| Part of thePolitics series | ||||||||
| Basic forms ofgovernment | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| List of forms ·List of countries | ||||||||
Source of power | ||||||||
Power ideology
| ||||||||
 Politics portal | ||||||||
Acoregency is the situation where amonarchical position (such asprince,princess,king, queen,emperor or empress), normally held by only a single person, is held by two or more. It is distinct fromdiarchies or duumvirates (such asAndorra, ancientSparta andRome), where monarchical power is permanently divided between two rulers; and also fromregencies, where a person, who is not legally monarch themselves, exercises monarchical power on the behalf of reigning monarch who is absent or unable to rule (for example due to illness or young age).
Coregencies were common in theHellenistic period; according to one scholar, they "can usually be explained as a means of avoiding crises of succession or internal conflict, and of strengthening dynastic identity and ideology."[1] Other examples include the coregency ofFrederick I of Austria andLouis the Bavarian over theKingdom of Germany.Jure uxoris kings in kingdoms such asPortugal andSpain are also found (Ferdinand V andIsabella I of Castile,Philip I andJoanna of Castile,Peter III andMaria I of Portugal, etc.). InNavarre, the husbands of queens regnant were styled as co-rulers.[citation needed]
 | This sectionmay containoriginal research. Pleaseimprove it byverifying the claims made and addinginline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.(April 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
InAncient Egypt, coregency was quite problematic as thePharaoh was seen as the incarnation/representation of the god Horus. Therefore, according to the divine order Ma'at, only one King could exist at the same time. Yet, exceptions can be found, mainly in the Middle Kingdom, where the pharaoh occasionally appointed his successor (often one of his sons) as coregent, or joint king, to ensure a smooth succession. “This system was used, from at least as early as the Middle Kingdom, in order to ensure that the transfer of power took place with the minimum of disruption and instability”.[2] Coregencies are highly probable forAmenemhat I >Senusret I >Amenemhat II >Senusret II.[3] Most probably the real king in power was the older one (father) adopting the younger ruler (son), while the co-regent had to wait until after the death of the older one to really have access to full royal power. Yet, the years of reigns normally were counted from the beginning of the coregency on. Due to this and to the fragmentary character of known sources, the establishment ofEgyptian chronology was quite complicated and remains disputed up to date. Yet, understanding the existence of co-regency reduced the chaos quite a lot.
The institution of coregency is different from that ofregency, where an adult person (in Ancient Egypt often the mother of the king) functions asLegal guardian, ruling in the name of the underage king. Some of the female regents of Egypt rose to a status of equal to the God-Kings, becoming co-rulers as can be seen in the famous case ofHatshepsut. After the death of her husbandThutmose II, Hatshepsut ruled in the name ofThutmose III, her nephew and stepson. Then, latest in year 7[4] ofThutmose III's reign, she took overroyal regalia and was thentitled King of Egypt under the Throne name (prenomen)Maatkare. For later periods of Pharaonic Egyptian history, the existence of the institution of coregency has been put into question by Egyptologists,[5] while, "thePtolemaic andRoman period examples being the most securely identified".[2]
In Hellenized Egypt during thePtolemaic period,Arsinoe II was given the title ofnswt-bjtj, which is usually translated as "King of Upper and Lower Egypt". Later royal wives likeBerenice II,Arsinoe III andCleopatra I Syra got were given the feminine form of the pharaohnic titulary of their husbands, including "female Horus", "female pharaoh" and "female ruler", which is sometimes interpreted as a sign of coregency with their spouses.[6][7] However, neither of them appear as formal co-ruler in official protocols mentioning their husbands's regnal years.[8]
Official coregency between two royal spouses, when both were named as co-rulers inHellenistic administration of the country, was for the first time introduced whenCleopatra II was named asco-ruler alongside her brothers:Ptolemy VI (her husband) andPtolemy VIII Physcon.[9] After their reign, coregency continue in various forms, like simultaneous rule of siblings, spouses or parent and child, and it seems that from ideological point of view king was unable to rule without queen as his co-ruler, and likewise.[10]
Nominal co-rule duringPtolemaic period was documented between:[11]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(July 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In the bookThe Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings,Edwin R. Thiele proposed co-regency as a possible explanation for discrepancies in the dates given in theHebrew Bible for the reigns of the kings ofIsrael andJudah. At least one co-regency is explicitly documented in the Bible: the coronation ofKing Solomon occurred before the death of his fatherDavid.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(July 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
KingHenry II of England installed his eldest surviving son, also named Henry, as junior king.Henry the Young King was not permitted to exercise royal authority and his title as co-king was effectively asinecure to denote his status as his father's chosen heir. Young Henry predeceased his father without ever ascending to the throne and is not included in the officiallist of English monarchs.
TheMonarchy of England experienced joint rule under the terms of theact sanctioning the marriage ofMary I toPhilip II of Spain. Philip notionally reigned as king of England (inclusive ofWales) and Irelandby right of his wife from 1554 to 1558. Similarly, following theGlorious Revolution,Mary II and her husbandWilliam III held joint sovereignty over the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1688 to 1694.
Following the extinction of theCarolingian dynasty inWest Francia, the WesternFrankish nobles electedHugh Capet as their new king. Upon his ascension Hugh secured the election of his only sonRobert as his co-king.[12] As such, when Hugh died it did not trigger an election for a new king, nor did Robert necessarily "inherit" the crown, but simply continued his kingship. SubsequentCapetian kings would also name their eldest son or brother as co-ruler, until the tradition ofagnatic primogeniture was sufficiently established to transform theKing of France from anelected monarch to ahereditary one.[13]
Several Grand Dukes of Lithuania shared power with close relatives.
It is believed thatKęstutis was co-ruler alongside his brotherAlgirdas and then Algirdas's son,Jogaila, before turning against him in 1382.[14] The civil war between uncle and nephew ended with the former's death. After period of sole rule, Jogaila - being mostly absent from Lithuania after he had ascended the throne ofPoland - decided to name Kęstutis's sonVytautas as the Grand Duke in 1401, while remainingde iure dominant co-ruler as the Supreme Duke.[15][16]
Following Vytautas's death, other coregencies between Supreme Duke and hissubmonarch followed:
Władysław's disappearence duringbattle of Varna left Casimir as sole claimant to the Lithuanian throne and coregency ceased to be for almost century, untilSigismund the Old Jagiellon declared his sonSigismund Augustus the Grand Duke as his junior co-ruler in 1529.[24][25]
Following Augustus's death, his sisterAnna Jagiellon and her husbandStephen Báthory were elected by nobles as co-rulers ofunited Poland and Lithuania.[26]
In theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland there were three known instances of coregency:
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(July 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
It was common during thePrincipate for aRoman emperor orAugustus to appointCaesar as designated heir and junior co-emperor, in many cases adopting them as their son, who did not necessarily have to be biologically related to them. This was merely a tradition and not a formal office until theTetrarchy, which attempted to codify this arrangement, but quickly fell apart. It regained significance, including underZeno, as well as whenJustin I had his nephewJustinian named co-emperor shortly before his own death,Constantine IV was also named co-emperor by his fatherConstans II and who himself had several other co-emperors, and the practice was common in the centuries to come up through thePalaiologans.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(July 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Following the death of TsarFeodor III of Russia in 1682, his brotherIvan and half-brotherPeter were both crowned autocrats of Russia. This compromise was necessary because Ivan was unfit to rule due to physical and mental disabilities, while Peter's exclusive rule was opposed by Feodor and Ivan's older sisterSofia Alekseyevna, who led aStreltsy uprising against him andhis mother's family. Because neither Tsar was of age to rule, Sofia subsequently claimed regency until she was removed from power by Peter in 1689. Ivan V and Peter I's joint reign continued, however, with Ivan maintaining formal seniority despite having little participation in the affairs of the state until his death in 1696, at which point Peter became the sole ruler.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(July 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The monarchy inSweden has had several periods of joint rule:Erik and Alrik,Yngvi and Alf,Björn at Hauge andAnund Uppsale,Eric the Victorious andOlof Björnsson,Eric the Victorious andOlof Skötkonung,Halsten Stenkilsson andInge I, andPhilip andInge II.
Coregency is a special feature of theTrần dynasty, in which a senior king abdicated in favor of his chosen heir. This abdication, however, is only in name, as the abdicated king continued to rule while his successor sat on the throne as a learner.[30]
.svg)
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)