Paramount Ruler
Encyclopedia
The term Paramount Ruler, or sometimes Paramount King, is a generic description, though occasionally also used as an actual title, for a number of rulers' position in relative terms, as the summit of a feudal-type pyramid of rulers of lesser polities (such as vassal princes) in a given historical and geographical context, often of different ranks, which all recognize the single Paramount Ruler as their senior, though not necessarily with effectively commanding authority (as in a true empire), but often rather a notion like the Western suzerainty
.
Whether the term is used where it could apply is essentially a matter of convention, and as the relatively vague, similar definitions overlap, its use may in certain cases coexist with the use of another term as those mentioned in the See also section.
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
.
Whether the term is used where it could apply is essentially a matter of convention, and as the relatively vague, similar definitions overlap, its use may in certain cases coexist with the use of another term as those mentioned in the See also section.
Domestic cases
- in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, i.e. the subcontinent, including present PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, the Muslim Sultans of Delhi, known as Grand MughalGrand MughalGrand Mughal or Mogul is a title coined by Europeans for the ruler of the Mughal Empire in India. It is especially associated with the third in the line, Akbar the Great . The Mughals themselves used the title Padishah....
s because of their Turkic ancestry tracing back to Genghis Khan, managed to bring most rulers of the so-called princely statePrincely stateA Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
s, in majority Hindu, under their imperial authority, deservedly expressed by the majestic style of Padshah (like the Ottoman Sultan of SultansSultan of Sultans"Sultan of Sultans" is the literal English translation of the original Turkish Sultan es-Selatin or Sultan us-Selatin. It is similar to the title Great Sultan, which is translated from Arabic....
and the Persian Shahanshah, both truly ruling vast Islamic Empires) of Hindus, but after a few generations they lost most of their power over the princes, and could hence rather be considered mere paramount rulers, at best receiving tribute and honorary trappings, while the true political hegemony progressively shifted to the new players, the European colonial powers. After a struggle against the French and their ally, Tippu Sultan (a short while styled Padishah Bahadur of Khudadad, a Muslim state in southern India), the British emerged victorious, mostly in the guise of the Honourable East India Company. Later they encouraged the ruler of AwadhAwadhAwadh , also known in various British historical texts as Oudh or Oude derived from Ayodhya, is a region in the centre of the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh...
(Oudh) to reject the Mughal's suzerainty and assume the style of Padishah themselves, till the British finally toppled both; still later, the British Crown declared itself, as successors to the Mughal Paramountcy, Emperors of India. - also in India (proper), the term has been used to describe the PeshwaPeshwaA Peshwa is the titular equivalent of a modern Prime Minister. Emporer Shivaji created the Peshwa designation in order to more effectively delegate administrative duties during the growth of the Maratha Empire. Prior to 1749, Peshwas held office for 8-9 years and controlled the Maratha army...
(though formally prime minister of the Maharaja Chatrapati of SataraSataraSatara is a city located in the Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. The town is 2320 ft. above sea-level, near the confluence of the Krishna and its tributary river Venna. The city was the capital of the Maratha empire in the 17th century, hence one of the the historical cities of...
who had lost power to him, so not a nominal Head of state) or his constitutional master as hegemon of the MahrattaMahrattaMahratta may refer to* the Maratha caste, a ruling class of the Indian subcontinent* the Maratha EmpireShips*SS Mahratta , lost in a collision with SS Victoria in 1887 in the River Hoogly.* SS Mahratta , lost on the Goodwin Sands in 1909....
confederation, which failed in its 'nationalist' bid for control over India against the British Raj - the Yang di-Pertuan AgongYang di-Pertuan AgongThe Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the head of state of Malaysia. The office was established in 1957 when the Federation of Malaya gained independence....
, a Malay title usually translated as "Supreme Head", "Supreme Ruler" or "Paramount Ruler", is the official title of the constitutional head of state of the federal state of Malaysia, elected for five years from among nine monarchs of constitutive states on the Malaysian peninsula. - analogous is the President, formally elected by the rulers of the member states of the UAE from among their number, de facto hereditary in the person of the Hakim of Abu DhabiAbu DhabiAbu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
emirate (not unlike the Habsburg emperors in the Holy Roman Empire) - on the Comoros archipelago, certain rulers of a few major sultanates on Grande Comore have been recognized by the paramount title of Sultani tibe of the island
- in the presently Ghanese realm of * paramount ruler styled Yagbongwura *
Use for foreign rulers
- Since on 1 March 1900 the SamoaSamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
n archipelago (a Polynesian nation, royal style O le Tupu o Samoa; was since 7 November 1889 under Tripartite German-British-U.S. protectorate, represented by the three Consuls) is annexed by Germany alone (except for the part that became American Samoa; hence long known as Western Samoa), the German Kaiser (Hohenzollern emperor) is styled there Tupu Sili o Samoa "Paramount King of Samoa" until the allied take-over during World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. - the British Monarch, styled King or Queen, is still recognised as Paramount Chief of FijiFijiFiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
(even after it became a republic within the Commonwealth, of which H.M. also is the sole Head).
See also
- Great KingGreat KingGreat King and the equivalent in many languages is a semantic title for historical titles of Monarchs, suggesting an elevated status among the host of Kings and Princes...
- equivalent, among rulers who all can be considered Kings - Hegemon - irrespective to titles, mere preponderance in power terms
- High KingHigh kingA high king is a king who holds a position of seniority over a group of other kings, without the title of Emperor; compare King of Kings.Rulers who have been termed "high king" include:...
- equivalent, among rulers who all can be considered Kings - King of KingsKing of KingsKing of Kings is a title that has been used by several monarchies and empires throughout history. The title originates in the Ancient Near East. It is broadly the equivalent of the later title Emperor....
- equivalent, among rulers who all can be considered Kings - Paramount ChiefParamount chiefA paramount chief is the highest-level traditional chief or political leader in a regional or local polity or country typically administered politically with a chief-based system. This definition is used occasionally in anthropological and archaeological theory to refer to the rulers of multiple...
- equivalent in relative terms, but among tribal people without a fully developed state, often rather autonomous within a 'real' state