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This article is about Emperor/Empress in the meaning of "monarch", for all other uses, see: Emperor (disambiguation) or Empress (disambiguation) An emperor is a (male) monarch, usually the monarch ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the feminine form. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor (empress consort) or a woman who is a ruling monarch (empress regnant). Emperors are generally recognized to be above monarchs in honor and Royal and noble ranks. Distinction from other monarchs Both kings and emperors are monarchs. Within the European context, "emperor" is considered the highest of monarchical titles, ironic in that it began as a military honorific in a staunchly anti-monarchical republic. Emperors were once given Order of 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. Territorial size was of no importance, the title was a conscious attempt by monarchs to link themselves to the institutions and traditions of the Romans as part of state ideology. In contrast, many republics have named a legislative chamber after the Roman Senate in remembrance of an era when assemblies still dominated.

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. Due to 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 ruler of Austria and king of Hungary and Bohemia, had almost no authority within the non-Austrian parts of the territory.

Roman tradition Roman and Byzantine Emperors 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 Empire 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 on the other hand 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 Globus cruciger 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 Roman Emperor (Crisis of the Third Century)

The Origin: Roman Emperors see: Roman Emperor When Roman Republic 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 Roman king, and after Julius Caesar also Roman 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 (title) (as, for example, in Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars). This tradition continued in many languages: in German (language) it became "Kaiser"; in certain Slavic languages it became "Tsar"; in Hungarian (language) it became "Nobility and Royalty of the Kingdom of Hungary", 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 Simeon II of Bulgaria's removal from the throne in 1946.
• Augustus (honorific) 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 (honorific)) 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. 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 (language) and, among other examples, "Empereur" in French (language). The Latin feminine form Imperatrix only developed after "Imperator" had gotten the connotation of "Emperor".
• : although the Greeks used equivalents of "Caesar" (Καίσαρ) and "Augustus" (in two forms: 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 "Monarch"). "Autokratōr" could be seen as a translation of the Latin "Imperator" (it was certainly used as its replacement 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 before the 7th century, although it was a standard informal designation of the emperor in the Greek-speaking East.

After the problematic Year of the four emperors, the Flavian Dynasty reigned for about half a century. The succeeding :Category:Nerva-Antonine 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 Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire 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 I. Less than a Roman Emperor (Late Empire) in 395, the last Emperor of the Western half of the Empire was driven out.

The Eastern Emperors after 476 see Byzantine Emperor , reigning in the 6th century, parts of Italy were for a few decades (re)conquered from the Ostrogoths: that's why this famous mosaic, featuring the Byzantine emperor in the center, can be admired at Ravenna.

Historians generally call the eastern part of the Roman Empire the Byzantine Empire due to 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 language) 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.George Alexandrovič Ostrogorsky, "Avtokrator i samodržac", Glas Srpske kraljevske akadamije CLXIV, Drugi razdred 84 (1935), 95-187 In fact, none of these (and other) additional epithets and titles had ever been completely discarded.

The Byzantine empire produced also three reigning empresses: Irene (empress), Zoe (empress), and Theodora (11th century).

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 due to Ottoman Empire invasion in 1453. The Empire of Trebizond produced three reigning empresses before they too were defeated by the Ottomans in 1461.

Byzantium's Orthodox heirs Byzantine Empire'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) in a makeshift ceremony officiated by the Patriarch of Constantinople and imperial regent Nicholas I Mystikos outside of the Byzantine capital. This unpopular concession was swiftly revoked by the succeeding Byzantine government, and 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, albeit reluctantly, as "emperor of the Bulgarians" (basileus tōn Boulgarōn) after a meeting with the Byzantine Emperor Romanus I in 924. The concession was confirmed at the conclusion of permanent peace and a dynastic marriage in 927. In the meantime, the Bulgarian imperial title may have been also confirmed by the Pope. The title was recognized again after Bulgaria recovered its independence following a period of Byzantine Domination (1018–1185). In its final simplified form, it read "emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks" (car i samodăržec na vsički bălgari i gărci in the modern vernacular). The "Greek" component in the Bulgarian imperial title indicates both rulership over Greek-speakers and the derivation of the imperial tradition from the Romans (represented by the "Greek" Byzantines). 14th-century Bulgarian literary compositions clearly denote the Bulgarian capital (Veliko Tarnovo) as a successor of Rome and Constantinople, in effect, the "Third Rome". It should be noted that after Bulgaria obtained complete independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908 to becoming a republic in 1946, its monarch took the traditional title of "tsar", but was recognized internationally only as a king.

Serbia In 1345 the Serbian King Stefan Dusan proclaimed himself emperor (tsar) and had himself 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 srbljem i grkom 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 Paleologue, married Ivan III of Russia, 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 of the monk Filofej addressed their son Vasili III of Russia. After ending Muscovy's dependence on its Mongol overlords in 1480, Ivan III had begun the usage of the titles emperor (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, Holy Roman Emperor to Vasili III. His son Ivan IV of Russia emphatically crowned himself emperor (Tsar of Russia) on 16 January, 1547.

On 31 October, 1721 Peter I of Russia was crowned emperor with a new style, "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, Holy Roman Emperor to Vasili III of Russia, Sophia's son and Ivan IV's father, 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 of Russia on 15 March, 1917. The apparent distinction between the titles of "tsar" and "imperator" in post-1721 usage have led to the mistaken impression that the title of "tsar" is an intermediate rank between those of "emperor" and "king", or else equivalent to the latter.

Imperial Russia produced four reigning empresses, all in the eighteenth century.

Holy Roman Emperors See: Holy Roman Emperor After the discontinuation of the title of Emperor in Western Europe in 476, it was revived in the Middle Ages. What connected these Emperors to "Rome" was that they were supposed to be crowned by the Pope, usually in Rome. So in this branch of Roman Emperors, Roman had an implied connotation of Roman Catholic, hence the epithet Holy.

On 25 December, 800, Charlemagne, List of Frankish Kings, was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III in Rome. This was seen both as a reaction to the supposed vacancy of the Eastern Empire, due to the presence of a woman, Irene (empress) on the throne in Constantinople, and as a revival of the Western Roman Empire, and descendants of Charlemagne continued to be crowned in Rome until the late 9th century. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, the Popes intermittently bestowed the imperial title upon whomever was momentarily the most powerful lord in northern Italy, and after Berengar of Friuli was deposed in 922, the title lay vacant for decades.

. Christ is pictured as performing the actual coronation, the highly symbolical sword ("Reichsschwert") and Holy Lance are handed by the saints Ulrich of Augsburg († 973) and Emmeram († 652) - Henry had actually been crowned Emperor by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014.

In 962, Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Eastern Franks was crowned Emperor by the Pope. The Holy Roman Empire, such as it was, consisted of the List of German monarchs Kingdoms, Kingdom of Italy (Medieval), and King of Burgundy (including most of the Low Countries), but it continued to have theoretical claims of universal suzerainty over the Latin west.

After the 13th century and the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty which led to a 62 year interregnum, the universalistic aspirations of the Emperors became increasingly theoretical, and their control over Italy, still seen as the locus of the proper empire, became increasingly tenuous. Rather than being hereditary, emperors were chosen by the prince-electors, in a process codified by the Golden Bull of 1356.

Coronations in Rome became rarer and rarer, until in 1508, King Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, after receiving permission from the pope, declared himself Emperor-Elect without having been crowned in Rome. Although Maximilian's grandson and successor, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was crowned in Bologna in 1530 by the Pope, he was the last, and thereafter the position of Holy Roman Emperor was a wholly German post until the Empire's dissolution in August 6, 1806.

Even in Germany itself, real control was increasingly tenuous, as various local princes increased their power, so that the Habsburg emperors who ruled almost continuously from 1438 until the end of the empire derived their power much more from their hereditary lands in the south-eastern part of the monarchy than from their position as emperor. As religious differences added to the tensions, compromise was needed (Peace of Augsburg, 1555). The Habsburg dynasty attempted to reassert authority over the Empire in the Thirty Years' War, which ended with the Peace of Westphalia (1648) that recognized princes sort of sovereign instead of dependents.

The impotence of the Emperors' position became most nakedly apparent during the brief reign of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor from 1742 to 1745. As Duke of Bavaria, Charles was the only non-Habsburg emperor for the last three hundred fifty years of the empire's existence, and his utter inability even to protect his own hereditary lands from the forces of his enemy, Maria Theresa of Austria, the Habsburg heiress, showed how empty the position of Holy Roman Emperor had become.

Austria see: Emperor of Austria On 11 August, 1804 anticipating the eventual collapse of the Holy Roman Empire at the behest of Napoleon I, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor assumed the additional title of Emperor of Austria (as Francis I thereof). The precaution was a wise one, because two years later on August 6 1806 he was obliged to proclaim the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

Emperor Karl of Austria, the last ruling hereditary monarch in that country, "relinquished every participation in the administration of the State" on November 11 1918.

Germany Following victory after the Franco-Prussian war and the founding of the German Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia king had himself crowned German Emperor or Kaiser as Wilhelm I of Germany on January 18 1871, as part of the competition with the Emperor of Austria (whose Habsburg dynasty had de facto been hereditary in the Holy Roman Empire for centuries) for dominance in the German-speaking lands.

When the Empire was formed, there was much debate about how to precisely phrase the title of the monarch. One of the contributions to this debate was Kaiser von Deutschland ("Emperor of Germany"), another one being Kaiser der Deutschen ("Emperor of the Germans"). Finally, Deutscher Kaiser ("German Emperor"), the version expressing the least degree of superiority to the rulers of the other principalities, was agreed upon.

With defeats in World War I and German Revolution breaking out, Wilhelm II of Germany abdicated on 9 November 1918 and a Weimar Republic was established.

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 Empire 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 due to their rival claims of the translatio imperii. 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 (who had blessed the regalia), at the Notre Dame de Paris.
The painting by Jacques-Louis David commemorating the event is equally famous: the gothic cathedral restyled Empire (style), supervised by the Letizia Ramolino on the balcony (a fictional addition, while she had not been present at the ceremony), the pope positioned near the altar, Napoleon proceeds to crown his then wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais as Empress.Napoleon I of France 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 May 18, 1804. Despite being ruled by an emperor, it continued to be the French First Republic (République Française) until 1808, when it was renamed the First French Empire (Empire Français).

Napoleon relinquished the title of Emperor of the French on 6 April and again on April 11, 1814.Napoleon's infant son, Napoleon II of France, was recognized by the Council of Peers, as Emperor from the moment of his father's abdication, and theoretically reigned as "Emperor" for fifteen days, June 22 to July 7 of 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 Hundred Days; as this broke the terms of his parole, 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, Bonaparte was stripped of every imperial privilege during his second exile to Atlantic Isle of St. Helena.

Second French Empire See also: Second French Empire Napoleon I's nephew Napoleon III of France resurrected the title on December 2, 1852 after establishing the Second French Empire in a presidential coup. He reigned as a constitutional Monarch. His endeavours to return to France its imperial status included setting up a Habsburg Archduke as vassal emperor in Mexico, but failed. He lost the throne when he was deposed on September 4, 1870 by the French Third Republic in the aftermath of the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.

Iberian Peninsula The origins of the title Imperator totius Hispaniae (Latin language for Emperor of All the HispaniaNotice that, before the emergence of the modern country of Spain (beginning with the union of Crown 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.) is murky. It was associated with the List of Leonese monarchs 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 of Castile 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 List of Roman Emperors#Britannic Empire 286 to 297, reigning for about a decade. After the Roman departure from Britain, the Imperator Cunedda forged the Kingdom of Gwynedd in northern Wales however 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.

Henry VIII of England 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 of the United Kingdom 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 Emperor of India was created for Victoria of the United Kingdom. When a royal marriage made it obvious to the British in 1877 that their Queen Victoria would be outranked by her Victoria, Princess Royal and Empress Frederick who would someday become German Empress, the British government led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, conferred the additional title Empress of India by an Act of Parliament; it 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 'feudal' suzerain. That title was relinquished by the last Kaisar-i-Hind George VI of the United Kingdom with effect from August 15 1947, when India was granted independence.

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 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.

Post-colonial emperors modeled on Europe Post-Columbian Americas at the opening of the General Assembly (oil painting by Pedro Américo de Figueiredo e Melo). Brazil Brazil declared independence from Portugal in 1822, and made Pedro I of Brazil, eldest son of the then-King of Portugal, who was acting as regent, Emperor as Pedro I on 12 October. The empire came to an end with the overthrow of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil in 1889.

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, there were two short-lived attempts to create an Empire. 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 the next year.

In 1863, the invading French under Napoleon III (see above), in alliance with Mexican conservatives, proclaimed an empire and invited Archduke Maximilian, younger brother of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, to become emperor as Maximilian of Mexico. The childless Maximilian and his consort Charlotte of Belgium, born a Belgian princess, also adopted Agustín's grandson as his heir to bolster his claim. After the withdrawal of French protection in 1867, Maximilian was captured and executed by liberal forces.

Central African Empire In 1976, President Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic, proclaimed the country to be the 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.

Chinese tradition 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. Due to the cultural influence of China, China's neighbors adopted these titles or had their native titles conform in hanzi.

China see: Emperor of China In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang, who was Chinese sovereign of Qin dynasty at the time, proclaimed himself Shi Huangdi, which translates as "first emperor". Huangdi is composed of huang ("august one") and di ("sage-king"), and referred to legendary/mythological The Three August Ones and the Five 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 Taiping Rebellion in the 19th century. 王 is pronounced vuong in Vietnamese, ou 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 December 12, 1915 to March 22, 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 be 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 concubines was not uncommon. The earliest known usage of empress 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, Empress Wu, and she used the same Chinese title as an emperor (Huangdi, 皇帝).

Japan See Emperor of Japan (昭和天皇), the last Japanese Emperor having ruled with extended monarchical powers, combined with claims of divinity (photographed 1926).

In Japan, the ruler in Yamato court was called "Tennō" (天皇) (heavenly emperor), which in Western languages is equivalent to Emperor of Japan. Like in early Western tradition, the highest position of secular power was combined with the highest religious office (comparable with the Roman Emperor also being pontifex maximus) and claims of godhood (see Arahitogami). In several eras, the high-priestly role of the monarch has even been paramount, with a no more than formal secular role.

Japanese monarchs placed themselves from 607 on equal footing with Chinese emperors in titulary, 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. Fairly long, a Shogun (formally the imperial generalissimo, but made hereditary) or Sessho and kampaku 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.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. By the end of the 20th century, Japan was the only country with an emperor on the throne.

In the early 21st century, Japan succession law prevents a female from ascending to the throne. However, with the birth of a daughter as the first child of the current Crown Prince, Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, Japan is Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan#marriage and family. Princess Kiko gave birth to a son on 6 September 2006, although it still uncertain if the young prince or Aiko will ascend the throne; however many believe the new prince of Japan will. 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 Shinto religion.

Vietnam Although the Vietnamese rulers acknowledged the supremacy of China, and were known to the Chinese emperors as simply King of Annam, domestically they took on a full Chinese-style imperial regalia in 1806 and have inconsistently used the title hoang de for a millennium though many were raised to that status posthumously so as not to antagonize relations with China. Axis powers-occupied Vietnam was declared an empire by the Japanese in March 1945. The line of emperors came to an end with Bao Dai, who was deposed after the war, although he later served as head of state of South Vietnam from 1949 to 1955.

Korea Some early List of Korean monarchs of Korea, often considered to be legendary, used the title Danje (단제, 檀帝: Dan meaning "birch", je meaning "emperor"). The rulers of Goguryeo and Silla used the title of Taewang (태왕,太王), literally translated as the Greatest of the Kings but often corrupted to signify emperor. Some early List of Korean monarchs of Korea, often considered to be legendary, used the title tanje (단제, 檀帝: tan meaning "birch", je meaning "emperor"). The rulers of Goguryeo and Silla used the title of Taewang (태왕,太王), literally translated as the Greatest of the Kings but often korean style expression to signify emperor.

Rulers of the Goryeo kingdom (from Gwangjong of Goryeo onward) took the title of emperor as a means of enhancing the prestige of the monarchy. The title was relinquished in the 13th century, however, after the agreement of peace with the Mongols, when the Korean rulers were pressured into use the title of Kings and, as such, tributary ally of Kublai Khan's China-based Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1276 - 1368). The full style of the ruler (27 March 1393 - 7 January 1895, Joseon Dynasty was: Jusang Jeonha "His Majesty", Joseon Dynasty Guk-wang, "King of the Realm of Joseon".

Following the Chinese defeat by Japan in 1895, Korea declared its total independence from China (see Treaty of Shimonoseki) and King Gojong of Joseon took the title of Daehan Hwangje, translated as 'Emperor of the Great Names of Korea'. Yeonho=Nyonho (연호, 年號, era names, a very strong indication of sovereignty vis-à-vis imperial China), were adopted on 1 January 1896.

The full style of the ruler (7 January 1895 - 12 October 1897) was : Taegunju P'yeha ("His Majesty the Great Monarch"), Joseon Guk-wang "King of the Joseon State"; In the Korean Empire, since 12 October 1897, the full imperial style was Daehan Hwangje ("Emperor of Korean Empire").

Persian tradition The titles below originate from the Persian titles shahanshah (king of kings) and padishah (great king). Mutual accreditation between the following monarchs and European emperors began in the 1600s. It began when the Ottoman rulers claim to being Caesars of Rome (Kayser-i-Rûm) were snubbed by the Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, and Spain (whose kings had inherited the title in pretence from Andreas Palaiologos), see translatio imperii. They colluded with envious French kings to mutually recognize each other as emperors, beginning a convention.

Iran In Iran, 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 basiloon to Greek. It is also known that Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia, was named as the king of kings when he ma This article is about Emperor/Empress in the meaning of "monarch", for all other uses, see: Emperor (disambiguation) or Empress (disambiguation) An emperor is a (male) monarch, usually the monarch ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the feminine form. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor (empress consort) or a woman who is a ruling monarch (empress regnant). Emperors are generally recognized to be above monarchs in honor and Royal and noble ranks. Distinction from other monarchs Both kings and emperors are monarchs. Within the European context, "emperor" is considered the highest of monarchical titles, ironic in that it began as a military honorific in a staunchly anti-monarchical republic. Emperors were once given Order of 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. Territorial size was of no importance, the title was a conscious attempt by monarchs to link themselves to the institutions and traditions of the Romans as part of state ideology. In contrast, many republics have named a legislative chamber after the Roman Senate in remembrance of an era when assemblies still dominated.

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. Due to 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 ruler of Austria and king of Hungary and Bohemia, had almost no authority within the non-Austrian parts of the territory.

Roman tradition Roman and Byzantine Emperors 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 Empire 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 on the other hand 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 Globus cruciger 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 Roman Emperor (Crisis of the Third Century)

The Origin: Roman Emperors see: Roman Emperor When Roman Republic 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 Roman king, and after Julius Caesar also Roman 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 (title) (as, for example, in Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars). This tradition continued in many languages: in German (language) it became "Kaiser"; in certain Slavic languages it became "Tsar"; in Hungarian (language) it became "Nobility and Royalty of the Kingdom of Hungary", 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 Simeon II of Bulgaria's removal from the throne in 1946.
• Augustus (honorific) 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 (honorific)) 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. 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 (language) and, among other examples, "Empereur" in French (language). The Latin feminine form Imperatrix only developed after "Imperator" had gotten the connotation of "Emperor".
• : although the Greeks used equivalents of "Caesar" (Καίσαρ) and "Augustus" (in two forms: 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 "Monarch"). "Autokratōr" could be seen as a translation of the Latin "Imperator" (it was certainly used as its replacement 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 before the 7th century, although it was a standard informal designation of the emperor in the Greek-speaking East.

After the problematic Year of the four emperors, the Flavian Dynasty reigned for about half a century. The succeeding :Category:Nerva-Antonine 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 Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire 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 I. Less than a Roman Emperor (Late Empire) in 395, the last Emperor of the Western half of the Empire was driven out.

The Eastern Emperors after 476 see Byzantine Emperor , reigning in the 6th century, parts of Italy were for a few decades (re)conquered from the Ostrogoths: that's why this famous mosaic, featuring the Byzantine emperor in the center, can be admired at Ravenna.

Historians generally call the eastern part of the Roman Empire the Byzantine Empire due to 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 language) 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.George Alexandrovič Ostrogorsky, "Avtokrator i samodržac", Glas Srpske kraljevske akadamije CLXIV, Drugi razdred 84 (1935), 95-187 In fact, none of these (and other) additional epithets and titles had ever been completely discarded.

The Byzantine empire produced also three reigning empresses: Irene (empress), Zoe (empress), and Theodora (11th century).

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 due to Ottoman Empire invasion in 1453. The Empire of Trebizond produced three reigning empresses before they too were defeated by the Ottomans in 1461.

Byzantium's Orthodox heirs Byzantine Empire'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) in a makeshift ceremony officiated by the Patriarch of Constantinople and imperial regent Nicholas I Mystikos outside of the Byzantine capital. This unpopular concession was swiftly revoked by the succeeding Byzantine government, and 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, albeit reluctantly, as "emperor of the Bulgarians" (basileus tōn Boulgarōn) after a meeting with the Byzantine Emperor Romanus I in 924. The concession was confirmed at the conclusion of permanent peace and a dynastic marriage in 927. In the meantime, the Bulgarian imperial title may have been also confirmed by the Pope. The title was recognized again after Bulgaria recovered its independence following a period of Byzantine Domination (1018–1185). In its final simplified form, it read "emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks" (car i samodăržec na vsički bălgari i gărci in the modern vernacular). The "Greek" component in the Bulgarian imperial title indicates both rulership over Greek-speakers and the derivation of the imperial tradition from the Romans (represented by the "Greek" Byzantines). 14th-century Bulgarian literary compositions clearly denote the Bulgarian capital (Veliko Tarnovo) as a successor of Rome and Constantinople, in effect, the "Third Rome". It should be noted that after Bulgaria obtained complete independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908 to becoming a republic in 1946, its monarch took the traditional title of "tsar", but was recognized internationally only as a king.

Serbia In 1345 the Serbian King Stefan Dusan proclaimed himself emperor (tsar) and had himself 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 srbljem i grkom 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 Paleologue, married Ivan III of Russia, 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 of the monk Filofej addressed their son Vasili III of Russia. After ending Muscovy's dependence on its Mongol overlords in 1480, Ivan III had begun the usage of the titles emperor (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, Holy Roman Emperor to Vasili III. His son Ivan IV of Russia emphatically crowned himself emperor (Tsar of Russia) on 16 January, 1547.

On 31 October, 1721 Peter I of Russia was crowned emperor with a new style, "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, Holy Roman Emperor to Vasili III of Russia, Sophia's son and Ivan IV's father, 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 of Russia on 15 March, 1917. The apparent distinction between the titles of "tsar" and "imperator" in post-1721 usage have led to the mistaken impression that the title of "tsar" is an intermediate rank between those of "emperor" and "king", or else equivalent to the latter.

Imperial Russia produced four reigning empresses, all in the eighteenth century.

Holy Roman Emperors See: Holy Roman Emperor After the discontinuation of the title of Emperor in Western Europe in 476, it was revived in the Middle Ages. What connected these Emperors to "Rome" was that they were supposed to be crowned by the Pope, usually in Rome. So in this branch of Roman Emperors, Roman had an implied connotation of Roman Catholic, hence the epithet Holy.

On 25 December, 800, Charlemagne, List of Frankish Kings, was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III in Rome. This was seen both as a reaction to the supposed vacancy of the Eastern Empire, due to the presence of a woman, Irene (empress) on the throne in Constantinople, and as a revival of the Western Roman Empire, and descendants of Charlemagne continued to be crowned in Rome until the late 9th century. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, the Popes intermittently bestowed the imperial title upon whomever was momentarily the most powerful lord in northern Italy, and after Berengar of Friuli was deposed in 922, the title lay vacant for decades.

. Christ is pictured as performing the actual coronation, the highly symbolical sword ("Reichsschwert") and Holy Lance are handed by the saints Ulrich of Augsburg († 973) and Emmeram († 652) - Henry had actually been crowned Emperor by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014.

In 962, Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Eastern Franks was crowned Emperor by the Pope. The Holy Roman Empire, such as it was, consisted of the List of German monarchs Kingdoms, Kingdom of Italy (Medieval), and King of Burgundy (including most of the Low Countries), but it continued to have theoretical claims of universal suzerainty over the Latin west.

After the 13th century and the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty which led to a 62 year interregnum, the universalistic aspirations of the Emperors became increasingly theoretical, and their control over Italy, still seen as the locus of the proper empire, became increasingly tenuous. Rather than being hereditary, emperors were chosen by the prince-electors, in a process codified by the Golden Bull of 1356.

Coronations in Rome became rarer and rarer, until in 1508, King Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, after receiving permission from the pope, declared himself Emperor-Elect without having been crowned in Rome. Although Maximilian's grandson and successor, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was crowned in Bologna in 1530 by the Pope, he was the last, and thereafter the position of Holy Roman Emperor was a wholly German post until the Empire's dissolution in August 6, 1806.

Even in Germany itself, real control was increasingly tenuous, as various local princes increased their power, so that the Habsburg emperors who ruled almost continuously from 1438 until the end of the empire derived their power much more from their hereditary lands in the south-eastern part of the monarchy than from their position as emperor. As religious differences added to the tensions, compromise was needed (Peace of Augsburg, 1555). The Habsburg dynasty attempted to reassert authority over the Empire in the Thirty Years' War, which ended with the Peace of Westphalia (1648) that recognized princes sort of sovereign instead of dependents.

The impotence of the Emperors' position became most nakedly apparent during the brief reign of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor from 1742 to 1745. As Duke of Bavaria, Charles was the only non-Habsburg emperor for the last three hundred fifty years of the empire's existence, and his utter inability even to protect his own hereditary lands from the forces of his enemy, Maria Theresa of Austria, the Habsburg heiress, showed how empty the position of Holy Roman Emperor had become.

Austria see: Emperor of Austria On 11 August, 1804 anticipating the eventual collapse of the Holy Roman Empire at the behest of Napoleon I, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor assumed the additional title of Emperor of Austria (as Francis I thereof). The precaution was a wise one, because two years later on August 6 1806 he was obliged to proclaim the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

Emperor Karl of Austria, the last ruling hereditary monarch in that country, "relinquished every participation in the administration of the State" on November 11 1918.

Germany Following victory after the Franco-Prussian war and the founding of the German Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia king had himself crowned German Emperor or Kaiser as Wilhelm I of Germany on January 18 1871, as part of the competition with the Emperor of Austria (whose Habsburg dynasty had de facto been hereditary in the Holy Roman Empire for centuries) for dominance in the German-speaking lands.

When the Empire was formed, there was much debate about how to precisely phrase the title of the monarch. One of the contributions to this debate was Kaiser von Deutschland ("Emperor of Germany"), another one being Kaiser der Deutschen ("Emperor of the Germans"). Finally, Deutscher Kaiser ("German Emperor"), the version expressing the least degree of superiority to the rulers of the other principalities, was agreed upon.

With defeats in World War I and German Revolution breaking out, Wilhelm II of Germany abdicated on 9 November 1918 and a Weimar Republic was established.

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 Empire 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 due to their rival claims of the translatio imperii. 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 (who had blessed the regalia), at the Notre Dame de Paris.
The painting by Jacques-Louis David commemorating the event is equally famous: the gothic cathedral restyled Empire (style), supervised by the Letizia Ramolino on the balcony (a fictional addition, while she had not been present at the ceremony), the pope positioned near the altar, Napoleon proceeds to crown his then wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais as Empress.Napoleon I of France 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 May 18, 1804. Despite being ruled by an emperor, it continued to be the French First Republic (République Française) until 1808, when it was renamed the First French Empire (Empire Français).

Napoleon relinquished the title of Emperor of the French on 6 April and again on April 11, 1814.Napoleon's infant son, Napoleon II of France, was recognized by the Council of Peers, as Emperor from the moment of his father's abdication, and theoretically reigned as "Emperor" for fifteen days, June 22 to July 7 of 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 Hundred Days; as this broke the terms of his parole, 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, Bonaparte was stripped of every imperial privilege during his second exile to Atlantic Isle of St. Helena.

Second French Empire See also: Second French Empire Napoleon I's nephew Napoleon III of France resurrected the title on December 2, 1852 after establishing the Second French Empire in a presidential coup. He reigned as a constitutional Monarch. His endeavours to return to France its imperial status included setting up a Habsburg Archduke as vassal emperor in Mexico, but failed. He lost the throne when he was deposed on September 4, 1870 by the French Third Republic in the aftermath of the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.

Iberian Peninsula The origins of the title Imperator totius Hispaniae (Latin language for Emperor of All the HispaniaNotice that, before the emergence of the modern country of Spain (beginning with the union of Crown 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.) is murky. It was associated with the List of Leonese monarchs 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 of Castile 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 List of Roman Emperors#Britannic Empire 286 to 297, reigning for about a decade. After the Roman departure from Britain, the Imperator Cunedda forged the Kingdom of Gwynedd in northern Wales however 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.

Henry VIII of England 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 of the United Kingdom 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 Emperor of India was created for Victoria of the United Kingdom. When a royal marriage made it obvious to the British in 1877 that their Queen Victoria would be outranked by her Victoria, Princess Royal and Empress Frederick who would someday become German Empress, the British government led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, conferred the additional title Empress of India by an Act of Parliament; it 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 'feudal' suzerain. That title was relinquished by the last Kaisar-i-Hind George VI of the United Kingdom with effect from August 15 1947, when India was granted independence.

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 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.

Post-colonial emperors modeled on Europe Post-Columbian Americas at the opening of the General Assembly (oil painting by Pedro Américo de Figueiredo e Melo). Brazil Brazil declared independence from Portugal in 1822, and made Pedro I of Brazil, eldest son of the then-King of Portugal, who was acting as regent, Emperor as Pedro I on 12 October. The empire came to an end with the overthrow of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil in 1889.

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, there were two short-lived attempts to create an Empire. 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 the next year.

In 1863, the invading French under Napoleon III (see above), in alliance with Mexican conservatives, proclaimed an empire and invited Archduke Maximilian, younger brother of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, to become emperor as Maximilian of Mexico. The childless Maximilian and his consort Charlotte of Belgium, born a Belgian princess, also adopted Agustín's grandson as his heir to bolster his claim. After the withdrawal of French protection in 1867, Maximilian was captured and executed by liberal forces.

Central African Empire In 1976, President Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic, proclaimed the country to be the 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.

Chinese tradition 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. Due to the cultural influence of China, China's neighbors adopted these titles or had their native titles conform in hanzi.

China see: Emperor of China In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang, who was Chinese sovereign of Qin dynasty at the time, proclaimed himself Shi Huangdi, which translates as "first emperor". Huangdi is composed of huang ("august one") and di ("sage-king"), and referred to legendary/mythological The Three August Ones and the Five 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 Taiping Rebellion in the 19th century. 王 is pronounced vuong in Vietnamese, ou 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 December 12, 1915 to March 22, 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 be 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 concubines was not uncommon. The earliest known usage of empress 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, Empress Wu, and she used the same Chinese title as an emperor (Huangdi, 皇帝).

Japan See Emperor of Japan (昭和天皇), the last Japanese Emperor having ruled with extended monarchical powers, combined with claims of divinity (photographed 1926).

In Japan, the ruler in Yamato court was called "Tennō" (天皇) (heavenly emperor), which in Western languages is equivalent to Emperor of Japan. Like in early Western tradition, the highest position of secular power was combined with the highest religious office (comparable with the Roman Emperor also being pontifex maximus) and claims of godhood (see Arahitogami). In several eras, the high-priestly role of the monarch has even been paramount, with a no more than formal secular role.

Japanese monarchs placed themselves from 607 on equal footing with Chinese emperors in titulary, 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. Fairly long, a Shogun (formally the imperial generalissimo, but made hereditary) or Sessho and kampaku 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.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. By the end of the 20th century, Japan was the only country with an emperor on the throne.

In the early 21st century, Japan succession law prevents a female from ascending to the throne. However, with the birth of a daughter as the first child of the current Crown Prince, Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, Japan is Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan#marriage and family. Princess Kiko gave birth to a son on 6 September 2006, although it still uncertain if the young prince or Aiko will ascend the throne; however many believe the new prince of Japan will. 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 Shinto religion.

Vietnam Although the Vietnamese rulers acknowledged the supremacy of China, and were known to the Chinese emperors as simply King of Annam, domestically they took on a full Chinese-style imperial regalia in 1806 and have inconsistently used the title hoang de for a millennium though many were raised to that status posthumously so as not to antagonize relations with China. Axis powers-occupied Vietnam was declared an empire by the Japanese in March 1945. The line of emperors came to an end with Bao Dai, who was deposed after the war, although he later served as head of state of South Vietnam from 1949 to 1955.

Korea Some early List of Korean monarchs of Korea, often considered to be legendary, used the title Danje (단제, 檀帝: Dan meaning "birch", je meaning "emperor"). The rulers of Goguryeo and Silla used the title of Taewang (태왕,太王), literally translated as the Greatest of the Kings but often corrupted to signify emperor. Some early List of Korean monarchs of Korea, often considered to be legendary, used the title tanje (단제, 檀帝: tan meaning "birch", je meaning "emperor"). The rulers of Goguryeo and Silla used the title of Taewang (태왕,太王), literally translated as the Greatest of the Kings but often korean style expression to signify emperor.

Rulers of the Goryeo kingdom (from Gwangjong of Goryeo onward) took the title of emperor as a means of enhancing the prestige of the monarchy. The title was relinquished in the 13th century, however, after the agreement of peace with the Mongols, when the Korean rulers were pressured into use the title of Kings and, as such, tributary ally of Kublai Khan's China-based Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1276 - 1368). The full style of the ruler (27 March 1393 - 7 January 1895, Joseon Dynasty was: Jusang Jeonha "His Majesty", Joseon Dynasty Guk-wang, "King of the Realm of Joseon".

Following the Chinese defeat by Japan in 1895, Korea declared its total independence from China (see Treaty of Shimonoseki) and King Gojong of Joseon took the title of Daehan Hwangje, translated as 'Emperor of the Great Names of Korea'. Yeonho=Nyonho (연호, 年號, era names, a very strong indication of sovereignty vis-à-vis imperial China), were adopted on 1 January 1896.

The full style of the ruler (7 January 1895 - 12 October 1897) was : Taegunju P'yeha ("His Majesty the Great Monarch"), Joseon Guk-wang "King of the Joseon State"; In the Korean Empire, since 12 October 1897, the full imperial style was Daehan Hwangje ("Emperor of Korean Empire").

Persian tradition The titles below originate from the Persian titles shahanshah (king of kings) and padishah (great king). Mutual accreditation between the following monarchs and European emperors began in the 1600s. It began when the Ottoman rulers claim to being Caesars of Rome (Kayser-i-Rûm) were snubbed by the Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, and Spain (whose kings had inherited the title in pretence from Andreas Palaiologos), see translatio imperii. They colluded with envious French kings to mutually recognize each other as emperors, beginning a convention.

Iran In Iran, 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 basiloon to Greek. It is also known that Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia, was named as the king of kings when he ma

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