Of ‘emperor’ and ‘kaiser’

The Roman empire had a strong influence on the western world. Even today its presence can be felt from the USA to Russia and from England to Tunisia. Yet, this is a story not about law, architecture, culture or some other typically Romanesque subject; it is about where the medieval world got its rulers’ titles.

The Emperor

The history of the title ‘emperor’ lies in the power of the Roman consul. What we today call a prime minister is somewhat comparable to a consul. In the Roman republic there were always two consuls, so one could keep the other in check. After all, if nothing else Romans detested tyranny#{a tyrant is one ruler with too much power, not necessarily an evil dictator like we understand the term today.}.

A consul’s most important power was imperium, or the right to command armies, uphold law and rule over citizens. Imperium could be limited to a certain region_—say, Gaul—and it could be overruled by equal or higher authority—say, that of the other consul. The term imperium is where the English-speaking world got the word emperor from, meaning so much as an absolute ruler.

That is a nice story, but the background of the terms Kaiser and Czar is much better.

The Kaiser and Czar

A consul could, in times of crisis, be declared dictator by senate, which would give him more or less absolute power for a limited amount of time. Julius Caesar was, quite exceptionally, named dictator for life in 45 BC after the republic had suffered under civil war for many years. Although Caesar was not the first to be dictator without limits#{conservative general Sulla had been named dictator for an unspecified amount of time, but he voluntarily stepped down when he felt he finished his job} he was the first to live up to it—he was murdered in 44 BC by conservative senators.

Caesar had been very popular with the Roman people and his death sparked yet another civil war whose victor (or ‘last man standing’) would become the first proper Roman emperor: Augustus, the (adopted) son of Caesar. Under Augustus the empire entered a new era of peace and stability and Romans have always looked back upon the age of Caesar and Augustus as a golden age.

We now call Augustus a Roman emperor, but the Latin term used at the time was ‘Caesar’. A name had become a title and it would remain in use for all emperors to come, just as ‘Augustus’#{’Augustus’ was a title by itself; his original name was Octavian.}. As time progressed the (Western) Roman empire fell and all over Europe new kingdoms rose that all looked back on Rome with great admiration. New rulers tried to project Roman majesty by adopting the emperor’s title, Caesar. Over time the spelling changed, but the phonetics probably haven’t: the [German emperor's] called themselves Kaiser. Ivan the Terrible, in Russia, called himself Czar of Russia. The title ‘Augustus’ was also used, for example by Charlemagne.

The title of Caesar was last carried by Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, Kaiser Franz-Josef of Austria-Hungary and Czar Nicolas II of Russia, who were all gone after the First World War. The title of ‘Caesar’ had lived to be 2,000 years old—a very respectable age.