EMPIRE (OF., Fr. empire, from bat. im perium, power, from iwperarc, to command). The territory and people whose sovereign bears the title, of emperor or empress; a title which, since the time of Julius Usesar, implies the pos session of monarchical power in its highest form. The Roman Empire, from A.D. 395, was divided into two parts, one of which was ruled from Rome, the other from Constantinople. The Em pire of the West succumbed to the onslaught of the Germanic nations in 476, while the Eastern or Byzantine Empire survived until 145:3. Charles the Great, King of the Franks, was crowned Emperor at Rome by Pope Leo Ill.. in 800, thus nominally reviving the Empire of the West, and the title of Emperor of the Romans continued to be borne by his successors for nearly a century. About fifty years after the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty in Germany, the Ger man King, Otto the Great, after conquering the Lombard crown, had himself crowned Emperor by the Pope at Rome in 962, from which year dates the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, frequently spoken of simply as the 'Em pire.' From Otto's time there was an unbroken
succession of elected German kings, who assumed the rank and right of emperors and were ac knowledged as such by the Church. After the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, the Empire Was reduced to a mere federation of principalities, which came to an end in 1806, to be revived in I815 as the Germanic Confederation. In 1S7I the German States, with the exclusion of Aus tria, were consituted an empire. the dignity of German Emperor being made hereditary in the royal dynasty of Prussia. In addition to the three empires of Christendom—Germany. Aus tria-Hungary, and Russia—the Turkish. Chinese, and Japanese realms are spoken of as empires. while the King of England bears the title of Emperor of India. Previous to 18S9 Brazil was an empire. See EMPEROR; HOLY ROMAN Em• PIKE; GERMANY.