Everything about Translatio Imperii totally explained
Translatio imperii,
Latin for "transfer of rule", is a concept invented in the
Middle Ages for describing
history as a
linear development: a succession of
transfers of power from one supreme ruler (
emperor) to the next.
Definition
Jacques Le Goff describes the "translatio imperii" concept as
typical for the Middle Ages for several reasons: 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.
Not surprisingly, each medieval author 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:
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
Virgil's use of
Aeneas (a
Trojan hero) as mythic founder of the city of
Rome in his
Aeneid. Continuing with this tradition, the twelfth-century anglo-Norman authors
Geoffrey of Monmouth (in his
Historia Regum Britanniae) and
Wace (in his
Brut) linked the founding of
Britain to the arrival of
Brutus of Troy, son of Aeneas. In a similar way, the French Renaissance author
Jean Lemaire de Belges (in his
Les Illustrations de Gaule et Singularités de Troie) linked the founding of Celtic
Gaul to the arrival of the Trojan "Francus", the son of
Hector; and of Celtic Germany to the arrival of "Bavo", the cousin of
Priam; in this way he established an illustrious genealogy for
Pepin and
Charlemagne (the legend of "Francus" would also serve as the basis for
Ronsard's epic poem, "La Franciade").
Further Information
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