In fact, in the early Roman Empire, the word "emperor" was rarely used to address the monarch, and it was generally called "Caesar" or "Augustus" (in Hadrian's period, "Caesar" was also used to address the emperor's heir). Until now, "emperor" and "Caesar" in German and Russian are still the same root ("czar" means "Caesar"). It was not until Diocletian came to power that Latin "emperor" became popular and became the general title of Roman monarch.
The first emperor in Europe was Octavian, the "first citizen" of the Roman Senate (although the title of "emperor" was not popular at that time). Theoretically, since then all the emperors in Europe have inherited the Roman crown handed down by Octavian, otherwise it is illegal. So, let's look at the imperial crown that started with Octavian, and then who handed it down? How many families and empires have been fortunate enough to have the supreme title of "Emperor"?
From Octavian to Diocletian, although the center of the empire moved eastward, Rome was still the capital of the empire in name. After Diocletian ascended the throne, "the four emperors ruled together", and Rome was not among the four capitals of the empire at all, which showed that the Roman Empire began to lose its centripetal force and unified political foundation. At the end of the 4th century AD, the Roman Empire was officially divided into the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) and the Western Roman Empire (Roman Empire in a narrow sense), and the "double-headed eagle" symbolizing the division became the national emblem of the empire. In this way, Europe has two legal emperor systems. Among them, the Western Roman Empire quickly perished in the 5th century, and no one succeeded to the throne. The emperor system in eastern Rome was maintained until 1453 when it was wiped out by the Turks.
After the demise of the Western Roman Empire, Western Europe experienced a period of "no crown". Although the power of the Frankish Kingdom was very strong, and powerful monarchs like Clovis and Pippin were born, they were "kings" after all, and they were local monarchs who inherited the barbarian legal system, rather than "European co-owners" who inherited the Roman legal system. It was not until 800 AD that the Frankish King Charles was crowned by the Pope in the Roman Cathedral, and the Pope declared him "Roman Emperor" and "Augustus", ending the history of Western Europe without an emperor for more than 300 years. "Emperor of Rome" is not only an honorary title, it means that Charlie is the legal heir of the Roman Empire, and the rights and obligations of the Roman Empire have been transferred to Charlie and his heirs. The western Roman emperor system, which has long been extinct, is now re-established by Charlie.
However, Charlie's empire soon split, and the title of emperor was inherited by Charlie's grandson "Bald Charlie", who was the king of Central Frank. The Frankish kingdom continued to split, and the imperial power fell into the hands of a group of little princes in northern Italy, losing its sanctity. It was not until A.D. 1 1 century that Otto, a nobleman born in East Frank (now Germany), took the crown from the Pope again and announced the establishment of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German nation". From then on, until the beginning of19th century, the emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire" was the nominal co-owner of Europe, and all monarchs of other countries were not entitled to claim titles, but were nominally subject to the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory of the Holy Roman Empire includes today's Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, northern Italy, eastern France, the Netherlands, Belgium and other regions, but this empire is composed of many feudal territories, which is very unstable, and the emperor has no supreme authority at all. /kloc-After 0/3rd century, the emperor was no longer hereditary, but was elected by "seven electors" such as the King of Bohemia (Czech Republic), Archbishop of Cologne, Herzogtum Von Sachsen and Brandenburg. From the16th century, the Habsburg family from Austria gradually controlled the position of the emperor, and "election" became a form. Since the demise of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453, there is only one legitimate emperor left in Europe, that is, the holy Roman emperor from the Habsburg family.
The demise of the Eastern Roman Empire gave Russia, which is also an Orthodox Church, an opportunity to take advantage of it. Ivan IV, the Grand Duke of Moscow, at the strong suggestion of Orthodox priests, decided to appear as the "heir of the Eastern Roman Empire", calling Moscow the "third Rome" and calling himself the "tsar" (Caesar), and changed it to "emperor" (but still commonly known as "tsar") during the period of Peter the Great. This is also the fourth empire born in European history (the first three are the Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire respectively), although the Russian Empire. So legally speaking, the crown of the tsar still comes from the Roman Empire.
From the above historical events, we can see that until the18th century, the title of "Emperor" was inseparable from the Roman Empire, and only the inheritors of the spirit of the Roman Empire were qualified to be called "Emperor". /kloc-The most powerful monarch in Europe in the 0/8th century was Louis XIV, the "sun king", but he never thought of calling himself the "emperor" because the French throne had nothing to do with the Roman Empire, and there was the only legitimate emperor in Western Europe at that time-the Holy Roman Emperor. But when Napoleon came to power in the early19th century, the situation was quite different. Napoleon called the Pope to Paris and asked him to crown himself, calling himself "the emperor of France"-this is the first time that the title of the emperor has been separated from the word "Rome" in the past 2000 years. But Napoleon quickly dissolved the Holy Roman Empire and cancelled the title of "Emperor" of the Habsburg family. In fact, he also wants to create the impression that the French emperor is orthodox in Europe, and this "orthodoxy" is also inseparable from Rome. Why else did Napoleon insist that the Pope crown himself and name his son "King of Rome"?
Napoleon's empire only existed for more than ten years, but Napoleon set a precedent for claiming the throne, and those monarchs who had nothing to do with the Roman throne were also ready to claim the throne. After the fall of Napoleon, the Habsburg family couldn't wait to call themselves "emperors" again, but by this time the holy Roman Empire had perished and the Habsburg family had to be renamed "Austrian emperors". Britain has nothing to do with the Roman throne, and its democratic tradition does not allow its monarch to call himself "the emperor". However, since India has become a British colony, the British monarch has been renamed as "King of England and Emperor of India", on an equal footing with the Habsburg and Romanov families. From 65438 to 0849, Napoleon's nephew louis bonaparte usurped the French regime and established the "Second Empire of France", claiming to inherit the legal system of Napoleon's empire. In this way, there are three and a half emperors in Europe at the same time-the Austrian emperor, the French emperor, the Russian emperor, the British king and the Indian emperor (half each), which is the most in history.
187 1 year The German Empire was the last empire in European history. The kingdom of Prussia has successively defeated Denmark, Austria and France, becoming the most powerful country on the European continent. William I was crowned German Emperor at Versailles. Although the German Empire was built on the ruins of Austria and France, the Prussians did not think that their throne was "seized" from Austria or France, but proudly claimed that they were the successors of the "Holy Roman Empire", so this empire was also called the "Second Empire", echoing Hitler's "Third Empire" at a distance. Although the German Empire considered itself the authentic heir of the Roman Empire, they did not abolish the Austrian throne, but the French Empire was overthrown by the revolution. Europe still maintained the status of "three and a half emperors" until World War I, when three empires were overthrown one after another.
(Note: Domestic translators often refer to Arabia, Ottoman and even Britain as "empires", which is not accurate. Arab monarchs call themselves "caliphs", that is, "heirs of the prophet"; Ottoman monarch calls himself "Sudan", that is, "military chief"; Although Britain occasionally calls itself an "empire", the king of England is only the emperor of India, not the whole of Great Britain. They are not "emperors" in the strict sense.