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Tsar ( Bulgarian , Serbian and Macedonian ''цар'', Russian , in scholarly transliteration respectively ''car'' and ''car' ''), often spelled '''Czar''' or '''Tzar''' and sometimes '''Csar''' or '''Zar''' in English , is the official Slavonic title designating "Emperor" in the following states:
The Bulgarian rulers from 1908 to 1946 also used the traditional imperial title of tsar, although they were internationally recognized only as king (''roi des bulgares''), just as the modern rulers of Greece used the traditional imperial title of ''basileus'', while internationally recognized only as ''king of the Hellenes''. As in the Greek case, that does not impact the genuine meaning of the term "tsar". In Russia the term tsar had been used rather loosely for the Mongol ( Tatar ) overlords of the Russian principalities, and from about 1480 by grand prince Ivan III of Moscow , following his assertion of independence from the Golden Horde and perhaps also his marriage to an heiress of the Byzantine Empire . The Muscovite ruler was recognized as an emperor by the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1514 , during the reign of Vasili III , although the the first Russian ruler to be formally crowned as tsar was Ivan IV The Terrible in 1547 . In 1721 an edict of Peter I The Great decreed that the Latin-based title ''imperator'' should be used instead, but its Slavonic equivalent ''tsar'' remained in common usage, and also officially as the designator of various titles signifying rule over the former Mongol chanates absorbed by the Muscovite state. Accordingly, the transliteration of this title in foreign languages such as English is commonly used also, in fact chiefly, for all Russian Emperors to 1917 . The word "Tsar" is a precise equivalent of " Emperor ", something partly obsucred by Peter the Great's reform of 1721 . His change of style from ''tsar'' to ''imperator'' was not indicative of a promotion to imperial status, but rather of a change in line with the remainder of Peter's westernizing policies. The impression that the title of ''tsar'' is equivalent to '' King '' or otherwise an intermediate position between King and Emperor is a common misconception shared even by many modern Slavic speakers, especially by non-specialists writing in foreign languages. It should be noted that in informal usage the term tsar is occasionally applied to monarchs of lesser status in Slavic languages. This is in part a derivative of the original flexibility of the Greek term ''basileus'' (which had gradually come to mean something like "king" in the Hellenistic Period , and designated "emperor" from the inception of the Roman Empire ), and in part due to the familiarity of the title to a tsar's subjects. For example, the Biblical monarchs whom we conventionally call ''king'' in English, are designated ''basileus'' in Greek and ''tsar'' in Bulgarian and Russian, not because they were emperors in any sense (the imperial title did not appear until Roman times), but because that was the title used by the rulers under whom Scripture was rendered into Greek and Slavonic. By the same token, modern Slavic-language publications speak anachronistically of 'tsars' of Assyria , Babylonia , and Persia . In this context, the alien (except in Serbia) title of ''king'' is reserved for European royalty explicitly of royal, rather than imperial, status. Another informal and misleading practice is the handling of the titles of foreign emperors by modern Slavic-language writers. Medieval Bulgarian, Russian, and Serbian sources rendered ''emperor'' as ''tsar'' indiscriminately, as does modern Serbian. However, modern Bulgarian and Russian call foreign emperors (e.g., those of Ancient Rome , Byzantium , the Holy Roman Empire and their Catholic 'successors' etc.) ''imperator'' (''император''). ETYMOLOGY, HISTORY AND SPELLING The word ''tsar'' (''царь'', ''car' '') is a contraction of the earlier ''tsesar'' (''цѣсарь'', ''cěsar' ''), derived from the Roman title '' Caesar '', but not from its devalued Byzantine derivative ''Kaisar''. Originally the name of the deified dictator Caesar and then of his adopted son, the first emperor Augustus , the word Caesar came to designate the Roman emperor, together with the additional titles of Imperator and Augustus , and the Republican dignity of Princeps (designating the foremost senator). From the Antonine period the title Caesar by itself was also granted to junior associates in imperial power or heirs-designate, with which its importance started to decline. This is expressed even more clearly in Diocletian 's Tetrarchy 293 – 306 , in which power was shared between two senior emperors (Augusti) and two junior emperors (Caesares). In the Byzantine period the title ''Caesar'' (in Greek ''Kaisar'') ceased to imply imperial association or the promise of succession to the throne, and after the Komnenian reforms, it was outranked by new titles such as ''despotēs'' and ''sebastokratōr''. Like German Kaiser, Old Church Slavonic ''tsesar'' (''цѣсарь'') was derived directly from the Roman title ''Caesar'', and not from the lower-ranking Byzantine ''Kaisar'', as can be seen from etymological development and the coexistence of the distinct terms tsesar (''цѣсарь'') and kesar (''кесарь'') with different meanings (corresponding to, respectively the Byzantine Emperor (''Basileus'') and Byzantine ''Kaisar'') in early Cyrillic texts. The word is thus cognate with German '' Kaiser '', Gothic ''káisar'', Dutch ''keizer'', Danish ''kejser'', Swedish ''kejsare'', Norwegian ''keiser'', and (through Slavonic) Hungarian ''császár''. The contraction of ''tsesar'' (''цѣсарь'') into ''tsar'' (''царь'') occurred by the way of shorthand writing of titles in Slavonic manuscripts (see Titlo article). One may see examples of this in older copies of the Slavic Primary Chronicle . The first attested examples seem date from the 10th-century grave inscription of Mostič from Preslav (see under ''Bulgaria'' below). Modern usage seems to have standardized on the use of ''tsar'' to describe former rulers of Russia (and often Bulgaria and Serbia), while ''czar'' is used to informally describe an expert in charge of implementing policy (especially in the US): ''economics czar'', ''drug czar'', etc. The Russian pronunciation of ''tsar'' is , the Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian one (in IPA notation) though many if not most English-speaking people pronounce it considerably differently: or . This is because although English has in words like ''cats'', it is unusual for this sound to start an English word. The spelling ''tsar'' is the closest possible Transliteration of the original using standard English Spelling , while the scholarly transliteration is ''car'', with the letter 'c' standing for 'ц' ('ts') in Slavic languages employing the Latin alphabet (e.g., Croatian, Czech, Polish). Both ''czar'' and ''tsar'' have been accepted in English for the last century as a correct usage. French adopted the form ''tsar'' during the 19th Century , and it became more frequent in English towards the end of that century, following its adoption by '' The Times '' (see the '' Oxford English Dictionary '', 2nd edition). The spelling ''tzar'' with 'z' is also very common, and represents an alternative transliteration of the first letter ц , derived from German. The early spelling ''czar'' originated with the Austria n diplomat Baron Sigismund Von Herberstein , whose '' Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii '' ( 1549 ), 'Notes on Muscovite Affairs', was the main source of knowledge of Russia in early modern western Europe, while not found in any of the Slavic Languages . Throughout history, the terms Emperor ("Imperator") and Tsar were used as interchangeable for the Russian sovereign, and "''the Tsar''" without any specification is used, absolutely, for the Russian Emperor. From 1721, however, the official term in Russian was changed to ''imperator'' (''император''). However, the assumption that ''Tsar'' was a lower title or the equivalent of the lower rank of ''King'', is a common misconception. The title of ''king'' is rendered as ''kral'' (''крал'') in Bulgarian, ''korol' '' (''король'') in Russian, and ''kralj'' (''краљ'') in Serbian. For the usage and meaning of tsar, see also above. BULGARIA The Sainted Boris I is sometimes retrospectively referred to as tsar, because at his time Bulgaria Was Converted To Christianity . However, the title "tsar" was actually adopted and used for the first time by his son Simeon I , following a makeshift imperial coronation performed by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 913 . After an attempt by Byzantium 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 . The diplomatic correspondence between the Bulgarian emperor Kaloyan and Pope Innocent III claims that the imperial crowns of Simeon I , his son Peter I , and of Samuel were somehow also derived from the Papacy . A papal mission to Bulgaria in or shortly after 925 may have recognized the Bulgarian imperial title as a concession in exchange for a settlement in the Bulgarian- Croatian conflict or a possible attempt to return Bulgaria to union with Rome. The grave inscription of the ''čărgubil'' (''ičirgu-boila'') Mostič, a contemporary of Simeon I and Peter I, from Preslav contains early occurrences of the contraction "tsar" (''car' '') from "tsesar" (''cěsar' ''). The title, later augmented with epithets and titles such as ''autocrat'' to reflect current Byzantine practice, was used by all of Simeon's successors until the complete conquest of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Empire in 1422 . Kaloyan 's request for the imperial title to be re-confirmed by Pope Innocent III did not succeed, but the rulers of the Second Bulgarian Empire were recognized as emperors by Byzantium, Serbia, Hungary , Venice , and Genoa , and even by the previously reticent Papacy , among others. In Latin sources the Emperor of Bulgaria is sometimes designated "Emperor of Zagora" (with variant spellings). Various additional epithets and descriptions apart, the official style read "Emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks". After Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottomans in 1878 , its new monarchs were at first ''autonomous prince'' ( Knjaz ). 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, as noted above, the modern monarchs of Bulgaria were recognized internationally as king (''roi des bulgares''), rather than emperor. RUSSIA In 1547 , Ivan IV of Russia , " Veliki Kniaz (''Grand Prince'') of all Russia" of the Muscovite dynasty, was formally crowned "tsar of all Russia". However, the imperial titles "tsar" and "autocrat" had been in occasional and somewhat informal usage from about 1480, when Ivan III asserted Muscovy's independence from the Mongol ( Tatar ) Golden Horde . In 1721 Peter I adopted the westernizing title ''Imperator'' (''Император''), by which he and his heirs were recognised, and besides which the former style Tsar continued to be used ''informally'' as a correct but unofficial equivalent. In the official title of the Russian emperor (see below), the title of "tsar" is preserved as such only in reference to the Mongol khanates and the Georgian Orthodox kingdoms annexed by the Russian state. In fact the new style of ''Imperator'' was adopted precisely to underline a claim that Russia, by now a major power in Europe, was the Orthodox "Third Rome", succeeding in every respect to Byzantium, the "Second Rome", invoking a marriage to a Byzantine princess considered heiress to the imperial crown after the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire. But these concepts reflect events of the late 15th century, and the reigns of Ivan III and Vasili III. Full style of Russian Sovereigns The full title of Russian emperors started with ''' and Autocrat of all the Russia s, of Moscow , Kiev , Vladimir , Novgorod , Tsar of Kazan , Tsar of Astrakhan , Tsar of Poland , Tsar of Siberia , Tsar of Tauric Chersonesos , Tsar of Georgia , Lord of Pskov , and Grand Duke of Smolensk , Lithuania , Volhynia , Podolia , and Finland , Prince of Estonia , Livonia , Courland and Semigalia , Samogitia , Białystok , Karelia , Tver , Yugra , Perm , Vyatka , Bulgaria , and other territories; Lord and Grand Duke of Nizhni Novgorod , Chernigov ; Ruler of Ryazan , Polotsk , Rostov , Yaroslavl , Beloozero , Udoria , Obdoria , Kondia , Vitebsk , Mstislav , and all northern territories ; Ruler of Iveria , Kartalinia , and the Kabard inian lands and Armenia n territories - hereditary Ruler and Lord of the Cherkess and Mountain Princes and others; Lord of Turkestan , Heir of Norway , Duke of Schleswig-Holstein , Stormarn , Dithmarschen , Oldenburg , and so forth, and so forth, and so forth." For example, Nicholas II Of Russia (1 November 1894 - 15 March 1917) was titled as follows (notice the Cyrillic spelling): :Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію МЫ, НИКОЛАЙ ВТОРЫЙ ИМПЕРАТОРЪ и САМОДЕРЖЕЦЪ ВСЕРОССІЙСКІЙ :Московский, Кіевскій, Владимірскій, Новгородскій, :Царь Казанскій, Царь Астраханскій, Царь Польскій, Царь Сибирскій, Царь Херсониса Таврическаго, Царь Грузинскій, :Государь Псковскій, и :Великій Князь Смоленскій, Литовскій, Волынскій, Подольскій и Финляндскій; :Князь Эстляндскій, Лифляндскій, Курляндскій и Семигальскій, Самогитскій, Бѣлостокский, Корельскій, :Тверскій, Югорскій, Пермскій, Вятскій, Болгарскій и иныхъ; :Государь и Великій Князь Новагорода низовскія земли, Черниговскій, Рязанскій, Полотскій, :Ростовскій, Ярославскій, Бѣлозерскій, Удорскій, Обдорскій, Кондійскій, Витебскій, Мстиславскій и :всея Сѣверныя страны Повелитель; и :Государь Иверскія, Карталинскія и Кабардинскія земли и области Арменскія; :Черкасскихъ и Горскихъ Князей и иныхъ Наслѣдный Государь и Обладатель; :Государь Туркестанскій; :Наслѣдникъ Норвежскій, :Герцогъ Шлезвигъ-Голстинскій, Стормарнскій, Дитмарсенскій и Ольденбургскій, и прочая, и прочая, и прочая.
Titles in the Russian Royal/Imperial family Tsaritsa (царица) is the term used for an Empress , though in English contexts this seems invariably to be altered to '''tsarina''' (since 1717, from Italian ''czarina'', from German ''Zarin''). In Imperial Russia , the official title was Empress (Императрица). Tsaritsa (Empress) could be either the ruler herself or the wife ( Empress Consort ) of tsar. The title of tsaritsa is used in the same way in Bulgaria and Serbia. Tsesarevich (Цесаревич) (literally, "son of the tsar") is the term for a Male Heir Apparent , the full title was '''Heir Tsesarevich''' ("Naslednik Tsesarevich", Наследник Цесаревич), informally abbreviated in Russia to '''The Heir''' ("Naslednik") (from the capital letter). Tsarevich (царевич) was the term for a son. In older times the term was used in place of "Tsesarevich" (Цесаревич). A son who was not a heir was formally called '''Velikii Kniaz ''' (Великий Князь) ( Grand Duke ). The latter title was also used for grandsons (through male lines). Tsarevna (царевна) was the term for a daughter and a granddaughter of a Tsar or Tsaritsa. The official title was '''Velikaya Kniaginya''' (Великая Княгиня), translated as ''Grand Duchess'' or ''Grand Princess''. See also Grand Duchess for more details on the ''Velikaya Kniaginya'' title. Tsesarevna (Цесаревна) was the wife of the Tsesarevich. Notes #When Nicholas II abdicated in 1917 he abdicated not just on his own behalf but also on behalf of his teenage son, who was too ill to take up the throne. He named as his heir his own brother Mikhail. Mikhail initially considered accepting the throne, conditional upon the people accepting him as their ruler. But a day or two later he decided against this course. He saw no need to formally abdicate a throne he had never formally accepted. He was never properly proclaimed as "Tsar Mikhail II". Historians and lists of tsars differ as to whether to regard Mikhail or Nicholas II as the last tsar. Nicholas II was undoubtedly the last tsar to ''rule'' Russia and so was the last ''effective'' tsar. Mikhail, if he can be said to have been Tsar at all, exercised no governmental functions and merely ''reigned'' nominally for a very short time. Mikhail, like his brother Nicholas, was Executed by the Bolshevik s in 1918 . #In 1924 Grand Duke Cyril Romanov proclaimed himself Emperor in exile. # Moscow and Saint-Petersburg are known as the two tsar's capitals, though the latter was precisely founded as the new capital, symbolizing the new empire after Peter had shed the formal style of Tsar. GEORGIA After Russia had established its protectorate over the (also Eastern Orthodox) kingdom of Georgia, the Russian Emperor recognised the following styles and titles as of 24th September 1783 (Old Style)
SERBIA The title Tsar was also used in Serbia, but only by two monarchs — Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and Stefan Uroš V between 1345 and 1371 . Earlier Serbian monarchs had used the royal title King (''краљ, kralj'') since 1217 , which had been granted by the Papacy during a brief union with the Western Church. In 1345 Stefan Uroš IV Dušan began to style himself "Emperor of Serbians and Greeks" (the Greek renderings read "emperor and autocrat of Serbians and Romans"), and was crowned as such in Skopje on Easter (April 16) 1346 by the newly created Serbian patriarch, alongside with the Bulgarian patriarch and the autocephalous archibishop of Ohrid. On the same occarion, Stefan Uroš IV Dušan had his wife Elena of Bulgaria crowned as empress and his son associated in power as king. When Stefan Uroš IV Dušan died in 1355 , his son Stefan Uroš V became the next "emperor of Serbians and Greeks". It should be noted that the new emperor's uncle Simeon 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 son Jovan Uroš, who retired to a monastery in about 1373 . With the extinction of Nemanjid dynasty in Serbia in 1371 , the imperial title became obsolete (though it was retained by Stefan Uroš IV's widow Elena of Bulgaria until her death in 1376 / 1377 ). The royal title was preserved by Vukašin , a Serbian ruler in Macedonia , who had been associated by Stefan Uroš V as king, but lapsed on the death of his son Marko in 1395 . The Bosnian ban Tvrtko I also assumed the Serbian royal title, but he and his heirs reigned as kings of Bosnia , while Sebia proper remained under the rule of princes, occasionally granted the Byzantine title of ''despotēs''. When Serbia, which had emerged as an autonomous principality after a long period of Ottoman domination, became an independent kingdom, its prince, ''knjaz'', adopted the traditional title of king, ''kralj''. The King's full style was, between and the will of the nation, King of Serbia". Again, when the Serbian dynasty came to rule an enlarged kingdom, including Croatia and Slovenia , three peoples on the Balkan peninsula, after a decade generally collectively referred to as ''Yugo''slavs (literally "''Southern'' Slavonic"), its full style remained accordingly:
Several other Serbian rulers are known traditionally but incorrectly as Tsars, although they realistically can not be called so: METAPHORICAL USES Like many lofty titles, e.g. Mogul , Tsar or Czar has been used as a metaphor for positions of high authority, in English since 1866 (referring to U.S. President Andrew 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 Czar'). This use is not limited to statesmen, e.g. 'drug tsar' for the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration , the U.S. agency against illegal narcotics. SEE ALSO
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