EMPIRE, EMPEROR (ante), denotes the territory and people whose sovereign bears the title of emperor or empress; a title which, since the time of Julius Cuesar, implies the possession of monarchial power in its highest form. During the middle ages and until a comparatively recent period the " Empire" in its strictest sense meant the "holy Roman empire" founded by Cmsar and Augustus, the last remnant of which was lost in 1806, when Francis II. of Hapsburg, archduke of Austria and king of Hungary and Bohemia, resigned his inherited imperial title and assumed that of emperor of Austria alone. The Roman empire, from A.D. 395, was divided into two parts, one of which was ruled from Rome, the other from Constantinople. In theory, however, the two were held to be parts of one empire, divided only for greater convenience of administration. This was fiction rather than fact, for the two parts were in perpetual conflict. An attempt to restore the unity of the two under Charlemagne, who in 800 was crowned emperor at Rome by pope Leo III., proved
abortive- Two hostile lines of emperors arose, each claiming to be the one true suc cession from Augustus and Constantine. The imperial title fell-]ow, until it was revived in the w. in 962 by Otto the great, from whose time there was an unbroken succession of German kings, who assumed the rank and right of emperors and were acknowledged as such by the church. Their power, however, did not extend beyond Germany and northern Italy, and it was hampered by many restrictions, which were aggravated as time went on, until after the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, when the empire was reduced to a mere federation of principalities and the imperial title became little better than a farce. The eastern empire was overthrown in 1453, when Constantinople was taken by the Turks. The empires now existing are those of Austria, Russia, Germany, Turkey, China, and Japan. The queen of England bears the title of empress of India.