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See also:EMPEROR (Fr. empereur, from the See also:Lat. imperator) , a See also:title formerly See also:borne by the sovereigns of the See also:Roman See also:empire (see EMPIRE), and since their See also:time, partly by derivation, partly by See also:imitation, used by a variety of other sovereigns . Under the See also:Republic, the See also:term imperator applied in theory to any See also:magistrate vested with imperium; but in practice it was only used of a magistrate who was acting abroad (militiae) and was thus in command of troops . The term imperator was the natural and See also:regular designation employed by his troops in addressing such a magistrate; but it was more particularly and specially employed by them to salute him after a victory; and when he had been thus saluted he could use the title of imperator in public till the See also:day of his See also:triumph at See also:Rome, after which it would See also:lapse along with his imperium . The See also:senate itself might, in the later Republic, invite a victorious See also:general to assume the title; and in these two customs—the salutation of the troops, and the invitation of the senate—we see in the germ the two methods by which under the Empire the princeps was designated; while in the military See also:connotation attaching to the name even under the Republic we can detect in advance the military See also:character by which the See also:emperor and the Empire were afterwards distinguished . See also:Julius See also:Caesar was the first who used the title continuously (from 58 B.C. to his See also:death in 44 B.c.), as well dorm as militiae; and his See also:nephew See also:Augustus took a further step when he made the term imperator a praenomen, a practice which after the time of See also:Nero becomes regular . But apart from this amalgamation of the term with his regular name, and the private right to its use which that bestowed, every emperor had an additional and See also:double right to the title on public grounds, possessed as he was of an imperium infinitum majus, and commanding as he did all the troops of the Empire . From the latter point of view—as generalissimo of the forces of Rome, he had the right to the insignia of the See also:commander (the See also:laurel See also:wreath and the See also:fasces), and to the See also:protection of a bodyguard, the praetoriani . This public title of imperator was normally conferred by the senate; and an emperor normally See also:dates his reign from the day of his salutation by the senate . But the troops were also regarded as still retaining the right of saluting an imperator; and there were emperors who regarded themselves as created by such salutation and dated their reigns accordingly . The military associations of the term thus resulted, only too often, in making the emperor the nominee of a turbulent soldiery . Augustus had been designated (not indeed officially, but none the less regularly) as princeps—the first See also:citizen or foremost See also:man of the See also:state . The designation suited the See also:early years of the Empire, in which a dyarchy of princeps and senate had been maintained .
But by the and See also:century the dyarchy is passing into a See also:monarchy: the title of princeps recedes, and the title of imperator comes into prominence to designate not merely the possessor of a certain imperium, or the general of troops, but the See also:simple monarch in the fulness of his See also:power as See also:head of the state
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From the days of See also:Diocletian one finds occasionally two emperors, but not, at any See also:rate in theory, two Empires; the two emperors are the dual sovereigns of a single See also:realm
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But from the time of See also:Arcadius and See also:Honorius (A.D
.
395) there are in reality (though not in theory) two Empires as well as two emperors, one of the See also:East and one of the See also:West
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When See also:Greek became the See also:sole See also:language of the East Roman Empire, imperator was rendered sometimes by (3ao Xeiis and sometimes by See also:ain-oKpartop, the former word being the usual designation of a See also:sovereign, the latter specially denoting that despotic power which the imperator held, and being in fact the See also:official See also:translation of imperator
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Justinian uses aiiracparwp as his formal title, and /3avtXeis as the popular term
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On the revival of the Roman empire in the West by See also:Charlemagne in 800, the title (at first in the See also:form imperator, or imperator Augustus, afterwards Romanorum imperator Augustus) was taken by him and by his Frankish, See also:Italian and See also:German successors, heads of the See also:Holy Roman Empire, down to the See also:abdication of the emperor See also:Francis II. in 18o6
.
The See also:doctrine had, however, grown up in the earlier See also:middle ages (about the time of the emperor See also:
The term " elect " was, however, omitted even in formal documents when the sovereign was addressed or was spoken of in the third See also:person
.
In See also:medieval times the emperor, conceived as vicegerent of See also:God and co-See also:regent with the pope in See also:government of the See also:Christian See also:people committed to his See also:charge, might almost be regarded as an ecclesiastical officer
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Not only was his See also:function regarded as consisting in the See also:defence and See also:extension of true See also:religion; he was himself arrayed in ecclesiastical See also:vestments at his coronation; he was ordained a subdeacon; and assisting the pope in the celebration of the See also:Eucharist, he communicated in both kinds as a clerk
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The same sort of ecclesiastical character came also to be attached to the tsars' of See also:Russia, who—especially in their relations with the Orthodox Eastern See also: See also:Peter the See also:Great introduced the use of the style " Imperator," and the official designation is now " Emperor of all the Russias, Tsar of See also:Poland, and See also:Grand See also:Duke of See also:Finland," though the term tsar is still popularly used in Russia . 2 For the titles of $asaX imperator Augustus, &c., applied in the loth century to the Anglo-Saxon See also:kings, see EneiRE (See also:note) . The claim to the style of emperor, as a badge of equal See also:rank, played a considerable See also:part in the See also:diplomatic relations between the See also:Sultan and certain European sovereigns . Thus, at a time when this style (See also:Padishah) was refused by the Sultan to the tsars of Russia, and even to the Holy Roman Emperor himself, it was allowed to the French kings, who in diplomatic See also:correspondence and See also:treaties with Turkey called themselves " emperor of See also:France " (empereur de France).— [ED.] . loosely used in the course of the 19th century . It was the style from 1821 to 1889 of the princes of the See also:house of See also:Braganza who ruled in See also:Brazil; it has been assumed by usurpers in See also:Haiti, and in See also:Mexico it was borne by Augustin See also:Iturbide in 1822 and 1823, and by the See also:ill-fated See also:Archduke Maximilian of Austria from 1864 to . 1867 . It can hardly, therefore, be said to have any definite descriptive force at the present time, such as it had in the middle ages . So far as it has any such force in See also:Europe, it may be said partly to be connected with Bonapartism, and to denote a popular but military dictatorship, partly to be connected with the federal See also:idea, and to denote a See also:precedence over other kings possessed by a ruler See also:standing at the head of a composite state which may embrace kings among its members . It is in this latter sense that it is used of Germany, and of See also:Britain in respect of India; it is in something approaching this latter sense that it may be said to be used of Austria . See J . See also:Selden, Titles of See also:Honour (1672); J .
See also:Bryce, Holy Roman Empire (See also:London, 19o4); and See also:Sir E
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See also:Colebrooke, " On Imperial and Other Titles " in the See also:Journal of the Royal See also:Asiatic Society (1877)
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See also the articles on' Imperator " and " Princeps " in See also: |
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