Tsar (/zɑːr,(t)sɑːr/; also spelledczar,tzar, orcsar;Bulgarian:цар,romanized: tsar;Russian:царь,romanized: tsar';Serbian:цар,car) is a title historically used bySlavicmonarchs. The term is derived from theLatin wordcaesar,[2] which was intended to meanemperor in the European medieval sense of the term—a ruler with the same rank as aRoman emperor, holding it by the approval of another emperor or a supreme ecclesiastical official—but was usually considered by Western Europeans to be equivalent to "king".[3][4][5]
The title tsar is derived from the Latin title for the Roman emperors,caesar.[2] The Greek equivalent of the Latin wordimperator was the titleautokrator. The termbasileus was another term for the same position, but it was used differently depending on whether it was in a contemporary political context or in a historical or Biblical context.
Mostich'sepitaph uses the titletsar (outlined): "Here lies Mostich who wasichirgu-boil during the reigns of Tsar Simeon and Tsar Peter. At the age of eighty he forsook the rank of ichirgu boila and all of his possessions and became a monk. And so ended his life." (Museum of Preslav)Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is the only living person to have borne the title of "tsar" (as Simeon II of Bulgaria).[7]
In 705 EmperorJustinian II namedTervel of Bulgaria "caesar" (Greek:καῖσαρ), the first foreigner to receive this title, but his descendants continued to use Bulgar title "Kanasubigi". The saintedBoris I is sometimes retrospectively referred to as tsar, because at his timeBulgaria was converted to Christianity. However, the title "tsar" (and itsByzantine Greek equivalentbasileus) was actually adopted and used for the first time by his sonSimeon I, following a makeshift imperial coronation performed by thePatriarch of Constantinople in 913. After an attempt by theByzantine Empire to revoke this major diplomatic concession and a decade of intensive warfare, the imperial title of the Bulgarian ruler was recognized by the Byzantine government in 924 and again at the formal conclusion of peace in 927. Since in Byzantine political theory there was place for only two emperors, Eastern and Western (as in the LateRoman Empire), the Bulgarian ruler was crownedbasileus as "a spiritual son" of the Byzantinebasileus.[8]
It has been hypothesized that Simeon's title was also recognized by a papal mission to Bulgaria in or shortly after 925, as a concession in exchange for a settlement in the Bulgarian-Croatian conflict or a possible attempt to return Bulgaria to union with Rome. Thus, in the later diplomatic correspondence conducted in 1199–1204 between the Bulgarian rulerKaloyan andPope Innocent III, Kaloyan—whose self-assumed Latin title was "Imperator Bulgarorum et Blachorum"—claims that the imperial crowns ofSimeon I, his sonPeter I, andSamuel were somehow derived from thepapacy. The pope, however, only speaks ofreges (kings) of Bulgaria in his replies, and eventually grants only that lesser title to Kaloyan, who nevertheless proceeds to thank the pope for the "imperial title" conferred upon him.[9]
After Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its new monarchs were at firstautonomous prince (knyaz). With the declaration of full independence,Ferdinand I of Bulgaria adopted the traditional title "tsar" in 1908 and it was used until the abolition of the monarchy in 1946. However, these titles were not generally perceived as equivalents of "emperor" any longer. In the Bulgarian as in the Greek vernacular, the meaning of the title had shifted[10] (althoughPaisius'Slavonic-Bulgarian History (1760–1762) had still distinguished between the two concepts).
The title oftsar (Serbiancar) was used officially by two monarchs, the previous monarchial title being that of king (kralj). In 1345,Stefan Dušan began to style himself "Emperor of Serbs and Greeks" (the Greek renderings read "basileus andautokrator of Serbs and Romans"), and was crowned as such inSkopje onEaster (April 16) 1346 by the newly elevated Serbian patriarch, alongside the Bulgarian patriarch and archbishop of Ohrid. On the same occasion, he had his wifeHelena of Bulgaria crowned as empress and his son associated in power as king. When Dušan died in 1355, his sonStefan Uroš V became the next emperor. The new emperor's uncleSimeon Uroš (Siniša) contested the succession and claimed the same titles as a dynast in Thessaly. After his death around 1370, he was succeeded in his claims by his sonJohn Uroš, who retired to a monastery in about 1373.[citation needed]
The titletsar was used once by church officials ofKievan Rus' in the naming ofYaroslav the Wise, the grand prince of Kiev (r. 1019–1054). This may have related to Yaroslav's war against Byzantium and to his efforts to distance himself fromConstantinople. However, other princes during the period of Kievan Rus' never styled themselves as tsars.[11] The first Russian ruler to openly break with the khan of theGolden Horde,Mikhail of Tver (r. 1285–1318), assumed the titlebasileus ton Ros,[12]as well astsar.[13]
Following his assertion of independence from the khan in 1476,Ivan III, the grand prince of Moscow (r. 1462–1505), adopted the title ofsovereign of all Russia, and he later also started to use the title of tsar regularly in diplomatic relations with the West.[14] From about 1480, he is designated asimperator in his Latin correspondence, askeyser in his correspondence with the Swedish regent, and askejser in his correspondence with the Danish king,Teutonic Knights, and theHanseatic League. Ivan's sonVasily III continued using these titles.Sigismund von Herberstein (1486–1566) observed that the titles ofkaiser andimperator were attempts to render the Russian termtsar into German and Latin, respectively.[15][full citation needed] The title-inflation related to Russia's growing ambitions to become an Orthodox "third Rome", after thefall of Constantinople in 1453. The monarch in Moscow was recognized as an emperor by Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian I in 1514.[16][17][note 1]
However, the first Russian ruler to be formally crowned astsar of all Russia wasIvan IV ("the Terrible"), in 1547. Some foreign ambassadors—namely, Herberstein (in 1516 and 1525), Daniel Printz a Buchau (in 1576 and 1578) and Just Juel (in 1709)—indicated that the word "tsar" should not be translated as "emperor", because it is applied by Russians toDavid,Solomon and other Biblical kings, who are simplereges.[note 2] On the other hand,Jacques Margeret, a bodyguard ofFalse Demetrius I (r. 1605–1606), argues that the title of "tsar" is more honorable for Muscovites than "kaiser" or "king" exactly because it was God and not some earthly potentate who ordained to apply it to David, Solomon, and other kings of Israel.[18]Samuel Collins, a court physician toTsar Alexis in 1659–66, styled the latter "Great Emperor", commenting that "as for the wordCzar, it has so near relation toCesar... that it may well be granted to signifie Emperor. The Russians would have it to be a higher title than King, and yet they call DavidCzar, and our kings,Kirrols, probably fromCarolus Quintus, whose history they have among them".[19]
The titletsar remained in common usage, and also officially as part of various titles signifying rule over various states absorbed by the Russian monarchy (such as the former Tatarkhanates and the Georgian Orthodox kingdom). In the 18th century,tsar was increasingly viewed as inferior to "emperor" or as highlighting the oriental side of the rank.[20] Upon annexingCrimea in 1783,Catherine the Great adopted the hellenicized title "tsaritsa ofTauric Chersonesos", rather than "tsaritsa of the Crimea". By 1815, when Russia annexed a large part of Poland, the title had clearly come to be interpreted in Russia as the equivalent of Polishkról ("king"), and the Russian emperor assumed the title "tsar of Poland".[21]
The title of Tsar was only used one time in Montenegro, by Šćepan Mali, translated as Stephen the Little. He was rumored to be former Russian EmperorPeter III. He ruled the country of Montenegro as absolute Monarch, and reigned as Tsar of Montenegro from 1768 until his death in 1773.[24]
Like many lofty titles, such asmogul, tsar or czar has been used in English as ametaphor for positions of high authority since 1866 (referring to U.S. PresidentAndrew Johnson), with a connotation of dictatorial powers and style, fitting since "autocrat" was an official title of the Russian Emperor (informally referred to as 'the tsar'). Similarly,Speaker of the HouseThomas Brackett Reed was called "Czar Reed" for his dictatorial control of theHouse of Representatives in the 1880s and 1890s.[25]
^"Kayser vnnd Herscher aller Rewssen und Groszfürste zu Wolodimer" in the German text of Maximilian's letter; "Imperator et Dominator universorum Rhutenorum et Magnus Princeps Valadomerorum" in the Latin copy. Vasily III responded by referring to Maximilian as "Maximiliano Dei gratia Electo Romanorum Caesare", i.e., "Roman Caesar". Maximilian's letter was of great importance toIvan the Terrible and toPeter the Great, when they wished to back up their titles of "tsar" and "emperor", respectively. Both monarchs demonstrated the letter to foreign ambassadors; Peter even referred to it when he proclaimed himself Emperor.
^Based on these accounts, the Popes repeatedly suggested to confer on the Russian monarchs the title ofrex ("king"), if they would only ally themselves with the Pope. Such a proposal was made for the last time in 1550, i.e., three years after Ivan IV had crowned himself tsar. As early as 1489, Ivan III declined the papal offer, declaring that his regal authority did not require anyone's confirmation.
^Ivan Biliarsky, Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, Brill, 2011,ISBN9004181873, p. 211.
^Margeret, J. (1983).The Russian Empire and Grand Duchy of Muscovy. University of Pittsburgh. p. 111.ISBN9780822977018.TheSlavonic Bible did equate the terms "tsar" and "king"... Russian writers often compared the grand prince or tsar with any kings of the Old Testament. Several writers [argued] that it was a mistake to translatetsar as "emperor". This was important because of a widely held view in Europe that the tsar wished to claim the imperial legacy of the defunct Byzantine Empire.
^de Madariaga, Isabel (2006).Ivan the Terrible.Yale University Press. p. 78.ISBN9780300143768.The primary meaning oftsar was thus an independent ruler, with no overlord, who could be either a king of one particular nation or people, as in the Bible, or an 'emperor' ruling over several antions, such as the East Roman Emperor.
^Madariaga, Isabel De (2014).Politics and Culture in Eighteenth-Century Russi. Routledge. pp. 40–42.ISBN978-1-317-88190-2.Other powers [forgot] thattsar had once been recognized asEmpereur, asimperator, or even askayzer... This explains much of the difficulty encountered byPeter I when he adopted the titleImperator. The etymological origin of the wordtsar had been glossed over and the title had been devalued.
^"Simeon I." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 12 July 2009,EB.com.
^Christina Holtz-Bacha,Encyclopedia of Political Communication, Volume 1, with Lynda Lee Kaid, Christina Holtz-Bacha as ed., Sage, 2008,ISBN1412917999. p. 115.
^Срђан Пириватрић.Самуилова држава. Београд, 1997.
^Innocentii pp. III epistolae ad Bulgariae historiam spectantes. Recensuit et explicavit Iv. Dujcev. Sofia, 1942.
^Найден Геров. 1895–1904. Речник на блъгарский язик. (the entry on цар inNaiden Gerov'sDictionary of the Bulgarian Language)
^Wladimir Vodoff.Remarques sur la valeur du terme "czar" appliqué aux princes russes avant le milieu du 15e siècle, in "Oxford Slavonic Series", new series, vol. XI. Oxford University Press, 1978.
^"Den Titel aines Khaisers, wiewol Er alle seine Brief nur Reissisch schreibt, darinn Er sich Czar nent, so schickht Er gemaincklich Lateinische Copeyen darmit oder darinn, und an stat des Czar setzen sy Imperator, den wir Teutsch Khaiser nennen".
^Ostrowski, D. (2002).Muscovy and the Mongols: Cross-Cultural Influences on the Steppe Frontier, 1304–1589. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, p. 178.
^Lehtovirta, J. "The Use of Titles in Herberstein's "Commentarii". Was the Muscovite Tsar a King or an Emperor?" in Kӓmpfer, F. and Frӧtschner, R. (eds.) (2002)450 Jahre Sigismund von Herbersteins Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii 1549–1999, Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 196–198.
^"Et ainsi retiennent le nom de Zar comme plus autentique, duquel nom il pleut iadis à Dieu d'honorer David, Salomon et autres regnans sur la maison de Iuda et Israel, disent-ils, et que ces motsTsisar etKrol n'est que invention humaine, lequel nom quelqu'un s'est acquis par beaux faits d'armes".
^The Present State of Russia, in a Letter to a Friend at London. Written by an Eminent Person residing at Great Tzars Court at Mosco for the space of nine years. 2nd ed. London, 1671. pp. 54–55.
^Boris Uspensky.Царь и император: помазание на трон и семантика монарших титулов. Moscow: Языки русской культуры, 2000.ISBN5-7859-0145-5. pp. 48–52.
^Hofmeister, Ulrich (2017). "From theWhite Tsar to theRussian Tsar. Monarchy and Russian Nationalism in Tsarist Turkestan". In Banerjee, Milinda; Backerra, Charlotte; Sarti, Cathleen (eds.).Transnational Histories of the 'Royal Nation'. Palgrave Studies in Modern Monarchy. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. p. 137.ISBN9783319505237. Retrieved2 October 2023.[...] White Tsar [Belyi Tsar']. This title was widely used in Russian communication with Asian or Muslim peoples during the nineteenth century and derived its attraction from its 'Asian' appeal. [...I]n late Tsarist times the expressionWhite Tsar was perceived as a specific 'oriental' title for the Russian Tsar that was rooted in Mongolian traditions.
^Harcave, SidneyFirst Blood The Russian Revolution of 1905 Macmillan: London, 1964 p. 12
![[[Alphonse Mucha]]'s The Slav Epic cycle No.4: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria (1923)](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCar_Simeon_Bulharsky_-_Alfons_Mucha.jpg)
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