EMPEROR (Or. empercor, Lat. imperator, 1).M. pert' t or, fmm lin pera re, to command, from in. in + purarr, to prepare). The original signifieation of this, which in the modern world bus become the highest title of sovereignty, can be understood only when it is iSkt'll in eonjunc .. clith whiela in I be Roman poi iea Srt tem had a po•uliar and somewhat technical melt ing. The intperium of a ma gist rat e was lamer he possessed of bringing physical force into operation for the fulfillment of his is power was conferred by a. lex ritria hi, and it remiired this inithorizal ion to n eomml to pet lis the eminrumiler of an army. In the ease of the kings also, the ini perinm mas not implied in their election. lint conferred meparit by n ;partite vet of the national will. Now, it was in virtue of this imperium that the title imperator was given to its possessor. Far from being an emperor in the modern sense. he might be a consul or n pro consul; and there were, in fact, many impera tores, even after the title had been assumed as a prtenomen by Julius Caesar. It was this assump tion which gradually gave to the title its modern signification. In republican times, it had fol lowed the name, and indicated simply that its possessor was au imperator, or one possessed of the imperium; now it preceded it, and signified that he who arrogated it to himself was the em peror. In this form it appears on the coins of the
sucesso•s of Julius. After the times of the Antonines, the title grew into use as expressing the possessor of the sovereignty of the Roman world, in which sense p•inceps also was fre quently employed. The title of Emperor was used by the rulers of the Byzantine realm down to its extinction in 1453. From the emperors of the West, the title passed to Charlemagne, the founder of the German Empire. When the Caro lingian family expired in the German branch, the imperial crown became elective, and continued to he so till the Holy Roman Empire came to an end—Francis 11., who in 1804 had de clared himself hereditary Emperor of Austria, having laid it down in 180G. In addition to the Emperor of Austria, there are in Europe the Emperor of Russia and Emperor of Germany. In 1810 the Queen of England assumed the title of Empress of India. in addition to those which she bore previously. Sec EMPIRE.