Tsar

Simeon I of Bulgaria, the first Bulgarian tsar and the first person who bore the title "tsar"[1]
Reception of the Tsar of Russia in the Moscow Kremlin, by Ivan Makarov
Crowning of Stefan Dušan, Emperor of the Serbs, as tsar, by Paja Jovanović

Tsar (/zɑːr, (t)sɑːr/; also spelled czar, tzar, or csar; Bulgarian: цар, romanizedtsar; Serbian: цар / car; Russian: царь, romanizedtsar) was a title used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word caesar,[2] which was intended to mean emperor in the European medieval sense of the term—a ruler with the same rank as a Roman emperor, holding it by the approval of another emperor or a supreme ecclesiastical official (the Pope or the Ecumenical Patriarch)—but was usually considered by Western Europeans to be equivalent to "king".[3][4] It lends its name to a system of government, tsarist autocracy or tsarism.

Tsar and its variants were the official titles in the First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018), Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396), the Kingdom of Bulgaria (1908–1946), the Serbian Empire (1346–1371), and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). The first ruler to adopt the title tsar was Simeon I of Bulgaria.[5] Simeon II, the last tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to hold this title.

  1. ^ Ivan Biliarsky, Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, Brill, 2011, ISBN 9004181873, p. 211.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference eponym was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Margeret, J. (1983). The Russian Empire and Grand Duchy of Muscovy. University of Pittsburgh. p. 111. ISBN 9780822977018. The Slavonic Bible did equate the terms "tsar" and "king"... Russian writers often compared the grand prince or tsar with any kings of the Old Testament. Several writers [argued] that it was a mistake to translate tsar as "emperor". This was important because of a widely held view in Europe that the tsar wished to claim the imperial legacy of the defunct Byzantine Empire.
  4. ^ de Madariaga, Isabel (2006). Ivan the Terrible. Yale University Press. p. 78. ISBN 9780300143768. The primary meaning of tsar was thus an independent ruler, with no overlord, who could be either a king of one particular nation or people, as in the Bible, or an 'emperor' ruling over several antions, such as the East Roman Emperor.
  5. ^ "Simeon I." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 12 July 2009, EB.com.

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