Titles

[Spruce]

emperor isn't the same as the Roman Caesar,

emperor is more like "TAFKAP - the artist formerly known as P.",

some great rulers never called themselves emperor, but the thing is you need to be crowned emperor by someone or somebody else,

for me emperor is similar to "hey, look at me, I've got power, hey did everybody see me?", in my book it's = "downfall",

 

[Demetrios]

[nitpick]During the period between the 4th Crusade and the reconquest of Constantinople by the Greeks there was the Emperor of Thessalonike, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, the Emperor of Nicaea and the Emperor of Bulgaria, as well as the the Emperor of Trebizond who never ruled any European lands.

There was also an Emperor of Serbia at one point, as well as, for a very brief time, an Emperor of Cyprus. In addition, the Eastern Empire occasionally had co-Emperors.[/nitpick]

[nitpicking the nitpick]
The Empire of Trebizond for a short while after the Fourth Crusade ruled the previously Byzantine settlements in the south of the Crimea, which is definitely part of Europe[/nitpicking the nitpick]

The Latin Empire continued well into the 15th century in parts of Greece (chiefly the Principality of Achaia and the Duchy of Athens), so the period of three empires (East, West, and Latin) was about three centuries total. Also one of the kings of Castile was declared Emperor of Spain, but that fell apart after his death...

 

[unmerged(6159)]

The Holy Roman Empire was just a cheap knock of and there you actualy called the guy "emperor" but it was not king of kings.

Not really. The Emperor always asserted his primacy amoung all the rulers of (Latin) Europe. Not that he was first amoung equals, but rather that he was above all kings. And he also asserted his right to adjudicate between kings. Frederick II certainly didn't view his title as King of Naples as being equal to his title as emperor.

All of this was, of course, very theoretical. But then most things were in the Middle Ages.

 

[Gwalcmai]

How many Emperors existed in the history of Middle Ages Europe ?
2.
The Holy Roman and the regular Roman one.

[nitpick]The king of León used the title "Emperor of Spain". Recognition for that title swung a bit, depending on the relative strength of León and the other iberian kingdoms. Supposedly, Portugal became a kingdom recognizing the suzerainty of León, first. The title of King was an ego boost both to the ruler of Portugal and León, because the latter could claim to have kings as vassals. Of course, from there to "screw you, I renounce you as suzerain" was a very short step. [/nitpick]

 

[DaPacemDomine]

It should also be noted that Henry II of England went by the title, at least on several documented occasions, of Emperor, and often used as his surname 'Fitzempress' denoting that he counted that designation handed down through his mother, the Empress Matilda/Maud.

 

[unmerged(24560)]

I believe Tamas in his AAR mentioned forming a Duchy. Can anybody guess what he meant by that? Does that mean you can arbitrarily form provinces into a Duchy or are certain provinces a Duchy? Or what?

 

[unmerged(21401)]

he had captured a province himself(his private army) so it was his personal province, he then gave it to a trusted person, and he therefor became the duke of the province, and Hey presto a new duchy was formed

 

[Solmyr]

[nitpick]The king of León used the title "Emperor of Spain". Recognition for that title swung a bit, depending on the relative strength of León and the other iberian kingdoms. Supposedly, Portugal became a kingdom recognizing the suzerainty of León, first. The title of King was an ego boost both to the ruler of Portugal and León, because the latter could claim to have kings as vassals. Of course, from there to "screw you, I renounce you as suzerain" was a very short step. [/nitpick]

Technically, Portugal was a county when it was a vassal of Leon. When it became a kingdom, it became independent. Later on it was recognized as a fief of the Pope.

 

[Gwalcmai]

Both theories exist. The more nationalistic portuguese one is the "independent kingdom" one, but another one is that the treaty of Zamora, in which the title King of Portugal is first attributed to Afonso I, has that wording to mark that the king of León is Emperor of Spain, with kings as vassals. One of the main arguments for this being that the treaty didn't follow any great war of independence, and was signed in a town of León. It is deemed unlikely that Afonso went over to his cousin's place and extorted independence for his kingdom for no apparent reason.

 

[bgibbard]

I have noticed a couple of oddities about ducal titles in the AAR.

Tamas describes Salamon's cousin Géza as Duke of Temes, yet on the accompanying map the coat-of-arms in the province of Temes is shown on a comital (pointy-bottomed) shield, rather than a ducal (round-bottomed) shield. On the other hand, the identical coat-of-arms is shown in the adjacent province of Feher on a ducal shield. This seems counter-intuitive to me, and the reverse of what I would expect.

Also, rather later in the AAR, one of the Hungarian nobles is created "Duke of Torki". This is truly bizarre, as Torki isn't even in Hungary, or under Salamon's control: on those maps where it can be seen it is shown as a province of Galich.

 

[unmerged(21401)]

well, it the "duke" he instated had a claim to the duchy of torki, it would be possible.