castle
their home, which has been the only palace in North
America to house sovereigns. After the withdrawal of French
protection in 1867, Maximilian was captured and executed by the
liberal forces of
Benito Juarez. This
empire led to French influence in the Mexican culture and also
immigration from France, Belgium, and
Switzerland to Mexico.
Pre-Columbian traditions
The Aztec and Inca traditions are unrelated to one another. Both
were conquered under the reign of King
Charles I of Spain who was simultaneously
emperor-elect of the
Holy Roman
Empire during the fall of the Aztecs and fully emperor during
the fall of the Incas. Incidentally by being king of Spain, he was
also Roman (Byzantine) emperor in pretence through
Andreas Palaiologos. The translations of
their titles were provided by the Spanish.
Aztec Empire
The only
pre-Columbian North American
rulers to be commonly called emperors were the
Hueyi Tlatoani of the
Aztec Empire (1375–1521). It was an
elected monarchy chosen by the elite.
Spanish
conquistador Hernán Cortés slew Emperor Cuauhtémoc and installed puppet rulers who
became vassals for Spain
.
Mexican
Emperor Maximilian built his
palace, Chapultepec
Castle
, over the ruins of an Aztec one.
Inca Empire
The only pre-Columbian South American rulers to be commonly called
emperors were the
Sapa Inca of
the
Inca Empire (1438–1533). Spanish
conquistador
Francisco Pizarro,
conquered the Inca for Spain, killed Emperor
Atahualpa, and installed puppets as well.
Atahualpa may actually be considered a usurper as he had achieved
power by
killing his
half-brother and he did not perform the required coronation
with the imperial crown
mascaipacha by the
Huillaq
Uma (high priest).
Persia
In
Persia
, from the time of Darius the Great, Persian rulers used the
title "King of Kings" (Shahanshah in modern Iranian) since they had
dominion over peoples from India to Greece. Alexander the Great probably crowned
himself
shahanshah after conquering Persia , bringing the
phrase
basileus toon basileoon to Greek. It is also known
that
Tigranes the Great, king of
Armenia, was named as the king of kings when he made his empire
after defeating the
Parthians.
The last
shahanshah was ousted in 1979 following the
Iranian Revolution.
Shahanshah is usually translated as
king of kings
or simply
king for ancient rulers of the
Achaemenid,
Arsacid, and
Sassanid
dynasties, and often shortened to
shah for rulers since
the
Safavid dynasty in the 16th
century.
Indian subcontinent
The Sanskrit word for emperor is
Samrāṭ or
Chakravarti (word stem:
samrāj). This word has
been used as an epithet of various Vedic deities, like Varuna, and
has been attested in the Holy
Rig Veda,
possibly the oldest compiled book among the Indo-Europeans.
Chakravarti refers to the king of kings. A
Chakravarti is not only a sovereign ruler but also has
feudatories.
Typically, in the later Vedic age, a Hindu king
(
Maharajah) was only called
Samrāṭ after
performing the Vedic
Rājasūya sacrifice, enabling him by
religious tradition to claim superiority over the other kings and
princes. Another word for emperor is
sārvabhaumā. The
title of
Samrāṭ has been used by many rulers of the Indian
subcontinent as claimed by the Hindu mythologies. In proper
history, most historians call Chandragupta Maurya the first
samrāṭ (emperor) of the Indian subcontinent, because of
the huge empire he ruled. The most famous Hindu emperor was his
grandson Ashoka the Great. Other dynasties that are considered
imperial by historians are the
Kushanas,
Guptas,
Vijayanagara,
Hoysala and the
Cholas.
After India was invaded by the Mongol Khans and Turkic Muslims, the
rulers of their major states on the subcontinent were titled
Sultān, In this manner, the only empress-regnant ever to
have actually sat on the throne of Delhi was
Razia Sultan. For the episode from 1877 to 1947
when British Emperors ruled colonial India as the pearl in the
crown of the British Empire, see above.
Africa
Ethiopia
In
Ethiopia
, the Solomonic
dynasty used, beginning in 1270, the title of " " which is
literally "King of Kings". The use of the
king of
kings style began a millennium earlier in this region,
however, with the title being used by the Kings of
Aksum, beginning with
Sembrouthes in the 3rd century. Another title
used by this dynasty was "Itegue Zetopia".
"Itegue" translates as Empress, and was also used by the only
female reigning Empress,
Zauditu, along with the official title
Negiste Negest (Queen of Kings).
In 1936, the Italian king
Victor Emmanuel III claimed the
title of
Emperor of Ethiopia
after Ethiopia was occupied by Italy during the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
After the
defeat of the Italians by the Ethiopians who were assisted by
soldiers from Britain
in 1941, Haile Selassie was restored to
the throne but Victor Emmanuel did not relinquish his claim to the
title until 1943.
The
Rastafari claimed Selassie as God incarnate before and even more so
after the Second World War (see
Rastafari movement) because of
his bravery in The Second
Italo-Abyssinian War, the way he saved his country and his
amazing speech to the people of The United Kingdom
.
Central African Empire
In 1976,
President Jean-Bédel Bokassa
of the Central
African Republic
, proclaimed the country to be an autocratic
Central African
Empire, and made himself Emperor as Bokassa I.
The expenses of his coronation ceremony actually bankrupted the
country. He was overthrown three years later and the republic was
restored.
East Asian tradition
China
The
East Asian tradition is different
from the Roman tradition, having arisen separately. What links them
together is the use of the Chinese logographs 皇 (
huáng)
and 帝 (
dì) which together or individually are imperial.
Because of the cultural influence of China, China's neighbors
adopted these titles or had their native titles conform in
hanzi.

Qin Shi Huang.
In 221 BC,
Ying Zheng, who was
king of
Qin at the time, proclaimed himself
shi huangdi (始皇帝), which translates as
"first emperor".
Huangdi is composed of
huang
("august one", 皇) and
di ("sage-king", 帝), and referred to
legendary/mythological
sage-emperors
living several millennia earlier, of which three were
huang and five were
di. Thus Zheng became
Qin Shi Huang, abolishing the system
where the
huang/
di titles were reserved to dead
and/or mythological rulers. Although not as popular, the title 王
wang (king or prince) was still used by many monarchs and
dynasties in China up to the
Taipings in the 19th century. 王 is
pronounced
vương in Vietnamese,
ō in Japanese,
and
wang in Korean.
The
imperial title continued in China
until the
Qing
Dynasty
was overthrown in 1912. The title was
briefly revived from 12 December 1915 to 22 March 1916 by President
Yuan Shikai and again in early July 1917
when General
Zhang Xun
attempted to restore last Qing emperor
Puyi to
the throne. Puyi retained the title and attributes of a foreign
emperor, as a personal status, until 1924. After the Japanese
occupied
Manchuria in 1931, they
proclaimed it to be the Empire of
Manchukuo, and Puyi became emperor of Manchukuo.
This
empire ceased to exist when it was occupied by Soviet
troops in
1945.
In general, an emperor would have one empress (
Huanghou,
皇后) at one time, although posthumous entitlement to empress for a
concubine was not uncommon. The earliest
known usage of
huanghou was in the
Han Dynasty. The emperor would generally select
the empress from his
harem. In subsequent
dynasties, when the distinction between wife and concubine became
more accentuated, the
crown prince
would have chosen an empress-designate before his reign.
Imperial China produced only one
reigning empress,
Wu Zetian, and she used
the same Chinese title as an emperor (
Huangdi, 皇帝). Wu
Zetian then reigned for about 15 years.
Japan
In some
countries in the Ancient Japan
, the
earliest titles for the sovereign were either ヤマト大王/大君 (yamato
ōkimi, Grand King of Yamato), 倭王/倭国王
(waō/wakokuō, King of Wa, used externally), or
治天下大王 (amenoshita shiroshimesu ōkimi, Grand King who rules
all under heaven, used internally). As early as the 7th
century the word 天皇 (which can be read either as
sumera no
mikoto, divine order, or as
tennō, Heavenly Emperor,
the latter being derived from a Tang Chinese term referring to the
Pole star around which all other stars revolve) began to be used.
The earliest attested use of this term is on a wooden slat, or
mokkan, that was unearthed in
Asuka-mura, Nara Prefecture in 1998 and dated back to the reign of
Emperor Temmu and
Empress Jitō. The reading 'Tennō' has
become the standard title for the sovereign of Japan up to and
including the present age. The term 帝 (
mikado, Emperor) is
also found in literary sources.
Japanese monarchs placed themselves from 607 on equal footing with
Chinese emperors in titulary terms,
but rarely was the Chinese-style "
Son of
Heaven" term used. In the Japanese language, the word
tennō is restricted to Japan's own monarch;
kōtei
(皇帝) is used for foreign emperors. Historically,
retired emperors have kept power over a
child-emperor as de facto Regent. For a fairly long time, a
shōgun (formally the imperial generalissimo,
but made hereditary) or
regent
wielded actual political power. In fact, through much of Japanese
history, the emperor has been little more than a figurehead.
After
World War II, all claims of
divinity were dropped (see
Ningen-sengen). Parliamentary government has
wielded the power, reducing the office of emperor again to a mere
ceremonial function. By the end of the 20th century, Japan was the
only country with an emperor on the throne.
As of the early 21st century, Japan's succession law prohibits a
female from ascending the throne. With the birth of a daughter as
the first child of the current
Crown
Prince,
Naruhito, Japan
considered
abandoning that rule. However, shortly after the announcement
that Princess Kiko was pregnant with her third child, the proposal
to alter the
Imperial Household
Law was suspended by
Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi. On
3 January 2007, after the birth of her son,
Prince Hisahito, Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe announced that he would drop the
proposal.
Currently, many believe the new prince of Japan will ascend the
throne, as the law defines. Historically, Japan has had eight
reigning empresses who used the genderless title
Tennō,
rather than the female consort title
kōgō (皇后) or
chūgū (中宮). There is ongoing discussion of the
Japanese Imperial
succession controversy.
Although current Japanese law prohibits female succession, all
Japanese emperors claim to trace their lineage to
Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess of the
Shintō religion.
Korea
The rulers of
Goguryeo used the title of
Taewang (
Hangul: 태왕,
Hanja:太王), literally
translated as the
Greatest of the Kings but often to
signify
emperor. The rulers of
Baekje and
Silla occasionally
used the title (
Hangul: 대왕,
Hanja: 大王) which means "Great King".
The rulers of
Balhae used the title of
emperor internally.
Gwangjong of
Goryeo took the title of emperor himself as a means of
enhancing the prestige of the monarchy. After the
Mongolian invasions, Korea was
relinquished this title in the 13th century.
The
rulers of the Joseon
Dynasty
referred to by the terms "King of the Joseon" until
1895. In 1895, Korea declared its total independence from
Chinese influence. From 1895 to 1897,
King Gojong used the title of
"His Majesty the Great Monarch" and "King of the Joseon
state".
In 1897,
King Gojong proclaimed the founding of the Korean Empire
, and became emperor of Korea. Emperor Gojong declared the new
era name "Gwangmu" (
Hangul: 광무,
Hanja: 光武, Warrior
of light). Korean Empire maintained their state until 1910.
Mongolia
The title
Khagan (
khan of khans or grand khan) was held by
Genghis Khan, founder of the
Mongol Empire in 1206.
After the civil war
of the Empire in 1260-1304, the emperors of the Yuan dynasty
in Mongolia and China (who also took the Chinese
title huangdi, or Chinese
emperor) were later seen as nominal Great Khans by the Mongol
khanates to the west. Only the Khagans from Genghis Khan to
the fall of the Yuan Mongol Empire in 1368 are normally referred to
as Emperors in English.
Vietnam
Although the Vietnamese rulers acknowledged the supremacy of China,
and were known to the Chinese emperors as simply King of Annam
(
An Nam quốc vương) but some of them still proclaimed the
title
hoàng đế such as
Lý
Bí (
Lý Nam Đế),
Nguyễn Huệ (
Quang Trung hoàng
đế) ; and many others was given this title by their successors
posthumously. In 1806, they took on a full Chinese-style imperial
regalia domestically and have inconsistently used the title
hoàng đế for a century though many were raised to that
status posthumously so as not to antagonize relations with China.
Axis-occupied Vietnam was declared an
empire by the Japanese in March
1945. The line of emperors came to an end with
Bảo Đại, who was deposed after
the war, although he later served as head of state of
South Vietnam from 1949 to 1955.
Fictional uses
There have been many fictional emperors in movies and books. To see
a list of these emperors, see
Category of fictional
emperors and empresses.
Culture
An Emperor has also become the name of a trendy mixed drink popular
in various establishments in Vegas, Atlantic City, New York City
and Albany. It is made with malibu, spiced rum, pineapple juice, a
splash of grenedine and two cherries. A frozen emperor has three
cherries.
See also
Notes
- George Ostrogorsky,
"Avtokrator i samodržac", Glas Srpske kraljevske akadamije
CLXIV, Drugi razdred 84 (1935), 95-187
- Napoleon, Vincent Cronin, p419, HarperCollins,
1994.
- Napoleon, Frank McLynn, p644, Pimlico 1998
- Le Mémorial de Sainte Hélène, Emmanuel De Las Cases,
Tome III, page101, published by Jean De Bonnot, Libraire à
l'enseigne du canon, 1969
- [1]
- Notice that, before the emergence of the modern country of
Spain (beginning with the union of Castile and Aragon in 1492), the Latin word Hispania, in any of the Iberian Romance languages, either
in singular or plural forms (in English: Spain or Spains), was used
to refer to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula, and not
exclusively, as in modern usage, to the country of Spain, thus excluding Portugal.
- Although the Emperor of Japan is classified as
constitutional monarch among political scientists, the current
constitution of Japan defines him only as a symbol of the nation
and no law states his status as a political monarch (head of state) or
otherwise.
-
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_re_as/japan_imperial_succession
External links