Investiture

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Investiture

Investiture, from the Latin (preposition in and verb vestire, 'dress' from vestis 'robe') is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent

Incumbent

The incumbent, in politics, is the holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent....
(heir, elect of nominee) in public office, especially by taking possession of its insignia

Insignia

Insignia is a symbol or token of personal power , status or office, or of an official body of government or jurisdiction. Insignia are especially used as an emblem of a specific or general authority....
. The term is normally reserved for formal offices of state

State

A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states....
, aristocracy

Aristocracy

Aristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number....
and church

Church

File:Pisgah.jpgFile:Fordekyrkje.jpgFile:Almakerek2.jpgFile:ChurchB.JPGFile:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S36049, Frankreich, Lens, Kirche.jpgA church building is a building or structure whose primary purpose is to facilitate the meeting of a Ecclesia ....
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In the feudal system investiture was the ceremonial transfer of a fief by an overlord to a vassal

Vassal

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Encyclopedia

Investiture, from the Latin (preposition in and verb vestire, 'dress' from vestis 'robe') is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent

Incumbent

Insignia

State

A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states....
, aristocracy

Aristocracy

Church

Vassal

A vassal in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudal of medieval Europe, is one who enters into mutual obligations with a monarch, usually of military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain guarantees, which came to include the terrain held as a fiefdom....
. The lord invested the vassal with a fiefdom, by giving a symbol of the land or office conveyed in return for an oath of fealty. From feudal times up to the present, the term has been used in ecclesiastical law to refer to a cleric

Cleric

A cleric , clergyman , or churchman is a member of the clergy of a religion, especially one who is a priest, preacher, or other religious professional....
receiving the symbols of spiritual office, such as the pastoral ring, mitre

MITRE

The Mitre Corporation, officially trademarked as MITRE, is a public-interest not-for-profit organization based in Bedford, Massachusetts and McLean, Virginia....
and staff

Staff of office

A staff of office is a staff , the carrying of which often denotes an official's position, a social rank or a degree of social prestige .Church sidesman or dodsman bear sticks or rod s or wands of office; bishops may wield their croziers or crooks; monarchs often have a sceptre signifying their office....
, signifying transfer of the office.

As the insignia can include the formal dress and adornment (robes of state, headdress etcetera) the etymology refers to, but also other regalia in the widest sense, such as a throne or other seat of office, the word is a convenient generic term, also for such more specific cases as coronation

Coronation

A coronation is a ceremony marking the investiture of a monarch with regal power, specifically involving the placement of a coronation crown upon his or her head, and the presentation of other items of regalia....
(see that article and regalia

Regalia

Regalia is Latin plurale tantum for the privileges and the insignia characteristic of a Sovereignty.The word stems from the Latin substantivation of the adjective regalis, 'regal', itself from Rex, 'king'....
for more on such ceremonies) and enthronement

Enthronement

An enthronement is a ceremony of inauguration, sitting for the first time on a throne. The throne is seen as a symbol of authority, both secular and religious....
, though these are also used (rather imprecisely, by analogy) in such extended sense.

Secular usage

The term is used to describe the installation of individuals in institutions that usually have been extant from feudal times. For example, the installation of heads of state and various other state functions with ceremonial roles are invested with office. Usually the investiture involves ceremonial transfer of the symbols of the particular office

Judges in many countries, including justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
, are invested with their office. American justices typically take two oaths: one to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and the other to apply the principle of Equal Protection to the rich and the poor (source: ). Likewise, university presidents, rectors and chancellors are invested with office.

In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, around 2,600 people are invested personally by The Queen

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known as the Commonwealth realms: Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Monarchy of Canada, Monarchy of Australia, Monarchy of New Zealand, Monarchy of Jamaica, Monarchy of Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Monarchy of the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Sain...
or a member of the Royal Family

Royal family

A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term "imperial family" more appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress regnant, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate in reference to the relatives of a reigning duke, grand duke, or prince....
. A list of those to be honoured is published twice a year, in either the New Year's Honours List or The Queen's Birthday Honours List. Approximately 22 Investitures are held annually in Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal entertaining, and a major tourist attraction....
, one or two at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
and one in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the Capital , largest city and most populous Unitary authority#Wales in Wales. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for many national cultural and sport institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of Welsh Assembly Government ....
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Ecclesiastical usage

Lay investiture was the appointment of bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
s, abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery....
s, and other church officials by feudal

Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
lords and vassals. The secular ruler usually invested the elect/appointee with the insignia of his ecclesiastic office, while the Pope crowned the Holy Roman Emperor (elected by the German Electoral Princes).

The question who should invest (or more to the point, appoint) whom was the subject of an epic conflict between the Catholic church (mainly papacy) and state (mainly the Holy Roman Empire) in the Middle Ages during the so-called Investiture Controversy

Investiture Controversy

The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was an 11th century dispute between Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Gregory VII over who would control appointments of church officials ....
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