Succession of the Roman Empire
In 476 AD, a military commander named Odoacer deposed the last Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus. He did not declare himself emperor. Instead, he sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople and acknowledged the Eastern Emperor Zeno as his overlord. This act signaled that imperial rule in Italy had not ended but merely shifted form. The idea of a single, unified empire survived long after the political structures crumbled. Historians like Leonardo Bruni in the early 15th century later framed this event as the definitive fall of Rome. Christoph Cellarius strengthened this view in the late 17th century. Edward Gibbon cemented it in the late 18th century. These scholars created a historiographical convention that marked the beginning of the Middle Ages. In practice, however, the Imperial idea persisted across territories that had never been under Roman rule during classical antiquity. The date remains a convention rather than an absolute historical rupture.
After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II declared himself Kayser-i Rum, or Caesar of the Romans. He justified this title by right of conquest, consistent with Byzantine imperial ideology which held that control of Constantinople was the key legitimizing factor for an emperor. Contemporary scholar George of Trebizond supported this claim in writing that the seat of the Roman Empire is Constantinople. Mehmed II also installed Gennadius Scholarius as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1454. This ecclesiastical leader endorsed the Sultan's succession claims. Mehmed intended to conquer Italy and reunite the empire but died on the 3rd of May 1481 before completing his campaign. His successors abandoned efforts to conquer Rome itself and instead fought rival claimants like the Holy Roman Empire and the Russian Empire. Over centuries, many Greeks within the Ottoman realm embraced Islam, creating intermingling between ethnic Greeks and Turks. The last official use of the title Kayser-i Rum occurred in the 18th century. Chinese usage during the Ming dynasty referred to the Ottomans as Lumi, derived from Rûmi, literally meaning Roman.
On Christmas Day 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor in Rome. This coronation explicitly aimed to establish continuity with the Eastern Roman Empire. At that time, Irene of Athens ruled Constantinople after blinding her son Constantine VI. Western critics viewed the imperial throne as vacant rather than recognizing a woman as sole holder of the title. Charlemagne's imperial title rested on partnership with the Papacy rather than traditional acclamation by popular vote. Following Charlemagne's death, political authority fragmented across Northern Italy and Lotharingia. Otto I revived the Imperial idea when he was crowned by Pope John XII in Rome in 962. From then on, all Emperors had dynastic roots in Germanic-speaking lands. Frederick II took keen interest in Roman antiquity and organized a Roman-style triumph in Cremona in 1238. Maximilian I created monumental woodblock prints including the Triumphal Arch and Large Triumphal Carriage in the 1510s. These efforts recalled classical heritage while navigating conflicts between Pope and Emperor during the Investiture Controversy spanning 1076 to 1122.
The empire modern historiography calls the Byzantine Empire never used that expression internally. It kept calling itself the Roman Empire, Empire of the Romans, or Romania until the fall of Constantinople. Christian Western Europeans were reluctant to apply the Roman epithet to the Eastern Empire after 800. They frequently called it the Empire of Greeks or Greek Empire instead. Muslims in the Levant referred to people of the Eastern Empire as Romans, using the term Rum. The name Byzantium refers to the ancient city on the Bosporus renamed Constantinople by Constantine in 330. This designation remained unused except in rare historical contexts until Hieronymus Wolf published his Corpus Historiæ Byzantinæ in 1557. Philippe Labbe and French Jesuits then published the 24-volume De Byzantinæ historiæ scriptoribus from 1648 onwards. Du Cange produced his own Historia Byzantina in 1680. These works entrenched the Byzantine label among French authors including Montesquieu in the 18th century. Outside France, the term only came into general use around the mid-19th century after Barthold Georg Niebuhr published his 50-volume Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae.
Ivan III of Russia married Sophia Palaiologina, niece of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, in 1472. He styled himself Tsar or imperator. Ivan IV cemented this title as Tsar of All Rus in 1547. Metropolitanate of Moscow gained autocephaly in 1589 through efforts by Boris Godunov. Russian monk Philotheus of Pskov wrote in 1510 that two Romes have fallen but the third stands. Giuseppe Mazzini promoted the notion of the Third Rome during Italian unification in the Risorgimento period. Benito Mussolini referred to his regime as a New Roman Empire in speeches delivered at Campidoglio on the 31st of December 1925. The EUR neighborhood became the first step toward expanding Rome toward Ostia and the sea. Frederick Barbarossa watched William I and his son Frederick from the sky in Hermann Wislicenus's Apotheose of Empire painting ca. 1880. Nazi Germany was subsequently called the Third Reich succeeding both Holy Roman Empire and German Empire. A circular not intended for publication prohibited further use of the expression Third Reich in 1939.
French historian Louis Eisenmann published an article titled The Imperial Idea in the History of Europe in 1926. He portrayed the newly created League of Nations as the modern expression of an imperial idea degraded by nationalism. Eisenmann argued that three empires' final demise represented renewal of the Pax Romana concept. Memories of the Roman Empire accompanied the European Union since its inception with the 1950 Schuman Plan. Latin has been used in some circumstances as one non-official lingua franca within EU institutions. Comparisons between the European Union and the Holy Roman Empire appear in negative or positive light across political discourse. The Austrian Republic borrowed imagery and symbolism from the Holy Roman Empire following its demise in 1806. The Imperial eagle remains a symbol of the Austrian government today. In Greece, the Megali Idea developed shortly after independence to recreate the Byzantine Empire as an ethnic-Greek polity with capital in Constantinople. This nationalist aspiration drove Greek foreign relations for much of the first century after independence. The effort ended in disaster during the Greco-Turkish War spanning 1919 to 1922.
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Common questions
When did Odoacer depose Romulus Augustulus and what happened to the imperial regalia?
Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus in 476 AD. He sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople and acknowledged Emperor Zeno as his overlord.
Who declared himself Kayser-i Rum after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453?
Sultan Mehmed II declared himself Kayser-i Rum or Caesar of the Romans after conquering Constantinople in 1453. He justified this title by right of conquest consistent with Byzantine imperial ideology.
On what date did Pope Leo III crown Charlemagne Emperor in Rome?
Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor on Christmas Day 800. This coronation explicitly aimed to establish continuity with the Eastern Roman Empire.
When was the term Byzantine Empire first used internally by the empire itself?
The empire never used the expression Byzantine Empire internally until the fall of Constantinople. It kept calling itself the Roman Empire, Empire of the Romans, or Romania throughout its history.
What year did Ivan IV cement his title as Tsar of All Rus?
Ivan IV cemented his title as Tsar of All Rus in 1547. He had married Sophia Palaiologina niece of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI in 1472.
During which years did the Greco-Turkish War end the Megali Idea nationalist aspiration?
The effort ended in disaster during the Greco-Turkish War spanning 1919 to 1922. The Megali Idea developed shortly after Greek independence to recreate the Byzantine Empire as an ethnic-Greek polity with capital in Constantinople.