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KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated int...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 808 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. See also:Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)  , a See also:title, in its actual use generally implying See also:sovereignty of the most exalted See also:rank . Any inclusive See also:definition of the word " See also:king " is, however, impossible . It always implies sovereignty, but in no See also:special degree or sense; e.g. the sovereigns of the See also:British See also:Empire and of See also:Servia are both See also:kings, and so too, at least in popular parlance, are the chiefs of many barbarous peoples, e.g. the Zulus . The use of the title is, in fact, involved in considerable confusion, largely the result of historic causes . See also:Freeman, indeed, in his See also:Comparative Politics (p . 138) says: " There is a See also:common See also:idea of kingship which is at once recognized however hard it may be to define it . This is shown among other things by the fact that no difficulty is ever See also:felt as to translating the word king and the words which See also:answer to it in other See also:languages." This, however, is subject to considerable modification . "King," for instance, is used to translate the Homeric avaE equally with the Athenian /3avekeir or the See also:Roman rex . Yet the Homeric " kings " were but tribal chiefs; while the Athenian and Roman kings were kings in something more than the See also:modern sense, as supreme priests as well as supreme rulers and lawgivers (see See also:ARCHON; and See also:RoME: .See also:history) . In the See also:English See also:Bible, too, the title of king is given indiscriminately to the See also:great king of See also:Persia and to potentateswho were little more than See also:Oriental sheiks . A more See also:practical difficulty, moreover, presented itself in See also:international intercourse, before See also:diplomatic conventions became, in the r9th See also:century, more or less stereotyped . Originally the title of king was See also:superior to that of See also:emperor, and it was to avoid the See also:assumption of the superior title of rex that the See also:chief magistrates of Rome adopted the names of See also:Caesar, imperator and princeps to signalize their authority .

But with the development of the Roman imperial idea the title emperor came to mean more than had been involved in that of rex; very See also:

early in the history of the Empire there were subject kings; while with the Hellenizing of the See also:East Roman Empire its rulers assumed the See also:style of SaaOseis, no longer to be translated " king " but " emperor." From this Roman conception of the supremacy of the emperor the See also:medieval Empire of the See also:West inherited its traditions . With the See also:barbarian invasions the See also:Teutonic idea of kingship had come into See also:touch with the Roman idea of empire and with the theocratic conceptions which this had absorbed from the old Roman and Oriental views of kingship . With these the Teutonic kingship had in its origin but little in common . Etymologically the See also:Romance and Teutonic words for king have quite distinct origins . The Latin rex corresponds to the See also:Sanskrit rajah, and meant originally steersman . The Teutonic king on the contrary corresponds to the Sanskrit ganaka, and " simply meant See also:father, the father of a See also:family, the king of his own See also:kin, the father of a See also:clan, the father of a See also:people.''' The Teutonic kingship, in See also:short, was See also:national; the king was the supreme representative of the people, " hedged with divinity " in so far as he was the reputed descendant of the national gods, but with none of that See also:absolute theocratic authority associated with the titles of rex or 9actXeus . This, however, was modified by contact with Rome and See also:Christianity . The early Teutonic conquerors had never lost their reverence for the Roman emperor, and were from See also:time to time proud to acknowledge their inferiority by accepting titles, such as " patrician," by which this was implied . But by the See also:coronation of See also:Charles, king of the See also:Franks, as emperor of the West, the See also:German kingship was absorbed into the Roman imperial idea, a See also:process which exercised a profound effect on the See also:evolution of the Teutonic kingship generally . In the symmetrical See also:political theory of medieval See also:Europe See also:pope and emperor were See also:sun and See also:moon, kings but lesser satellites; though the theory only partially and occasionally corresponded with the facts . But the See also:elevation of See also:Charlemagne had had a profound effect in modifying the status of kingship in nations that never came under his See also:sceptre nor under that of his successors . The shadowy claim of the emperors to universal dominion was in theory everywhere acknowledged; but See also:independent kings hastened to assert their own dignity by surrounding themselves with the ceremonial forms of the Empire and occasionally, as in the See also:case of the Saxon bretwaldas in See also:England, by assuming the imperial style .

The See also:

mere fact of this usurpation showed that the title of king was regarded as inferior to that of emperor; and so it continued, as a See also:matter of sentiment at least, down to the end of the See also:Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the cheapening of the imperial title by its multiplication in the 19th century . To the 1 Max See also:Muller, Lect . Sci . See also:Lang., 2nd See also:series, p . 255, " All people, See also:save those who See also:fancy that the name king has something to do with a See also:Tartar See also:khan or with a ' See also:canning ' . . . See also:man, are agreed that the English cyning and the Sanskrit ganaka both come from the same See also:root, from that widely spread root whence comes our own cyn or kin and the See also:Greek ytvos . The only question is whether there is any connexion between cyning and ganaka closer than that which is implied in their both coming from the same See also:original root . That is to say, are we to suppose that cyning and ganaka are strictly the same word common to Sanskrit and Teutonic, or is it enough to think that cyning is an independent formation made after the Teutons had separated themselves from the common stock ? . . . The difference between the two derivations is not very remote, as the cyn is the ruling idea in any case; but if we make the word immediately cognate with ganaka we bring in a notion about ' the father of his people ' which has no See also:place if we simply derive cyning from cyn." See also O . See also:Schrader, Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde (See also:Strassburg, 1901) s.v . " See also:Konig ": the chuning (King) is but the chunni (Kin) personified; cf .

A.S. leod masc.=-" See also:

prince "; leod fem,=" See also:race," i.e . See also:Lat. gees . last, moreover, the emperor retained the See also:prerogative of creating kings, as in the case of the king of See also:Prussia in 1701, a right borrowed and freely used by the emperor See also:Napoleon . Since 1814 the title of king has been assumed or bestowed by a consensus of the See also:Powers; e.g. the elector of See also:Hanover was made king by the See also:congress of See also:Vienna (1814), and per contra the title of king was refused to the elector of See also:Hesse by the congress of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) . In See also:general the title of king is now taken to imply a See also:sovereign and independent international position . This was implied in the recognition of the title of king in the rulers of See also:Greece, See also:Rumania, Servia and See also:Bulgaria when these countries were declared absolutely independent of See also:Turkey . The fiction of this independent sovereignty is preserved even in the case of the kings of See also:Bavaria, See also:Saxony and See also:Wurttemberg, who are technically members of a See also:free See also:confederation of sovereign states, but are not independent, since their relations with See also:foreign Powers are practically See also:con-trolled by the king of Prussia as German emperor . The theory of the " divine right " of kings, as at See also:present understood, is of comparatively modern growth . The principle Divine that the kingship is " descendible in one sacred Right of family," as See also:George Canning put it, is not only still Kings. that of the British constitution, as that of all monarchical states, but is practically that of kingship from the be-ginning . This is, however, quite a different thing from asserting with the modern upholders of the See also:doctrine of " divine right " not only that " legitimate " monarchs derive their authority 'from, and are responsible to, See also:God alone, but that this authority is by divine See also:ordinance hereditary in a certain See also:order of See also:succession . The See also:power of popular See also:election remained, even though popular choice was by See also:custom or by religious sentiment confined within the limits of a single family . The custom of See also:primogeniture See also:grew up owing to the obvious convenience of a See also:simple See also:rule that should avoid ruinous contests; the so-called "Salic See also:Law" went further, and by excluding See also:females, removed another possible source of weakness .

Neither did the Teutonic kingship imply absolute power . The idea of kingship as a theocratic See also:

function which played so great a See also:part in the political controversies of the 17th century, is due ultimately to Oriental influences brought to See also:bear through Christianity . The crowning and See also:anointing of the emperors, borrowed from See also:Byzantium and traceable to the See also:influence of the Old Testament, was imitated by lesser potentates; and this " sacring " by ecclesiastical authority gave to the king a See also:character of special sanctity . The See also:Christian king thus became, in a sense, like the Roman rex, both king and See also:priest . See also:Shakespeare makes See also:Richard II. say, " Not all the See also:water in the rough See also:rude See also:sea can See also:wash the See also:balm off from an anointed king " (See also:act iii. sc . 2); and this conception of the kingship tended to gather strength with the weakening of the See also:prestige of the papacy and of the See also:clergy generally . Before the See also:Reformation the anointed king was, within his See also:realm, the accredited See also:vicar of God for See also:secular purposes; after the Reformation he became this in See also:Protestant states for religious purposes also . In England it is not without significance that the sacerdotal See also:vestments, generally discarded by the clergy—See also:dalmatic, See also:alb and See also:stole—continued to be among the insignia of the sovereign (see CORONATION) . Moreover, this sacrosanct character he acquired not by virtue of his " sacring," but by hereditary right; the coronation, anointing and vesting were but the outward and visible See also:symbol of a divine See also:grace adherent in the sovereign by virtue of his title . Even Roman See also:Catholic monarchs, like See also:Louis XIV., would never have admitted that their coronation by the See also:archbishop constituted any part of their title to reign; it was no more than the See also:consecration of their title . In England the doctrine of the divine right of kings was See also:developed to its extremest logical conclusions during the political controversies of the 17th century . Of its exponents the most distinguished was See also:Hobbes, the most exaggerated See also:Sir See also:Robert See also:Filmer .

It was the See also:

main issue to be decided by the See also:Civil See also:War, the royalists holding that " all Christian kings, princes and See also:governors "derive their authority See also:direct from God, the parliamentarians that this authority is the outcome of a See also:contract, actual or implied, betw,en sovereign and people . In one case the king's power would be unlimited, according to Louis XIV.'s famous saying: " L' Nat, c'est moil " or limitable only by his own free act; in the other his actions would be governed by the See also:advice and consent of the people, to whom he would be ultimately responsible . The victory of this latter principle was proclaimed to all the See also:world by the See also:execution of Charles I . The doctrine of divine right, indeed, for a while See also:drew nourishment from the See also:blood of the royal " See also:martyr "; it was the guiding principle of the See also:Anglican See also:Church of the Restoration; but it suffered a rude See also:blow when See also:James II. made it impossible for the clergy to obey both their See also:conscience and their king; and the revolution of 1688 made an end of it as a great political force . These events had effects far beyond England . They served as precedents for the crusade of republican See also:France against kings, and later for the substitution of the democratic kingship of Louis Philippe, " king of the See also:French by the grace of God and the will of the people," for the "legitimate" kingship of Charles X., " king of France by the grace of God." The theory of the See also:crown in See also:Britain, as held by descent modified and modifiable by See also:parliamentary See also:action, and yet also " by the grace of God," is in strict accordance with the earliest traditions of the English kingship; but the See also:rival theory of inalienable divine right is not dead . It is strong in See also:Germany and especially in Prussia; it survives as a militant force among the Carlists in See also:Spain and the Royalists in France (see See also:LEGITIMISTS); and even in England a remnant of enthusiasts still maintain the claims of a remote descendant of Charles I. to the See also:throne (see See also:JACOBITES) . See J . See also:Neville Figgis, Theory of the Divine Right of Kings (See also:Cambridge, 1896) . (W . A . P.) KING-See also:BIRD, the Lanius tyrannus of See also:Linnaeus, and the Tyrannus carolinensis or T. pipiri of most later writers, a common and characteristic inhabitant of See also:North See also:America, ranging as high as 570 N. lat. or farther, and westward to the Rocky Mountains, beyond which it is found in See also:Oregon, in See also:Washington (See also:State), and in British See also:Columbia, though apparently not occurring in See also:California .

Phoenix-squares

In See also:

Canada and the See also:northern states of the See also:Union it is a summer visitor, wintering in the See also:south, but also reaching See also:Cuba; and, passing through Central America, it has been found in See also:Bolivia and eastern See also:Peru . Both the scientific and common names of this See also:species are taken from the way in which the See also:cock will at times assume despotic authority over other birds, attacking them furiously as they See also:fly, and forcing them to divert or altogether desist from their course . Yet it is love of his See also:mate or his See also:young that prompts this bellicose behaviour, for it is only in the breeding See also:season that he indulges in it; but then almost every large bird that approaches his See also:nest, from an See also:eagle down-wards, is assaulted, and those alone that possess greater command of See also:flight can See also:escape from his repeated charges, which are accompanied by loud and shrill cries . On these occasions it may be that the king-bird displays the See also:emblem of his dignity, which is commonly concealed; for, being otherwise rather plainly coloured—dark-ashy See also:grey above and See also:white beneath—the erectile feathers of the crown of the See also:head, on being parted, See also:form as it were a deep furrow, and reveal their See also:base, which is of a See also:bright See also:golden-See also:orange in front, deepening into See also:scarlet, and then passing into silvery white . This species seems to live entirely on See also:insects, which it captures on the wing; it is in See also:bad repute with See also:bee-keepers,' though, according to Dr E . Cones, it " destroys a thousand noxious insects for every bee it eats." It builds, often in an exposed situation, a rather large nest, coarsely constructed out-See also:side, but neatly lined with See also:fine roots or See also:grasses, and See also:lays five or six eggs of a See also:pale See also:salmon See also:colour, beautifully marked with blotches and spots of See also:purple, See also:brown and orange, generally disposed in a See also:zone near the larger end . Nearly akin to the king-bird is the petchary or chicheree, so called from its loud and petulant cry, T. dominicensis, or T. griseus, one of the most characteristic and conspicuous birds of the West Indies, and the earliest to give See also:notice of the break of See also:day . In habits, except that it eats a See also:good many berries, it is the very counterpart of its congener, and is possibly even more jealous of any intruder . At all events its pugnacity extends to It is called in some parts the bee-See also:martin . - animals from which it could not possibly receive any harm, and is hardly limited to any season of the See also:year . In several respects both of these birds, with several of their See also:allies, resemble some of the shrikes; but it must be clearly under-stood that the likeness is but of See also:analogy, and that there is no near See also:affinity between the two families Laniidae and Tyrannidae, which belong to wholly distinct sections of the great Passerine King-Bird . order; and, while the former is a comparatively homogeneous See also:group, much diversity of form and habits is found among the latter .

Similarly many of the smaller Tyrannidae bear some analogy to certain Muscicapidae, with which they were at one time confounded (see See also:

FLYCATCHER), but the difference between them is deep seated.' Nor is this all, for out of the seventy genera, or thereabouts, into which the Tyrannidae have been divided, comprehending perhaps three See also:hundred and fifty species, all of which are See also:peculiar to the New World, a series of forms can be selected which find a See also:kind of parallel to a series of forms to be found in the other group of Passeres; and the genus Tyrannus, though that from which the family is named, is by no means a See also:fair representative of it; but it would be hard to say which genus should be so accounted . The birds of the genus Muscisaxicola have the habits and almost the See also:appearance of See also:wheat-ears; the genus Alectorurus calls to mind a water-See also:wagtail; Euscarthmus may suggest a See also:titmouse, Elainea perhaps a See also:willow-See also:wren; but the greatest number of forms have no analogous bird of the Old World with which they can be compared; and, while the See also:combination of delicate beauty and peculiar See also:external form possibly attains its utmost in the See also:long-tailed Milvulus, the See also:glory of the family may be said to culminate in the king of king-birds, Muscivora regia . (A . N.) KING-CRAB, the name given to an Arachnid, belonging to the order Xiphosurae, of the grade Delobranchia or Hydropneustea . King-crabs, of which four, possibly five, existing species are known, were formerly referred to the genus Limulus, a name still applied to them in all zoological textbooks . It has recently been shown, however, that the structural See also:differences between ' Two easy modes of discriminating them externally may be mentioned . All the Laniidae and Muscicapidae have but nine See also:primary quills in their wings, and their tarsi are covered with scales in front only; while in the Tyrannidae there are ten primaries, and the tarsal scales extend the whole way See also:round . The more recondite distinction in the structure of the trachea seems to have been first detected by See also:Macgillivray, who wrote the anatomical descriptions published in 1839 by See also:Audubon (Orn . See also:Biography, v . 421, 422); but its value was not appreciated till the publication of Johannes Muller's classical See also:treatise on the vocal See also:organs of Passerine birds (Abhandl. k . Akad . TVissensch .

See also:

Berlin, 1845, pp . 321, 405).some of the species are sufficiently numerous and important to See also:warrant the recognition of three genera—Xiphosura, of which Limulus is a synonym, Tachypleus and Carcinoscorpius . In Xiphosura the genital operculum structurally resembles the gill-bearing appendages in that the inner branches consist of three distinct segments, the distal of which is lobate and projects freely beyond the margin of the adjacent distal segment of the See also:outer See also:branch; the entosternite (see See also:ARACHNIDA) has two pairs of antero-lateral processes, and in the male only the See also:ambulatory appendages of the second pair are modified as claspers . In Tachypleus and Carcinoscorpius, on the other See also:hand, the genital operculum differs from the gill-bearing appendages in that the inner branches consist of two segments, the distal of which are apically pointed, partially or completely fused in the See also:middle See also:line, and do not project beyond the distal segments of the outer branches; the entosternite has only one pair of antero-lateral processes, and in the male the second and third pairs of ambulatory limbs are modified as claspers . Tachypleus differs from Carcinoscorpius in possessing a long movable See also:spur upon the See also:fourth segment of the See also:sixth ambulatory See also:limb, in having the postanal spine triangular in See also:section instead of round, and the claspers in the male he:nichelate, owing to the suppression of the immovable See also:finger, which is well developed in Carcinoscorpius . At the present time king-crabs have a wide but discontinuous See also:distribution . Xiphosura, of which there is but one species, X. See also:polyphemus, ranges along the eastern side of North America from the See also:coast of See also:Maine to See also:Yucatan . Carcinoscorpius, which is also represented by a single species, C. rotundicauda, extends from the See also:Bay of See also:Bengal to the coast of the See also:Moluccas and the Philippines, while of the two better-known species of Tachypleus, T. gigas ( = moluccanus) ranges from See also:Singapore to Torres Straits, and T. tridentatus from See also:Borneo to See also:southern See also:Japan . A third species, T. hoeveni, has been recorded from the Moluccas . But although Xiphosura is now so widely sundered geographically from Tachypleus and Carcinoscorpius, the occurrence of the remains of See also:extinct species of king-crabs in Europe, both in See also:Tertiary deposits and in Triassic, See also:Jurassic and Cretaceous strata, suggests that there was formerly a continuous coast-line, with tropical or temperate conditions, extending from Europe west-See also:ward to America, and eastward to southern See also:Asia . There are, however, no grounds for the assumption that the supposed coast-line between America and Europe synchronized with that between Europe and south Asia . King-crabs do not appear to differ from each other in habits .

Except in the breeding season they live in water ranging in See also:

depth from about two to six fathoms, and creep about the bottom or See also:bury themselves in the See also: