Translatio imperii

Translatio imperii, Latin for "transfer of rule", is a concept invented in the Middle Ages for describing history as a linear succession of transfers of imperium, that is of supreme power concentrated with a series of single rulers (emperors).

Origin

The idea originates in Jewish eschatology during the Hellenistic era, with the "four empires" in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar as narrated in the Book of Daniel, chapter 2. In the story, Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream for him to the effect his own empire "of gold" would be followed by three further empires, of silver, bronze and iron, respectively, followed by a divided empire partially of "iron" and partially of "clay", leading up to the end times.

In the interpretation of Jerome, the four empires were Babylonia, Persia, Greece and Rome, with the division of the Roman empire into West Rome and East Rome the final stage preceding the end of the world. During the Middle Ages, the duration of the fourth empire had to be extended to the present in order to salvage the validity of the prophecy. This was done by declaring the empire established by the Carolingians the "Holy Roman Empire", i.e. a continuation of the fourth and final empire.

Definition

Jacques Le Goff^[1] describes the "translatio imperii" concept as typical for the Middle Ages for several reasons: the idea of linearity of time and history was typical for the Middle Ages; the "translatio imperii" idea typically also neglected simultaneous developments in other parts of the world (of no importance to medieval Europeans); the "translatio imperii" idea didn't separate divine history from the history of worldly power: medieval Europeans considered divine (supernatural) and material things as part of the same continuum, which was their "reality". Also the causality of one reign necessarily leading to its successor was often detailed by the medieval chroniclers, and is seen as a typical medieval approach.

Not surprisingly, each medieval author described the "translatio imperii" as a succession leaving the supreme power in the hands of the monarch ruling the region of the author's provenance:

• Otto of Freising (living in German region): Rome → Byzantium → Franks → Longobards → Germans (=Holy Roman Empire);
• Chrétien de Troyes (living in medieval France): Greece → Rome → France^[2]
• Richard de Bury (England, 14th century): "Athens" (Greece) → Rome → "Paris" (France) → England

Medieval and Renaissance authors often linked this transfer of power by genealogically attaching a ruling family to an ancient Greek or Trojan hero; this schema was modeled on Virgil's use of Aeneas (a Trojan hero) as mythic founder of the city of Rome in his Aeneid. Continuing with this tradition, the twelfth-century anglo-Norman authors Geoffrey of Monmouth (in his Historia Regum Britanniae) and Wace (in his Brut) linked the founding of Britain to the arrival of Brutus of Troy, son of Aeneas. In a similar way, the French Renaissance author Jean Lemaire de Belges (in his Les Illustrations de Gaule et Singularités de Troie) linked the founding of Celtic Gaul to the arrival of the Trojan "Francus" (i.e. Astyanax), the son of Hector; and of Celtic Germany to the arrival of "Bavo", the cousin of Priam; in this way he established an illustrious genealogy for Pepin and Charlemagne (the legend of "Francus" would also serve as the basis for Ronsard's epic poem, "La Franciade").

See also

• Imperium
• Empire
• Divine right of kings
• Dei Gratia
• Translatio studii - (Latin: transfer of learning) - the geographic movement of learning
• Legacy of the Roman Empire
• New Rome
• Third Rome
• Sumerian king list - has the notion of "kingship" as handed down by the gods, and subsequently transferred from one city to another.

References