Translatio imperii

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Translatio imperii (Latin for "transfer of rule") is a historiographical concept that was prominent in the Middle Ages in the thinking and writing of elite groups of the population in Europe, but was the reception of a concept from antiquity.[1][2] In this concept the process of decline and fall of an empire theoretically is being replaced by a natural succession from one empire to another. Translatio implies that an empire metahistorically can be transferred from hand to hand and place to place, from Troy to Romans and Greeks to Franks (both remaining Romans) and further on to Spain, and has therefore survived.[3]

In classic antiquity, an authoritative user of this scheme was Virgil, who has been traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. In his work Aeneid, that has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome, he linked the Rome in which he lived, reigned by its first emperor Caesar Augustus, with Troy. The discourse of translatio imperii may be traced from the ninth century to the fourteenth, and may be carried on into the sixteenth century or even further.[3] In the Early modern period, the translatio scheme was used by many authors who wished to legitimate their new centre of power and to provide it with prestige. In Renaissance Florence, humanists wrote Latin poems fashioning their city as the new Rome, and members of the Medici family as Roman rulers.[2]

More generally speaking, history is in this concept viewed as a linear succession of transfers of an imperium that invests supreme power in a singular ruler, an "emperor", or sometimes even several emperors, e.g., the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Holy Roman Empire.[citation needed] The concept is closely linked to translatio studii, the geographic movement of learning. Both terms are thought to have their origins in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible (verses 39–40).[4]

Definitions

French historian Jacques Le Goff (1924 – 2014) did describe the translatio imperii concept as "typical" for the Middle Ages for several reasons:[5]

  • The idea of linearity of time and history was typical for the Middle Ages;
  • The translatio imperii idea typically also neglected simultaneous developments in other parts of the world (of no importance to medieval Europeans);
  • The translatio imperii idea didn't separate "divine" history from the history of "worldly power": medieval Europeans considered divine (supernatural) and material things as part of the same continuum, which was their reality. Also the causality of one reign necessarily leading to its successor was often detailed by the medieval chroniclers, and is seen as a typical medieval approach.

To be noted is that Le Goff in saying that, did refer to a very small group of rich and prosperous people living during the Middle Ages. For the largest part of the citizens, translatio imperii was unknown.[3]

Different medieval high-class authors described the translatio imperii as a succession leaving the supreme power in the hands of the monarch ruling the region of the author's provenance:

Later, continued and reinterpreted by modern and contemporary movements and authors (some known examples):

Medieval and Renaissance authors often linked this transfer of power by genealogically attaching a ruling family to an ancient Greek or Trojan hero; this schema was modeled on

Britain to the arrival of Brutus of Troy, son of Aeneas.[11]

In a similar way, the French Renaissance author

Ronsard
's epic poem, "La Franciade").

From the Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire to the Holy Roman Empire

Famous and very successful was the use of the idea of the translatio imperii in establishing a link between the

Otto I and Pope John XII, where Otto had his troups positioned near Rome. As a result, the Pope accepted Otto fashioning himself as Charlemagne's and the Carolingian Empire's successor, and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries. From 962 until the twelfth century, the empire was one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe, as the Holy Roman Empire
.

From the Inca Empire to the Spanish Empire

Titu Cusi Yupanqui, would ratify this transfer with the signing of the treaty of Acobamba [es
].

Inca Emperors
.

This application of the Translatio Imperii, for the Kingdoms of Peru, was invoked as the legitimacy tool, by the

Spanish monarchy and its promotion of miscegenation.[15]

Given this, the Kings of Spain would be the legitimate successors of the Sapa Incas, therefore,

Spanish Habsburgs (marked with a cross),[18] or the painting by Juan Núñez Vela y Ribera, in the Copacabana monastery, where reference is made to the "poderosissimo Inga D. Carlos II Augustissimo Emperador de la América".[19] Meanwhile, the King of Spain would flaunt his rights as Sapa Inca, through the title King of the West Indies, which is the sum of the rights of the Inca and Aztec crowns, which has been commemorated with the statues of the Aztec and Inca Emperors at the main entrance of the Royal Palace of Madrid.[20]

This in turn gave guarantees to the

Spanish law, considering themselves twinned with the Spanish Nobility, the indigenous nobility receiving multiple shields and privileges from the Crown. Authors like the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega would make a lot of reference to this Translatio imperii in his works.[21]

The claims of Spanish rights in the Kingdoms of Peru is in this way:

Pre-Inca Kingdoms and Andean civilizations → Incan Empire/Tahuantinsuyo → Christianity → Spanish Empire

The Rus' land from the Middle Dnieper to Suzdalia

Further information: Trinity Chronicle § Value for historical and textual criticism; and Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia

A long-standing problem in the

Vladimir on the Kliazma and then to Moscow.'[34][33]

See also

References

  1. ^ Oellig 2023.
  2. ^ a b Verreth, Louis. "Claiming Ancient Rome's Heritage: Translatio imperii as an Anchoring Device in the Neo-Latin Poetry of Florence in the Age of Lorenzo de' Medici (1469-1492)". Leiden University. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  3. ^ a b c Pocock, J.G.A. (2003) Barbarism and Religion, Cambridge University Press | Chapter 7 - The historiography of the translatio imperii (pp. 127-150) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511490675.009
  4. ^ Carol Ann Newsom and Brennan W. Breed, Daniel: A Commentary, Westminster John Knox Press, 2014, p. 89.
  5. ISBN 0-631-17566-0
    – "translatio imperii" is discussed in Part II, Chapter VI, section on "Time, eternity and history".
  6. ISBN 9780801451485
    .
  7. ^ De Troyes, Chrétien. Cligès. Circa 1176.
  8. ^ Prose Edda Prologue
  9. ^ a b Verreth, Louis. "Claiming Ancient Rome's Heritage: Translatio imperii as an Anchoring Device in the Neo-Latin Poetry of Florence in the Age of Lorenzo de' Medici (1469-1492)". Leiden University. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  10. ISBN 978-0253008749
    .
  11. ^ Bratu, Cristian. "Translatio, autorité et affirmation de soi chez Gaimar, Wace et Benoît de Sainte-Maure." The Medieval Chronicle 8 (2013): 135–164.
  12. ^ See Garland, p. 89, who explains that Aetios was attempting to usurp power on behalf of his brother Leo.
  13. ^ Incas, virreyes y presidentes del Perú, Gustavo Siles (1970).
  14. ^ Juan de Betanzos y el Tahuantinsuyo. Nueva edición de la Suma y Narración de los Incas, Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino (2016).
  15. ISBN 978-84-9096-345-6
    , retrieved 2023-02-16
  16. ^ "En busca del Inca, por Rafael Aita – Revista Cocktail" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  17. ^ "Efigies de los incas, la legitimación dinástica de la conquista a través del arte". Efigies de los incas, la legitimación dinástica de la conquista a través del arte. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  18. ^ EFIGIE DE LOS INCAS O REYES DEL PERÚ RETRATO
  19. ^ «Efigie de los Incas o Reyes». Cusco School. Century XVIII. Collection of the Carmen Museum of Maipú, Chile.
  20. ^ "¿Qué pintan Moctezuma y Atahualpa en el Palacio Real?". abc (in Spanish). 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  21. ^ Travelling Concepts, Transformation of Values, Opening of New Ways – The Inca Garcilaso de la Vega as Transcultural Translator-_eleonore_zapf.pdf
  22. ^ a b Halperin 2016, p. 16.
  23. ^ Halperin 2022, p. vii–viii.
  24. ^ Kloss 2012, p. 3.
  25. ^ a b c Plokhy 2006, pp. 67–68.
  26. ^ a b Halperin 2010, pp. 281–282.
  27. ^ Plokhy 2006, p. 49.
  28. ^ Plokhy 2006, p. 69.
  29. ^ Halperin 2022, p. 11.
  30. ^ Halperin 2022, p. vii.
  31. ^ a b Halperin 2022, pp. 11–12.
  32. ^ Plokhy 2006, p. 70.
  33. ^ a b Halperin 2010, p. 282.
  34. ^ Plokhy 2006, p. 137.

Bibliography

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