(Imperator), among the ancient Romans, signified a general of an army, who, for some extraordinary success, had been complimented with this appellation. Thus Augustus, having obtained no less than twenty famous victories, was as often saluted with the title emperor; and Titus was denominated emperor by his army after the reduction of Jerusalem.
Afterwards it came to denote an absolute monarch or supreme commander of an empire. In this sense Julius Caesar was called emperor; the same title descended with the dignity to Octavius Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula; and afterwards it became elective.
In strictness, the title emperor does not, and cannot, add anything to the rights of sovereignty: its effect is only to give precedence and pre-eminence above other sovereigns; and as such, it raises those invested with it to the summit of all human greatness.
It is disputed, whether or not emperors have the power of disposing of the regal title. It is true, they have sometimes taken upon them to erect kingdoms; and thus it is that Bohemia and Poland are said to have been raised to the dignity: thus also, the emperor Charles the Bald, in the year 877, gave Provence to Bofon, putting the diadem on his head, and decreeing him to be called "king," ut more priscorum imperatorum regibus videtur dominari. Add, that the emperor Leopold erected the ducal Prussia into a kingdom in favour of the elector of Brandenburg; and though several of the kings of Europe refused for some time to acknowledge him in that capacity, yet by the treaty of Utrecht in 1712 they all came in.
In the east, the title and quality of emperor are more frequent than they are among us; thus, the fo-
Vol. VIII. Part I. Emperor. sovereign princes of China, Japan, Mogul, Persia, &c. are all emperors of China, Japan, &c. In the year 1723, the czar of Muscovy assumed the title of emperor of all Russia, and procured himself to be recognized as such by most of the princes and states of Europe.
In the West, the title has been a long time restrained to the emperors of Germany. The first who bore it was Charlemagne, who had the title of emperor conferred on him by Pope Leo III., though he had all the power before. The imperial prerogatives were formerly much more extensive than they are at present. At the close of the Saxon race, A.D. 1024, they exercised the right of conferring all the ecclesiastical benefices in Germany; of receiving the revenues of them during a vacancy; of succeeding to the effects of intestate ecclesiastics; of confirming or annulling the elections of the popes; of assembling councils, and of appointing them to decide concerning the affairs of the church; of conferring the title of king on their vassals; of granting vacant fiefs; of receiving the revenues of the empire; of governing Italy as its proper sovereigns; of erecting free cities, and establishing fairs in them; of assembling the diets of the empire, and fixing the time of their duration; of coining money, and conferring the same privilege on the states of the empire; and of administering both high and low justice within the territories of the different states: but in the year 1437, they were reduced to the right of conferring all dignities and titles, except the privilege of being a state of the empire; of prece primariae, or of appointing once during their reign a dignitary in each chapter or religious house; of granting dispensations with respect to the age of majority; of erecting cities, and conferring the privilege of coining money; of calling the meetings of the diet, and presiding in them.
To which some have added, 1. That all the princes and states of Germany are obliged to do them homage, and swear fidelity to them. 2. That they, or their generals, have a right to command the forces of all the princes of the empire, when united together. 3. That they receive a kind of tribute from all the princes and states of the empire, for carrying on a war which concerns the whole empire, which is called the Roman month. For the rest, there is not a foot of land or territory annexed to his title: but ever since the reign of Charles IV., the emperors have depended entirely on their hereditary dominions as the only source of their power, and even of their subsistence. See Duke and Electors.
The kings of France were anciently also called emperors, at the time when they reigned with their sons, whom they affianced to the crown. Thus Hugh Capet, having affianced his son Robert, took the title of emperor, and Robert that of king; under which titles they are mentioned in the History of the Council of Rheims, by Gerbert, &c. King Robert is also called emperor of the French by Helgau of Fleury. Louis le Gros, upon affiancing his son, did the same. In the First Register of the King's Charters, fol. 166, are found letters of Louis le Gros, dated in 1116, in favour of Raymond bishop of Maguelonne, wherein he styles himself, Ludovicus, Dei ordinate providentia, Francorum imperator augustus. The kings of England had likewise anciently the title of emperors, as appears from a charter of King Edgar: Ego Edgarus An-empetrum gloriam habens, omniumque regum insularum oceani qua Britanniam circumcavisti, &c. imperator et dominus.
BERRY-BEARING HEATH, a genus of plants belonging to the monoeica class. In the natural method this genus is ranked by Linnaeus under the 5th order, Miscellaneous. See Botany Index.