British Emperor
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Although in the past the style of British Emperor has been (retroactively) applied to a few mythical and historical rulers of Britain or Great Britain, it is sometimes used as a colloquialism to designate either Plantagenet and Tudor caesaropapism or, more frequently, the British sovereign during the period of the British Raj.
[edit] Mythical British Kings
Mythical British ruler, King Arthur, is referred to in medieval Welsh texts as ameraudur (meaning 'Emperor').
[edit] Roman Caesars and Emperors ruling in Britain
- See also: Roman Britain
Before the Imperial form of rule came into existence in Rome, Julius Caesar conquered (a part of) Britain, in 55 BC, and again in 54 BC. Soon thereafter Romans were chased from the British isles.
Roman imperial rule started with Emperor Claudius' conquest in 43 AD and ended around 410. By 425 at the latest all Roman influence had withered on the British isles.[1]
[edit] Claudius
- See also Claudius#Expansion of the empire and Britannicus
Claudius became the first emperor ruling over Britain, as he re-conquered parts of Britain for the Romans in 43. As a result the Roman senate wanted to bestow him the cognomen Britannicus. The emperor refused, and gave this cognomen to his two year old son by Messalina. This son, hence known by the name Britannicus, did however not live to adulthood (he died in 55), and never became Emperor.
[edit] Hadrian
- See also Hadrian#Britannia
Emperor Hadrian is especially remembered on the British isles for Hadrian's Wall, built in the 120s and 130s.[1]
[edit] Emperors using Britannicus as an honorific
Several Roman Emperors used Britannicus (Maximus) as an honorific:
[edit] Britannic Empire (late 3rd century)
In the late 3rd century, by the end of the epoch of the barracks emperors in Rome, there were two Britannic Emperors, reigning for about a decade:
[edit] Constantine dynasty
Constantius Chlorus, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire (reigned 305-306) was the father of Constantine I (reigned 306-337). Despite claims in Geoffrey of Monmouth's late medieval pseudo-historical Historia Regum Britanniae there seems to be no evidence that Constantine's mother descended from native British rulers.
[edit] Imperial ambitions 930 - 1066
Kings of England displayed imperial ambition in the period from 930 to 1066:[2][3]
- Athelstan (c.895 – 939) was a collector of imperial relics had himself proclaimed "imperator" in 930, six years after the death of the last Carolingian emperor. His successors adopted increasingly grander imperial titles until the Norman conquest in 1066. Because there was no set title, the monarchs styled themselves as they please which peaked with Ethelred the Unready. The most common imperial appendage was basileus but imperator, princeps, augustus, and caesar were all used sporadically.
- Canute the Great (994/995 – 1035): according to his biographer Canute ruled as an emperor over the lands he acquired (Denmark, England and Norway).
[edit] Norman Era: Empress Maud (Matilda)
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For more details on this topic, see Empress Matilda.
In this case the epithet "Empress" was rather used to distinguish this person from other royals called Matilda or Maud. Matilda was not Empress of Britain - she took her title from her previous marriage to Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.
[edit] The "Imperium Maius" issue
Although several English monarchs flirted with the idea of "imperial" power, this never led to an official change of the title of "King/Queen" to that of "Emperor/Empress".
[edit] Imperium maius
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For more details on this topic, see Caesaropapism.
In Christian Europe the use of the title emperor was more than an affectation. A king recognises that the church is an equal or superior in the religious sphere, emperors do not. This was illustrated by Henry VIII of England who started to use the word imperium in his dispute with Pope Clement VII over the annulment of his first marriage. The distinction began to blur when kings began to claim divine rights.
[edit] English kings and the imperium maius
King William I of England thought it important enough to request and get a Papal blessing for his conquest of England. Richard I of England refused to show deference to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor when held prisoner by him, declaring "I am born of a rank which recognizes no superior but God". After Henry I agreed to the Concordat of London in 1107 the English kings recognised the supremacy of the Pope in matters spiritual. For example, when Thomas Becket was murdered, King Henry II of England was forced to recognise that, although he ruled temporal matters, spiritual matters came under the authority of the Church in Rome.
This changed with the dispute between Henry VIII of England and Pope Clement VII over Henry's wish to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled. The Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533) explicitly stated that
- Where by divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this realm of England is an empire, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one supreme head and king, having the dignity and royal estate of the imperial crown of the same.[4]
The next year the First Act of Supremacy (1534) explicitly tied the head of church to the imperial crown:
- The only supreme head in earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia, and shall have and enjoy annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm.[5]
The Crown of Ireland Act, passed by the Irish Parliament in 1541, (effective 1542) changed the traditional title used by the Monarchs of England for the reign over Ireland, from Lord of Ireland to King of Ireland and naming Henry head of the Church of Ireland, for similar reasons.
During the reign of Mary Tudor the First Act of Supremacy was annulled, but during the reign of Elizabeth I the Second Act of Supremacy, with simiar wording to the First Act, was passed in 1559. During the English Interregnum the laws were annulled, but the acts which caused the laws to be in abeyance were themselves, deemed to be null and void by the Parliaments of the English Restoration, so by act of Parliament The Crown of England and (later the British and UK crowns) are imperial crowns.
[edit] George III rejects the idea of being called Emperor
In 1801 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created after the merging of the British and Irish parliaments. It was suggested that George III be declared Emperor of this new union, and therefore become Emperor of the growing British Empire.
Both the title of Emperor of the British and Irish and of Emperor of the British and Hanoverian Dominions were proposed as a replacement for the title of King.
George III rejected the idea of being called "Emperor", believing that tradition should be upheld.
[edit] British monarchs with the title Emperor/Empress of India (1877-1947)
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For more details on this topic, see Emperor of India.
When a royal marriage made it obvious to the British in 1877 that their Queen Victoria would be outranked by her own daughter who would someday become German Empress, the British government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, 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 George VI with effect from August 15, 1947, when India was granted independence.
The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 in which it was agreed that the United Kingdom and the dominions were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". This in effect along with the Statute of Westminster, 1931 marked the beginning of the end of the British Empire and set the basis for the continuing relationship between the Commonwealth Realms and the structure of the Crown.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Overview: Roman Britain, 43 - 410 AD by Neil Faulkner, BBC website, 2006-09-06.
- ^ Stubbs, William. Constitutional History of England. Oxford, 1903. Vol.1,Ch.7,Pg.195
- ^ Le Goff, Jacques. La civilisation de l'Occident médieval. Paris. 1964; English translation (1988): Medieval Civilization, ISBN 0-631-17566-0 – these three medieval monarchs are discussed in Part II, Chapter VIII.
- ^ The opening words of the Act in restraint of Appeals, 1533
- ^ Excerpt from The Act of Supremacy (1534)
