What is the difference between an empire and a kingdom, and what is the difference between a king and an emperor?

The words "Emperor" (Empror) and "King" (King) have completely different definitions in European history. "King" has referred to a hereditary autocratic monarch from the beginning, while "Emperor" has The earliest Latin word means "general" or "military commander". Therefore, the monarch of the Roman Empire can call himself "emperor", but he can never call himself "king" - because in theory, the authority of the Roman emperor comes from the people and the Senate. He was the chief senator, consul, military commander, tribune and high priest authorized by the Senate. He was not a "hereditary absolute monarch".

In fact, the term "emperor" was rarely used in the early Roman Empire. to refer to the monarch, and is generally called "Caesar" or "Augustus" (in the Hadrian period, "Caesar" was also used to refer to the emperor's successor). Until now, "Caesar" in German and Russian "Emperor" and "Caesar" still have the same root ("Tsar" means "Caesar"). After Diocletian came to power, the Latin word "Emperor" became popular and became a more commonly used title for Roman monarchs. .

The first emperor in Europe was Octavian, the "first citizen" of the Roman Senate (although the title "emperor" was not popular at that time). In theory, all emperors in Europe since then. , all inherited are the Roman crowns passed down by Octavian, otherwise it would be illegal. So, let us take a look at how many families the imperial crown started from Octavian was passed on to? An empire that was once blessed with the supreme title of "Emperor"?

From Octavian to Diocletian, although the center of the empire shifted eastward, Rome was still the nominal capital of the empire. After Cretian came to the throne, he implemented the "rule of four emperors", and Rome was not included in the four capitals of the empire. This marked that the Roman Empire began to lose its centripetal force and the political basis for unity. At the end of the 4th century AD, the Roman Empire officially split. For the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) and the Western Roman Empire (the Roman Empire in a narrow sense), the "double-headed eagle" symbolizing division has since become the imperial emblem. In this way, Europe has two legal emperor systems, of which the Western Roman Empire is the most important. Soon after its demise in the 5th century AD, there was no successor to the crown; while the Eastern Roman emperor system continued until it was destroyed by the Turks in 1453.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Western Europe experienced a period of "nothing." "Crown" era. Although the Frankish Kingdom was very powerful and gave birth to powerful monarchs such as Clovis and Pepin, they were "kings" after all, local monarchs who inherited the barbarian legal system, not "European" who inherited the Roman legal system. "Roman Emperor". It was not until 800 AD that Frankish King Charles accepted the Pope's coronation in the Roman Cathedral, and the Pope declared him "Emperor of the Romans" and "Augustus". This ended more than 300 years of no emperor in Western Europe. History. "Emperor of the Romans" is not just an honorary title, it means that Charles is the legal heir of the Roman Empire. The rights and obligations of the Roman Empire have been transferred to Charles and his successors. The long-extinct Western Roman emperor system is now Re-continued by Charlie.

But Charles's empire soon split, and the title of emperor was inherited by Charles' grandson, King of the Middle Franks, "Charlie the Bald". The Middle Frankish kingdom continued to divide, and the imperial crown fell into the hands of a group of petty princes in northern Italy, losing its sanctity. It was not until the 11th century AD that Otto, who was born in the East Frankish (today's Germany) aristocracy, took over the crown from the Pope again and announced the establishment of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German nation". From then until the beginning of the 19th century, the emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire" He has always been the nominal ruler of Europe. The monarchs of all other countries are not qualified to call themselves emperors and must nominally submit to the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory of the Holy Roman Empire included today's Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, northern Italy, eastern France, the Netherlands, Belgium and other regions. However, this empire was composed of many feudal territories and was very unstable. The emperor did not have supreme authority at all. . After the 13th century, the emperor was no longer hereditary, but was elected by the "Seven Electors" including the King of Bohemia (Czech Republic), the Archbishop of Cologne, the Duke of Saxony, and the Margrave of Brandenburg. Beginning in the 16th century, the Habsburg family from Austria gradually took control of the emperor's position, and "election" became a formality. Since the Eastern Roman Empire had perished in 1453, there was only one legitimate emperor left in Europe, the Holy Roman Emperor from the Habsburg family.

The demise of the Eastern Roman Empire gave Russia, which was also Orthodox, an opportunity to take advantage of it. Under the strong advice of the Orthodox priests, Grand Duke Ivan IV of Moscow decided to appear as the "successor of the Eastern Roman Empire". He called Moscow the "Third Rome" and called himself "Czar" (Caesar). During the period of Peter the Great, he Changed to "Emperor" (but still generally called "Tsar"), this was also the fourth empire born in European history (the first three were the Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Holy Roman Empire) - the Russian Empire. Although the name of the Russian Empire has nothing to do with "Rome", the tsars of all dynasties have called Moscow the "Third Rome" and claimed that they inherited the Orthodox tradition of Eastern Rome. Therefore, legally speaking, the tsar's crown is still From the Roman Empire.

From the above historical events, we can see that until the 18th century, the title "Emperor" was inseparable from the Roman Empire. Only the spiritual heirs of the Roman Empire were qualified to be called "Emperor" emperor". The most powerful monarch in Europe in the 18th century was the "Sun King" Louis XIV, but he never thought of calling himself "Emperor" because the French throne had no connection with the Roman Empire, and there was still the only legitimate emperor in Western Europe at that time - —Holy Roman Emperor. But when Napoleon came to power in the early 19th century, the situation was very different. Napoleon summoned the Pope to Paris and asked him to crown him, calling himself "Emperor of the French" - this was the first time in nearly 2,000 years that the title of emperor was separated from the word "Rome". However, Napoleon quickly disbanded the Holy Roman Empire and canceled the title of "Emperor" of the Habsburg family. In fact, he wanted to create an impression that "the French emperor is European orthodoxy", and this "orthodoxy" is not the same as Rome. Otherwise, why would Napoleon insist on having the Pope of Rome crown him and make his son "King of Rome"?

The Napoleonic Empire only existed for a short period of more than ten years, but Napoleon set a precedent for proclaiming emperor. Those monarchs who had nothing to do with the Roman throne were also ready to proclaim themselves emperor. After the fall of Napoleon, the Habsburg family couldn't wait to call themselves "Emperor" again. However, by then the Holy Roman Empire had been destroyed, and the Habsburg family had to change their name to "Emperor of Austria". Britain originally had nothing to do with the Roman throne, and Britain's democratic tradition did not allow its monarch to call himself "Emperor." But now that India has become a British colony, the British monarch changed his name to "King of Britain and Emperor of India", and Habsburg The Fort and Romanov families are on an equal footing. In 1849, Napoleon's nephew Louis Bonaparte usurped French power and established the "Second French Empire", claiming to inherit the legal authority of Napoleon's empire. In this way, there were three and a half emperors in Europe at the same time - the Austrian Emperor, the French Emperor, the Russian Emperor and the British King and the Indian Emperor (counted as half), which was the most in history.

The German Empire established in 1871 was the last empire in European history. The Kingdom of Prussia successively defeated Denmark, Austria and France, becoming the most powerful country on the European continent. William I was crowned German Emperor at the Palace of Versailles in Paris. Although the German Empire was founded on the ruins of the two empires of Austria and France, the Prussians did not believe that their throne was "seized" from Austria or France, but proudly declared that they were the "Holy Roman Empire" The successor, so this empire was also called the "Second Reich", echoing Hitler's "Third Reich" later. Although the German Empire believed that it was the authentic heir to the Roman Empire, they did not cancel the Austrian throne. It was just that the French Empire was overthrown by the revolution. Europe still maintained the status of "three and a half emperors" until World War I. Later, three empires were overthrown one after another.

(Note: Domestic translations often refer to Arabia, Ottoman and even Britain as "empires", which is not very accurate.

The Arab monarch calls himself "Caliph", which is the "successor of the prophet"; the Ottoman monarch calls himself "Sultan", which is "military governor"; although the British occasionally call themselves "empire", the British king only serves as the emperor of India, not the entire The emperors of Great Britain, none of them are "emperors" in the strict sense)