Rex or Imperator? Kalojan’s Royal Title in the Correspondence with Innocent III

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.09.10

Keywords:

power conceptualization and legitimization, crusade studies, Second Bulgarian State, Latin Empire of Constantinople, relations between Bulgaria and Byzantium, Innocent III, Church history of the Romans

Abstract

In the correspondence between Innocent III and Kalojan of Bulgaria (1197–1207), the title of the Bulgarian ruler is recorded both as rex and imperator. While the pope consistently employs the title rex, Kalojan refers to himself, in every occasion, with the title imperator. Some scholars have speculated that the use of this title was a deliberate political move: styling himself imperator, Kalojan was claiming a much greater political dignity than that of king of Bulgaria, putting himself on the same level as the emperor of Constantinople. On the other hand, while Innocent’s letters were obviously written in Latin, Kalojan’s letters were originally in Bulgarian, translated in Greek, and finally translated from Greek to Latin. Therefore, the use of the word imperator may be just an attempt at translating the term βασιλεύς, not in the sense of Emperor of the Romans but merely in that of autocrat, a ruler whose power was fully independent from any other external political authority. This recognition was of a fundamental importance for Kalojan, since the rulers of Bulgaria’s neighbouring states, the kingdom of Hungary, the Byzantine empire, and especially the Latin empire of Constantinople, were not willing to recognize his legitimacy as an independent sovereign.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Acta Innocentii PP. III (1198–1216), ed. T. Haluščynskyj, Vatican City 1944 [= Pontificia commissio ad redigendum codicem iuris canonici orientalis. Fontes, 3.2].
Google Scholar

The Deeds of Innocent III by an Anonymous Author, trans. J.M. Powell, Washington 2004.
Google Scholar

Dujčev I., Prepiskata na papa Inokentij III s bălgarite. Uvod, tekst i komentar, “Годишник на Софий- ския Университет. Историко-Филологически факултет” / “Godišnik na Sofijskija Universitet. Istoriko-Filologičeski fakultet” 38, 3, 1942, p. 71–116.
Google Scholar

Geoffroi de Villehardouin, La conquete de Constantinople, vol. I–II, ed. E. Faral, 2Paris 1961.
Google Scholar

Gesta Innocentii PP. III, [in:] Patrologiae cursus completus, Series latina, vol. CCIV, ed. J.-P. Migne, Paris 1855, col. 147–148.
Google Scholar

Historia de expeditione Friderici imperatoris, [in:] Quellen zur Geschichte des Kreuzzuges Kaiser Friedrichs I, ed. A. Chroust, Berlin 1928 [= Monumenta Germaniae historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum ex Monumentis Germaniae historicis separatim editi, N.S., 5].
Google Scholar

Historia Peregrinorum, [in:] Quellen zur Geschichte des Kreuzzuges Kaiser Friedrichs I, ed. A. Chroust, Berlin 1928 [= Monumenta Germaniae historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum ex Monumentis Germaniae historicis separatim editi, N.S., 5].
Google Scholar

Nicephori Chrysobergae ad Angelos orationes tres, ed. M. Treu, Breslau 1892.
Google Scholar

Nicetae Choniatae Historia, ed. J.-L. van Dieten, Berlin–New York 1975 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae. Series Berolinensis, 11].
Google Scholar

Nicetae Choniatae Orationes et Epistulae, ed. J.-L. van Dieten, Berlin–New York 1972 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae. Series Berolinensis, 3].
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, vol. I–XIV, ed. O. Hageneder et al., Vienna–Graz–Koln 1964–2018.
Google Scholar

Robert de Clari, La conquete de Constantinople, ed. J. Dufournet, Paris 2004.
Google Scholar

Vetera monumenta slavorum meridionalium historiam illustrantia, vol. I, ed. A. Theiner, Rome 1836.
Google Scholar

Atanasov G., Instituciite na srednovekovnite bălgarski vladeteli, Pleven 1999.
Google Scholar

Bakalov G., Srednovekovnijat bălgarski vladetel, Sofija 1995.
Google Scholar

Bălgarskijat zlaten vek. Sbornik v čest na car Simeon Veliki (893–927), ed. V. Gjuzelev, I. Iliev, K. Nenov, Plovdiv 2015.
Google Scholar

Biliarsky I., La translation des reliques a la capitale du second empire bulgare et les idees du pouvoir, [in:] Liturgia e agiografia tra Roma e Costantinopoli. Atti del I e II seminario di studio, Roma– Grottaferrata 2000–2001, ed. K. Stantchev, S. Parenti, Grottaferrata 2007, p. 329–338.
Google Scholar

Božilov I., Bălgarija pri Asenevci, “Исторически преглед” / “Istoričeski pregled” 36, 2, 1980, p. 80–95.
Google Scholar

Božilov I., Car Simeon Veliki (893–927). Zlatnijat vek na srednovekovna Bălgarija, Sofija 1983.
Google Scholar

Božilov I., Familijata na Asenevci (1186–1460). Genealogija i prosopografija, Sofija 1994.
Google Scholar

Božilov I., Gjuzelev V., Istorija na Srednovekovna Bălgarija, VII–XIV vek, vol. I, Sofija 1999.
Google Scholar

Brand C., Byzantium confronts the West, 1180–1204, Cambridge Mass. 1968.
Google Scholar

The Bulgarian State in 927–969. The Epoch of Tsar Peter I, ed. M.J. Leszka, K. Marinow, Łodź–Krakow 2018 [= Byzantina Lodziensia, 34].
Google Scholar

Calasso F., I glossatori e la teoria della sovranita. Studio di diritto comune pubblico, 3Milan 1957.
Google Scholar

Dall’Aglio F., ‘As it Had Been in the Past’: the Idea of National Continuity in the Establishment of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, [in:] Laudator Temporis Acti. Studia in Memoriam Ioannis A. Božilov, vol. I, ed. I. Biliarsky, Sofia 2018, p. 282–299.
Google Scholar

Dall’Aglio F., ‘In ipsa silva longissima Bulgariae’: Western Chroniclers of the Crusades and the Bulgarian Forest, “Bulgaria Mediaevalis” 1, 2010, p. 403–416.
Google Scholar

Dall’Aglio F., Innocenzo III e i Balcani. Fede e politica nei ‘Regesta’ pontifici, Napoli 2003.
Google Scholar

Dančeva-Vasileva A., Bălgarija i Latinskata imperija (1204–1261), Sofija 1985.
Google Scholar

Dobičina A., A “Divine Sanction” on the Revolt: the Cult of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica and the Uprising of Peter and Asen, “Studia Ceranea. Journal of the Waldemar Ceran Research Center for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-Eastern Europe” 2, 2012, p. 111–124.
Google Scholar

Gagova K., Kalojan – Car na Bălgarija i Vlahija, “Исторически преглед” / “Istoričeski pregled” 55, 3/4, 1999, p. 3–17.
Google Scholar

Gjuzelev V., Četvărtijat krăstonosen pohod, prevzemaneto na Carigrad i bălgaro-latinskite otnošenija 1204–1207 g., “Palaeobulgarica / Старобългаристика ” 28, 2004, p. 80–88.
Google Scholar

Iordanov I., Korpus na pečatite na srednovekovna Bălgarija, Sofija 2001.
Google Scholar

Kajmakamova M., Vlast i istorija v srednovekovna Bălgarija, VII–XIV vek, Sofija 2011.
Google Scholar

Kolarov C., Andreev Y., Certaines questions ayant trait aux manifestations de continuite d’idees en Bulgarie medievale au des XII–XIV siecles, “Estudios Humanisticos” 9, 1979, p. 77–97.
Google Scholar

Leszka M.J., Marinow K., Carstwo Bułgarskie. Polityka, społeczeństwo, gospodarka, kultura 866–971, Warszawa 2015.
Google Scholar

Madgearu A., The Asanids. The Political and Military History of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1280), Leiden 2017.
Google Scholar

Marinov K., Tărnovo kato svešten grad prez kăsnoto srednovekovie, [in:] Tărnovskata dăržava na Duha. Deseti jubileen meždunaroden simpozium, Veliko Tărnovo, 17–19 oktomvri 2013 g., V. Tărnovo 2015, p. 698–722.
Google Scholar

Mladjov I., The Crown and the Veil: Titles, Spiritual Kinship, and Diplomacy in Tenth-Century Bulgaro- Byzantine Relations, “History Compass” 13, 2015, p. 171–183.
Google Scholar

Nenov K., Bălgarskoto carstvo v latinskite izvori za krăstonosnija pohod na Fridrih Barbarosa (1189–1190), “Bulgaria Mediaevalis” 8, 2017, p. 135–169.
Google Scholar

Nicol D., The Despotate of Epiros, Oxford 1959.
Google Scholar

Odrinskata bitka ot 1205 g., ed. V. Gjuzelev, Sofija 2005.
Google Scholar

Polyvianny D., The Cults of Saints in the Political Ideology of the Bulgarian Empire, [in:] Fonctions sociales et politiques du culte des saints dans les societes de rite grec et latin au Moyen Age et a l’epoque moderne, ed. M. Derwich, M. Dmitriev, Wrocław 1999, p. 401–417.
Google Scholar

Stephenson P., Byzantium’s Balkan Frontier. A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900–1204, Cambridge 2000.
Google Scholar

Tricht F. van, The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium The Empire of Constantinople (1204–1228), Leiden 2011.
Google Scholar

Uspenskij F., Obrazovanie vtorogo Bolgarskogo carstva, Odessa 1879.
Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2019-12-30

How to Cite

Dall’Aglio, F. (2019). Rex or Imperator? Kalojan’s Royal Title in the Correspondence with Innocent III. Studia Ceranea, 9, 171–185. https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.09.10

Issue

Section

Articles