Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title
was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably Republican France
before the Napoleonic counter-revolution.
The relating adjective is consular, from the Latin consularis (which has been used, substantiated, as a title in
its own right).
Ancient Rome
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Other uses in antiquity
Other city states
While in many cities (as in Gaul) there was a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or
native styles such as Meddix, but in some Consul was used.
Private sphere
It was not uncommon for various organisations under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state and city institutions
for its own statutory agents (the very founding statute or contract was also called lex, 'law')
In Feudal times
In various Italian city states, the republican regimes (elsewhere or in other periods, the Bishop or a hereditary Prince or
Lord was in charge) gave its Chief Magistrates the title of consul ... Thus there have
been governments lead by consuls in Bologna, Novara (with one Maggiore as head of state),
Trani, Treviso.
The same happened in some cities in France, especially in the Mediterranean south, e.g. Avignon, Limoges.
Modern republics
French republican consuls
In 1799, revolutionary France enacted a constitution that
conferred supreme executive powers upon three officials that bore the title "consul" as chief magistracy of the republic.
In reality, however, the state was de facto under personal control of the First Consul,
general Napoleon Bonaparte, so in political terms it was more like a re-edition of
Julius Caesar's and Octavian's triumvirates.
Originally the consuls were to hold office for a period of ten years, but in 1802 Bonaparte was declared First Consul for
life (lifetime consulate was introduced for Second and Third Consuls as well), again rather like Caesar was Dictator for life
(after declining the royal style). The French consulate ceased to exist when Bonaparte was declared Emperor of the French in 1804.
Roman republican consuls
Since on 15 February 1798 - 23
June 1800 the Roman Republic was
declared, it was headed by multiple (not just two-member) consulate, which 27 November
1798 - 12 December 1798 occupied
by "Sicily" (Naples); since 11 July 1799 - 28 September 1799 the republic was occupied by France, 30 September 1799 - 23 June 1800 occupied by "Sicily" (i.e. the kingdom of Naples), later one of the home-realms of the Italian kingdom.
The members of the Consulates were:
- 15 February 1798 - 20
March 1798 there were Provisional Consuls: Briganti, Carlo Luigi Costantini, Pio Camillo,
duca Bonelli-Crescenzi, Gioacchino Pessuti, Antonio Bassi & Maggi, Stampa & Liborio Angelucci
- 20 March 1798 - September 1798 the first regular Consuls:
Liborio Angelucci, Giacomo De Mattheis, Panazzi, Reppi & Ennio Quirino Visconti
- September 1798 - 27 November 1798 again Consuls: Brigi
(1st time), Calisti (1st time), Francesco Pierelli (1st time), Giuseppe Rey (1st time) & Federico Maria Domenico Michele
Zaccaleoni (1st time) (b. 1760 - d. 18..)
- After the 29 November 1798 - 12 December 1798 Provisional Government of five (Princes Giambattista
Borghese, Paolo-Maria Aldobrandini & Prince Gibrielli, Marchese Camillo Massimo & Giovanni Ricci), the 12 December 1798 - 24 July 1799 Consuls: Brigi (2nd time), Calisti (2nd time), Francesco Pierelli (2nd time), Giuseppe Rey (2nd time),
Federico Maria Domenico Michele Zaccaleoni (2nd time)
Bolognese Republic
The short-lived Bolognese Republic, proclaimed in 1796 as a French client republic in the Central Italian city of
Bologna, had a government consisting of nine consuls and its head of state was the Presidente
del Magistrato, i.e. Chief magistrate, a presiding office held for four months by
one of the consuls. As noted above, Bologna already had Consuls at some parts of its Medieval history.
Paraguay
In between series of juntas (and various other short-lived regimes), the young republic was governed by Consuls of the
Republic in power (2 consuls alternating in power every 4 months):
After a few Presidents of the Provisional Junta, there were again Consuls of the Republic, 14
March 1841 - 13 March 1844
(ruling jointly, but occasionally styled First Consul, Second Consul): Carlos Antonio López Ynsfrán (b. 1792 - d. 1862) + Mariano
Roque Alonzo Romero (d. 1853) (the lasts of the aforemenioned juntistas, Commandant-General of the Army) Thereafter all republcan
rulers were styled President
Revolutionary Greece
Among the many petty local republics that were formed during the first year of the Greek Revolution, prior to the creation of a unified Provisional Government at the
First National Assembly at Epidaurus, were:
Note: in Greek, the term for "consul" is "ypatos", which translates as "supreme
one", and hence does not necessarily imply a joint office.
See also
Sources and references
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