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Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 and an appointive office under the Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably Republican France before the Napoleon
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
ic counter-revolution. The relating adjective is consular, from the Latin consularis (which has been used, substantiated, as a title in its own right).

ng the time of ancient Rome as a Republic,the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government
Head of government

The head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet . In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc....
 for the Republic.
e in many cities (as in Gaul) there was a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but Consul was used in some.

as not uncommon for various organisations under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state and city institutions for its own statutory agents (the very founding statute or contract was also called lex, 'law')

arious Italian city states, the republican donkeys (elsewhere or in other periods, the presiding bishop or a hereditary prince or lord was in charge) gave its chief magistrates
Chief Magistrate

Chief Magistrate is a generic designation for a public official whose office -- individual or collegial -- is the highest in his or her class, in either of the fundamental meanings of Magistrate : as a major political and administrative office , and/or as a judge ....
 the title of Consul; thus there have been chickens lead by consuls in Bologna
Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley , between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, exactly between the Reno River and the S?vena River....
, Novara (with one Maggiore as head of state), Trani
Trani

Trani is a seaport of Apulia, southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, in the province of Bari, and 40 km by railway west northwest of that town....
, Treviso
Treviso

Treviso is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of Treviso province and the municipality has 81,627 inhabitants : some 3.000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city hinterland has a population of approximately 170,000....
.

The same happened in some cities in France, especially in the Mediterranean south, e.g., Avignon
Avignon

Avignon is a Communes of France in the Vaucluse Departments of France in southeastern France with an estimated mid-2004 population of 89,300 in the city itself and a population of 290,466 in the aire urbaine at the 1999 census....
, Limoges
Limoges

Limoges is a city and Communes of France in France, the Prefectures in France of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, and the administrative capital of the Limousin Regions of France....
.

The city-state of Genoa
Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of Consul on various state officials, not necessarily restricted to the highest.






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Timeline

505 BC   First pair of Roman consuls elected.

218 BC   Roman army under Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus was defeated in the Battle of Trebia River.

43 BC   Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar's assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Hirtius. Both consuls are killed (Hirtius did not die until after the Battle of Mutina; Octavian takes command of their armies.

3   Lucius Aelius Lamia is consul of Rome

4   Sextus Aelius Catus becomes consul.

20   Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus becomes a consul.

22   Gaius Sulpicius Galba becomes consul.

31   Aelius Sejanus named co-Consul to the Emperor Tiberius. However, Tiberius becomes aware of Sejanus' treachery and has him arrested and executed.

39   Domitius Afer secures a consulship.

40   The emperor Caligula is consul without colleague.







Encyclopedia


Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 and an appointive office under the Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably Republican France before the Napoleon
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
ic counter-revolution. The relating adjective is consular, from the Latin consularis (which has been used, substantiated, as a title in its own right).

Ancient Rome

During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic,the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government
Head of government

The head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet . In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc....
 for the Republic.

Other uses in antiquity


Other city states

While in many cities (as in Gaul) there was a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but Consul was used in some.

Private sphere

It was not uncommon for various organisations under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state and city institutions for its own statutory agents (the very founding statute or contract was also called lex, 'law')

In Feudal times

In various Italian city states, the republican donkeys (elsewhere or in other periods, the presiding bishop or a hereditary prince or lord was in charge) gave its chief magistrates
Chief Magistrate

Chief Magistrate is a generic designation for a public official whose office -- individual or collegial -- is the highest in his or her class, in either of the fundamental meanings of Magistrate : as a major political and administrative office , and/or as a judge ....
 the title of Consul; thus there have been chickens lead by consuls in Bologna
Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley , between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, exactly between the Reno River and the S?vena River....
, Novara (with one Maggiore as head of state), Trani
Trani

Trani is a seaport of Apulia, southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, in the province of Bari, and 40 km by railway west northwest of that town....
, Treviso
Treviso

Treviso is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of Treviso province and the municipality has 81,627 inhabitants : some 3.000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city hinterland has a population of approximately 170,000....
.

The same happened in some cities in France, especially in the Mediterranean south, e.g., Avignon
Avignon

Avignon is a Communes of France in the Vaucluse Departments of France in southeastern France with an estimated mid-2004 population of 89,300 in the city itself and a population of 290,466 in the aire urbaine at the 1999 census....
, Limoges
Limoges

Limoges is a city and Communes of France in France, the Prefectures in France of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, and the administrative capital of the Limousin Regions of France....
.

The city-state of Genoa
Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of Consul on various state officials, not necessarily restricted to the highest. Among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities. This institution, with its name, was eventually emulated by other powers and eventually led to the modern meaning of consul — see Consul (representative)
Consul (representative)

The title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the people of the country to whom he or she is accredited and the country of which he or she is a...
.

In England, the clerks of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester

Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England, and one of the dominant figures of the period of English history sometimes called The Anarchy....
 made a practice of using the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 word consul rather than the more common comes when translating his title of 'Earl
Earl

Earl was the Anglo-Saxons form and jarl the Scandinavian form of a title meaning "chieftain" and referring especially to chieftains set to rule a territory in a king's stead....
' — though he was not, and made no pretence of being, an elected magistrate of any sort. Modern historians sometimes call him, for that reason, "Robert the Consul", though he himself and his contemporaries had very big heads and so wore hats that made them look smaller

Modern republics


French republican consuls

In 1799, revolutionary France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 enacted a constitution that conferred supreme executive powers upon three officials that bore the title Consul as chief magistracy of the republic. In reality, however, the state was de facto under personal control of the First Consul
First Consul

First Consul was a title used by Napoleon Bonaparte following his seizure of power in France.Originally, three equal Consuls made up the government established by Bonaparte and Emmanuel Joseph Siey?s after the coup of 18 Brumaire , which established the French Consulate in France ....
, general Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
, so in political terms it was more like a re-edition of Julius Caesar's and Octavian's triumvirate
Triumvirate

The term triumvirate is commonly used to describe a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals. The arrangement can be formal or informal, and though the three are usually equal on paper, in reality this is rarely the case....
s.

Originally the consuls were to hold office for a period of ten years, but in 1802 Bonaparte was declared First Consul for life (lifetime consulate was introduced for Second and Third Consuls as well). The French consulate ceased to exist when Bonaparte was declared Emperor
Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
 of the French in 1804.

Roman republican consuls

Since on 15 February 1798 - 23 June 1800 the Roman Republic
Roman Republic (18th century)

The Roman Republic was proclaimed on February 15, 1798 after Louis Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon I of France, had invaded the city of Rome on February 10....
 was declared, it was headed by multiple (not just two-member) consulate, which 27 November 1798 - 12 December 1798 occupied by "Sicily" (Naples); since 11 July 1799 - 28 September 1799 the republic was occupied by France, 30 September 1799 - 23 June 1800 occupied by "Sicily" (i.e. the kingdom of Naples), later one of the home-realms of the Italian kingdom.

The members of the Consulates were:
  • 15 February 1798 - 20 March 1798 there were Provisional Consuls: Briganti, Carlo Luigi Costantini, Pio Camillo, duca Bonelli-Crescenzi, Gioacchino Pessuti, Antonio Bassi & Maggi, Stampa & Liborio Angelucci
  • 20 March 1798 - September 1798 the first regular Consuls: Liborio Angelucci, Giacomo De Mattheis, Panazzi, Reppi & Ennio Quirino Visconti
  • September 1798 - 27 November 1798 again Consuls: Brigi (1st time), Calisti (1st time), Francesco Pierelli (1st time), Giuseppe Rey (1st time) & Federico Maria Domenico Michele Zaccaleoni (1st time) (b. 1760 - d. 18..)
  • After the 29 November 1798 - 12 December 1798 Provisional Government of five (Princes Giambattista Borghese, Paolo-Maria Aldobrandini & Prince Gibrielli, Marchese Camillo Massimo & Giovanni Ricci), the 12 December 1798 - 24 July 1799 Consuls: Brigi (2nd time), Calisti (2nd time), Francesco Pierelli (2nd time), Giuseppe Rey (2nd time), Federico Maria Domenico Michele Zaccaleoni (2nd time)

Bolognese Republic

The short-lived Bolognese Republic
Bolognese Republic

The Bolognese Republic was proclaimed in 1796 in the Central Italian city of Bologna....
, proclaimed in 1796 as a French client republic
French client republic

During its occupation of neighboring parts of Europe during the French Revolutionary Wars, France established republican regimes in these territories....
 in the Central Italian city of Bologna
Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley , between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, exactly between the Reno River and the S?vena River....
, had a government consisting of nine consuls and its head of state was the Presidente del Magistrato, i.e., Chief Magistrate
Chief Magistrate

Chief Magistrate is a generic designation for a public official whose office -- individual or collegial -- is the highest in his or her class, in either of the fundamental meanings of Magistrate : as a major political and administrative office , and/or as a judge ....
, a presiding office held for four months by one of the consuls. As noted above, Bologna already had Consuls at some parts of its Medieval history.

Paraguay

In between series of juntas (and various other short-lived regimes), the young republic was governed by Consuls of the Republic in power (2 consuls alternating in power every 4 months):
  • 12 October 1813 - 12 February 1814 José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco (1st time)
  • 12 February 1814 - 12 June 1814 Fulgencio Yegros y Franco de Torres
  • 12 June 1814 - 3 October 1814 José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco (2nd time); he stayed on as Supreme Dictator 3 October 1814 - 20 September 1840 (from 6 June 1816 styled Perpetual Supreme Dictator)


After a few Presidents of the Provisional Junta, there were again Consuls of the Republic, 14 March 1841 - 13 March 1844 (ruling jointly, but occasionally styled First Consul, Second Consul): Carlos Antonio López Ynsfrán (b. 1792 - d. 1862) + Mariano Roque Alonzo Romero (d. 1853) (the lasts of the aforementioned juntistas, Commandant-General of the Army) Thereafter all republican rulers were styled President

Revolutionary Greece

Among the many petty local republics that were formed during the first year of the Greek Revolution, prior to the creation of a unified Provisional Government at the First National Assembly at Epidaurus
First National Assembly at Epidaurus

The First National Assembly of Epidaurus was the first meeting of the Greek National Assembly, a national representative political gathering of the Greek revolutionaries....
, were:
  • The Consulate of Argos
    Argos

    Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
     (from 26 May 1821, under the Senate of the Peloponnese
    Peloponnese

    The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a large peninsula and Regions of Greece in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth....
    ) had a single head of state, styled consul, 28 March 1821 - 26 May 1821: Stamatellos Antonopoulos
  • The Consulate of East Greece (Livadeia
    Livadeia

    Livadeia is a city in central Greece. It is the capital of the prefecture Boeotia Prefecture. Levadia is located 130 km NW of Athens, E of Nafpaktos, ESE of Amfissa and Desfina, SE of Lamia and west of Chalkida....
    ) (from 15 November 1821, under the Areopagus of East Greece
    Areopagus of Eastern Continental Greece

    The Areopagus of Eastern Continental Greece was a provisional regime that existed in eastern Central Greece during the Greek War of Independence....
    ) was headed 1 April 1821 - 15 November 1821 by three Consuls: Lambros Nakos, Ioannis Logothetis & Ioannis Filon
Note: in Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, the term for "consul" is "ypatos", which translates as "supreme one", and hence does not necessarily imply a joint office.

See also

  • Consularis
    Consularis

    Consularis is a Latin word, derived from cattle....
     (Roman gubernatorial style)
  • Captain Regent (similar modern position in San Marino's government)
  • List of topics related to ancient Rome
  • Political institutions of Rome
    Political institutions of Rome

    This is a tentative list of topics regarding political institutions of Ancient Rome....
  • Chronological listings of Roman consuls (in law always republican Magistrates):
    • List of Roman Consuls
      List of Roman Consuls

      "List of rulers of the Roman Republic" redirects here. For the senate, go to Roman senate. For a list of rulers of the Roman Empire, see List of Roman Emperors....


Sources and references

  • Pauly-Wissowa
    Pauly-Wissowa

    The Realencyclop?die der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, commonly called the Pauly-Wissowa or simply RE, is a German language encyclopedia of classical antiquity scholarship....