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Marriage and Power (Images of Authority)

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Biliarsky I.

Studia Ceranea

2015

vol. 5

9-32

This article is devoted to the question concerning the conceptualization of power and its religious basis in pre-modern societies, carried out through a study of the inauguration rituals – especially the marriage – that mark not only the instigation of the power of the ruler but also suggests its religious basis, conceptualization and justification. It is grounded on source material from Byzantium and its legacy in the countries of South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. The analysis has shown the woman as legitimating power in the case of royalty in connection with its correspondence to marriage. The legitimation and confirmation of the kingship in some pagan cultures passed through a hierogamy, conceived as a unity with the universal harmony in the image of a chthonic goddess. From the Christian point of view the relations between the royal bride and the bridegroom was under the archetypal model of the relation of Jesus Christ to His Church. He (Christ and the christian ruler) became a priest and king of the order of Melchisedek. That is why the rite of passage to Kingship corresponds to that of marriage, instituted by Lord Jesus Christ under the model of His own relation to the Church.

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

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Dall’Aglio F.

Studia Ceranea

2019

vol. 9

171-185

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.

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2 Studia Ceranea

1 Biliarsky I.

1 Dall’Aglio F.

1 2019

1 2015

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Marriage and Power (Images of Authority)

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