Two emperor problem
The two emperor problem characterizes the contradiction between the universal claim of the empire , according to which the idea there was only one emperor, and the real fact that several people claimed this title for themselves. In a narrower sense, it describes the dispute that arose after the imperial coronation of Charlemagne by the Pope in 800 between the western empire established in this way and the emperors of the Byzantine Empire .
Emperor in the Eastern and Western Roman Empire
Despite its actually universal character, even in the late ancient Roman Empire it was not uncommon for a Roman emperor to make another person, often a relative, co-emperor. In some cases, differences in rank were preserved in that the higher rank reserved the title Augustus , while the co-emperor received the title Caesar . But Diocletian went so far that, with the aim of better governability of the huge empire, he introduced a system of tetrarchy in which there were two Augusti and two Caesares. This detailed system of four emperors was lost in a series of civil wars after Diocletian's resignation (see dissolution of the Roman tetrarchy ), so that the sole rule of individual emperors prevailed again. The rule of multiple emperors remained common and became the rule after the division of the empire in 395 , with one emperor in the Western Roman and one in the Eastern Roman Empire. In 480, the last legitimate Western Roman emperor Julius Nepos was assassinated, and in 476 the last usurper of the imperial title on the Italian peninsula was deposed by Odoacer , who explained to the remaining emperor in Constantinople that there was no need for an emperor in the west. In the east, on the other hand, the empire continued to exist, in principle until the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, whereby it has become common in modern times to refer to this empire with the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages no longer as the Eastern Roman, but as the Byzantine Empire . This is not least due to the fact that in the post-Justinian period the Greek superseded the Latin in Constantinople and the imperial title was now accordingly basileus instead of Augustus . However, the Byzantine Empire always saw itself as the “Roman Empire” and emphasized the continuity of the empire by understanding itself as the emperor of the “Romanians”, ie the Romans.
The Carolingian Empire
A new situation arose with the rise of the Frankish Empire under the Carolingians . They had been closely connected to the papacy since Pippin's coronation in 751 and, thanks to the conquests of Charlemagne, they were undisputed rulers over large parts of the West. The coronation of Charles as emperor on December 25, 800 by Pope Leo III. appeared there only as a logical consequence, especially since it happened that in the year 797 in the Byzantine Empire Irene her son Constantine VI. deposed and murdered and since then has had the title of imperial himself. But since the Pope was of the opinion that women were not entitled to use the imperial title, he regarded the imperial office as vacant and declared Karl the rightful holder of the title. Charles's full title was: Serenissimus Augustus a deo coronatus magnus, pacificus, imperator romanum gubernans imperium, qui et per misericordiam dei rex Francorum et Langobardorum , that is: most gracious, exalted, God-crowned, great, peace-bringing emperor who ruled the Roman Empire , through God's mercy also King of the Franks and Longobards . The differences of opinion with Byzantium were formally settled in the Treaty of Aachen in 812 by the fact that Karl Imperator was allowed to designate himself without an addition that would have identified him as emperor "of the Romans", while Michael I , who was now ruling in Byzantium, had the title Βασιλεὺς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ( Basileus tôn Rhômaion ), so "Emperor of the Romans" was allowed to claim. In fact, this resulted in the abandonment of the universal claim and the recognition of two emperors. In 927 the Byzantine Emperor Romanos I also recognized the Bulgarian Tsar Peter I as being of equal rank. In addition, the western empire used since Otto III. the title “exalted emperor of the Romans” ( Romanorum imperator augustus ) as a chancellery norm, since then the title addition “the Romans” has been used in the Holy Roman Empire .
The Byzantine Empire until 1453
With the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 ( Fourth Crusade ), the so-called Latin Empire was established without the Greek emperors, who had to relocate their seat to Nicaia or Trebizond , having renounced their imperial title; In addition to the occidental emperor, there were now - until the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261 - three holders of the title. After the Byzantine Empire finally collapsed in 1453, the Grand Dukes of Moscow saw themselves as its “orthodox” heirs and consequently also took over the imperial title in the form of “ Tsar of Russia”.
European empires of modern times
In modern times, the occidental empire actually changed more and more to an empire of the Germans, especially since the coronation by the pope after Charles V was waived. In principle, however, the Habsburgs also retained the universal character. A new situation arose, however, through the expansion of France under Napoleon , who in 1804 gained the title of Emperor of the French. As the end of the Holy Roman Empire was looming, its last Emperor Franz II decided in the same year to accept the title of Emperor of Austria and in 1806 to resign from the office of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. This made it finally clear that the idea of a universal empire and the title was only to be understood as a kind of honorary title, which raised its bearer above the bearer of the royal title, but otherwise could no longer justify "world domination". This also corresponds to the fact that the rulers of China , the Ottoman Empire and finally also countries like Annam , Brazil , Haiti , India , Japan , Korea , Mexico and Persia were granted the imperial title. The proclamation of the Hohenzollern as German emperors in 1871 was ideally linked to the empire that fell in 1806, but was in fact a national, not a universal empire.
literature
- Hans Hubert Anton : two emperor problem . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 9, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-89659-909-7 , Sp. 720-723.
- Werner Ohnsorge: The two emperor problem in the early Middle Ages . Hildesheim 1947.
- Peter Thorau: From Charlemagne to the Peace of Zsitva Torok. On Sultan Mehmed II's claim to world domination and the resurgence of the two emperor problem after the conquest of Constantinople. In: Historische Zeitschrift , Volume 279, 2004, Issue 2.
- M. Köhbach: Casar or imperator? - On the Titulature of the Roman Emperors by the Ottomans after the Treaty of Zsitvatorok (1606). In: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes , Volume 82, 1992 (1993), pp. 223-234.