
s or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia
and Russian Empire
, it is known as Tsarist autocracy
, or Tsarism. The term is derived from the Latin
word Caesar
, which meant "Emperor
" in the European medieval sense of the term - a ruler who claims the same rank as a Roman
emperor, with the approval of another emperor or a supreme ecclesiastical official (the Pope
or the Ecumenical Patriarch).
Occasionally, the word could be used to designate other, secular, supreme rulers.
1547 Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
1613 Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
1676 Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.
1698 In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
1703 Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
1727 Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1762 Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia.
1801 Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle.
1855 Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1861 Emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia: Tsar Alexander II signs the emancipation reform into law, abolishing Russian serfdom.

s or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia
and Russian Empire
, it is known as Tsarist autocracy
, or Tsarism. The term is derived from the Latin
word Caesar
, which meant "Emperor
" in the European medieval sense of the term - a ruler who claims the same rank as a Roman
emperor, with the approval of another emperor or a supreme ecclesiastical official (the Pope
or the Ecumenical Patriarch).
Occasionally, the word could be used to designate other, secular, supreme rulers. In Russia and Bulgaria the imperial connotations of the term were blurred with time, due to the medieval translations of the Bible, and, by the 19th century, it had come to be viewed as an equivalent of King
..
"Tsar" was the official title of the supreme and great ruler in the following states:
- First Bulgarian EmpireFirst Bulgarian EmpireThe First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
, in 913–1018 - Second Bulgarian EmpireSecond Bulgarian EmpireThe Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
, in 1185–1422 - Serbian EmpireSerbian EmpireThe Serbian Empire was a short-lived medieval empire in the Balkans that emerged from the Serbian Kingdom. Stephen Uroš IV Dušan was crowned Emperor of Serbs and Greeks on 16 April, 1346, a title signifying a successorship to the Eastern Roman Empire...
, in 1346–1371 - Tsardom of RussiaTsardom of RussiaThe Tsardom of Russia was the name of the centralized Russian state from Ivan IV's assumption of the title of Tsar in 1547 till Peter the Great's foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721.From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 a year...
, in 1547–1721 (replaced in 1721 by imperatorImperatorThe Latin word Imperator was originally a title roughly equivalent to commander under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as part of their cognomen. The English word emperor derives from imperator via Old French Empreur...
, but remained in common usage until 1917) - Tsardom of Bulgaria, in 1908–1946
The first ruler to adopt the title tsar was Simeon I of Bulgaria
. Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to have borne the title Tsar as well as being the last surviving person to do so.
Meaning in Slavic languages
The title Tsar is derived from the Latin word for emperor, Caesar. In comparison to the corresponding Latin word "imperator", the Byzantine Greek term basileuswas used differently depending on whether it was in a contemporary political context and in a historical or Biblical context. In the history of the Greek language, the word had originally meant something like "potentate", it had gradually approached the meaning of "king" in the Hellenistic Period
, and it came to designate "emperor" after the inception in the Roman Empire
. As a consequence, Byzantine sources continued to call the Biblical and ancient kings "basileus", even when that word had come to mean "emperor" when referring to contemporary monarchs (while it was never applied to Western European kings, whose title was transliterated from Latin "rex" as , or to other monarchs, for whom designations such as "leader", "chieftain" were used.)
As the Greek "basileus" was consistently rendered as "tsar" in Slavonic translations of Greek texts, the dual meaning was transferred into Church Slavonic. Thus, "tsar" was not only used as an equivalent of Latin "imperator" (in reference to the rulers of the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and to native rulers) but was also used to refer to Biblical rulers and ancient kings.
From this ambiguity, the development has moved in different directions in the different Slavic languages. Thus, the Bulgarian language
and Russian language
no longer use tsar as an equivalent of the term emperor/imperator as it exists in the West European (Latin) tradition. Currently, the term tsar refers to native sovereigns, ancient and Biblical rulers, as well as monarchs in fairy tales and the like. The title of king (Russian korol' , Bulgarian kral) is perceived as alien and is reserved for (West) European royalty (and, by extension, for those modern monarchs outside of Europe whose titles are translated as king in English, roi in French etc.). Foreign monarchs of imperial status, both inside and outside of Europe, ancient as well as modern, are generally called imperator (император), rather than tsar.
In contrast, the Serbian
, (along with the closely related Croatian language
and Bosnian language
) and Ukrainian language
translates "emperor" (Latin imperator) as tsar (car, цар) and not as imperator, whereas the equivalent of king (kralj, краљ, король) is used to designate monarchs of non-imperial status, Serbian as well as foreign ancient rulers - just like Latin "rex". Biblical rulers in Serbian are called цар and in Croatian kralj.
In the West Slavic languages and Slovene language, the use of the terms is identical to the one in English and German: a king is designated with one term (Czech král, Slovak kráľ, Polish król, Slovene kralj), an emperor is designated with another, derived from Caesar as in German (Czech císař, Slovak cisár, Polish cesarz, Slovene cesar; Croat cesar and Montenegrin ćesar fall into disuse in the last century), while the exotic term "tsar" (Czech, Slovene and Polish car, Slovak cár) is reserved for the Russian and Bulgarian rulers.
Bulgaria

. However, the title "tsar" (and its Byzantine Greek equivalent "basileus
") was actually adopted and used for the first time by his son Simeon I
, following a makeshift imperial coronation performed by the Patriarch of Constantinople
in 913. After an attempt by the Byzantine Empire
to revoke this major diplomatic concession and a decade of intensive warfare, the imperial title of the Bulgarian ruler was recognized by the Byzantine government in 924 and again at the formal conclusion of peace in 927. Since in Byzantine political theory there was place for only two emperors, Eastern and Western (as in the Late Roman Empire
), the Bulgarian ruler was crowned basileus as "a spiritual son" of the Byzantian basileus.
Some of the earliest attested occurrences of the contraction "tsar" (car' ) from "tsesar" (cěsar' ) are found in the grave inscription of the chărgubilja (ichirgu-boil
) Mostich
, a contemporary of Simeon I and Peter I, from Preslav.
It has been hypothesized that Simeon's title was also recognized by a papal mission to Bulgaria in or shortly after 925, as a concession in exchange for a settlement in the Bulgarian-Croatia
n conflict or a possible attempt to return Bulgaria to union with Rome. Thus, in the later diplomatic correspondence conducted in 1199–1204 between the Bulgarian ruler Kaloyan and Pope Innocent III, Kaloyan — whose self-assumed Latin title was "imperator Bulgarorum et Blachorum" — claims that the imperial crowns of Simeon I
, his son Peter I
, and of Samuel
were somehow derived from the Papacy. The Pope, however, only speaks of reges, kings of Bulgaria in his replies, and eventually grants only that lesser title to Kaloyan, who nevertheless proceeds to thank the Pope for the "imperial title" conferred upon him.
The title, later augmented with epithets and titles such as autocrat
to reflect current Byzantine practice, was used by all of Simeon's successors until the complete conquest of Bulgaria
by the Ottoman Empire
in 1422. In Latin sources the Emperor of Bulgaria is sometimes designated "Emperor of Zagora" (with variant spellings). Various additional epithets and descriptions apart, the official style read "Emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks".

, the sultan
was frequently referred to as "tsar". This may be related to the fact that he had claimed the legacy of the Byzantine Empire or to the fact that the sultan was called "Basileus" in medieval Greek.
After Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its new monarchs were at first autonomous prince (knjaz). With the declaration of full independence, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria
adopted the traditional title "tsar" in 1908 and it was used until the abolition of the monarchy in 1946. However, these titles were not generally perceived as equivalents of "Emperor" any longer. In the Bulgarian as in the Greek vernacular, the meaning of the title had shifted (although Paisius
' Slavonic-Bulgarian History
(1760–1762) had still distinguished between the two concepts). Accordingly, Ferdinand and his successors, Boris III
and Simeon II
, used the title of "king" in English. In the same fashion, the modern rulers of Greece used the traditional title of basileus
in Greek and the title of "king" or "roi" in English and French.
Kievan Rus'
The term "czar" was used once by Church officials of Kievan Rus'in the naming of Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev
. This may be connected to Yaroslav's war against Byzantium and to his efforts to distance himself from Constantinople
. However, other princes of Kievan Rus'
never styled themselves as "czars". After the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders and the Mongol invasion of Rus' (1237–1240), the term "tsar" was applied by some people of Kievan Rus'
to the Mongol (Tatar
) overlords of the Rus' principalities.
Serbia

) since 1077, which had been granted by the Papacy during an early union with the Western Church. In 1345, Stefan Uroš IV Dušan began to style himself "Emperor of Serbians and Greeks" (the Greek renderings read "basileus and autokrator
of Serbians and Romans"), and was crowned as such in Skopje
on Easter
(April 16) 1346 by the newly created Serbian patriarch, alongside with the patriarch and the autocephalous archbishop of Ohrid. On the same occasion, he had his wife Helena of Bulgaria
crowned as empress and his son associated in power as king. When Dušan died in 1355, his son Stefan Uroš V became the next "emperor of Serbians and Greeks". The new emperor's uncle Simeon Uroš
(Siniša) contested the succession and claimed the same titles as a dynast in Thessaly. After his death around 1370, he was succeeded in his claims by his son John Uroš
, who retired to a monastery in about 1373.
With the extinction of Nemanjić dynasty in Serbia in 1371, the imperial title became obsolete (though it was retained by Stefan Uroš IV's widow Elena of Bulgaria until her death in 1376/1377). The royal title was preserved by Vukašin Mrnjavčević
, a Serbian ruler in Macedonia
, who had been associated by Stefan Uroš
Several other Serbian rulers are known traditionally as tsars, although they realistically cannot be called so. They include Tsar Lazar, Tsar Jovan Nenad and Tsar Stephen the Little.
During the five-century period of Ottoman rule in Serbia
, the sultan
was frequently referred to as "car", for instance in South Slavic
oral tradition
.
When Serbia, which had emerged as an autonomous principality after a long period of Ottoman domination, became an independent kingdom, its prince, knjaz, adopted the traditional title of king, kralj. The King's full style was, between 6 March 1882 and 1 December 1918 (New Style): По милости Божијој и вољи народној краљ Србије "By the grace of God
and the will of the people, King of Serbia".
Russia
The first Russian ruler to openly break with the khan of the Golden Horde, Mikhail of Tver, assumed the title of "Basileus of Rus" and "czar".
Following his assertion of independence from the khan and perhaps also his marriage to an heiress of the Byzantine Empire
, "Veliki Kniaz
" Ivan III
of Muscovy started to use the title of tsar regularly in diplomatic relations with the West. From about 1480, he is designated as "imperator" in his Latin correspondence, as "keyser" in his correspondence with the Swedish regent, as "kejser" in his correspondence with the Danish king, Teutonic Knights, and the Hanseatic League
. Ivan's son Vasily III
continued using these titles, as his Latin letters to Clement VII testify: "Magnus Dux Basilius, Dei gratia Imperator et Dominator totius Russiae, nec non Magnus Dux Woldomeriae", etc. (In the Russian version of the letter, "imperator" corresponds to "tsar"). Herberstein correctly observed that the titles of "kaiser" and "imperator" were attempts to render the Russian term "tsar" into German and Latin, respectively.

", after Constantinople had fallen
. The Muscovite ruler was recognized as an emperor by Maximilian I
, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
in 1514. However, the first Russian ruler to be formally crowned as "tsar of all Russia" was Ivan IV
, until then known as Grand Prince of all Russia (1547). Some foreign ambassadors — namely, Herberstein (in 1516 and 1525), Daniel Printz a Buchau (in 1576 and 1578) and Just Juel (in 1709) — indicated that the word "tsar" should not be translated as "emperor", because it is applied by Russians to David, Solomon and other Biblical kings, which are simple "reges". On the other hand, Jacques Margeret
, a bodyguard of False Demetrius I, argues that the title of "tsar" is more honorable for Muscovites than "kaiser" or "king" exactly because it was God and not some earthly potentate who ordained to apply it to David, Solomon, and other kings of Israel. Samuel Collins, a court physician to Tsar Alexis in 1659-66, styled the latter "Great Emperour", commenting that "as for the word Czar, it has so near relation to Cesar... that it may well be granted to signifie Emperour. The Russians would have it to be an higher Title than King, and yet they call David Czar, and our kings, Kirrols, probably from Carolus Quintus, whose history they have among them".
In short, the Westerners were at a loss as to how the term "tsar" should be translated properly. In 1670, Pope Clement X expressed doubts that it would be appropriate for him to address Alexis as "tsar", because the word is "barbarian" and because it stands for an "emperor", whereas there is only one emperor in the Christian world and he does not reside in Moscow. Reviewing the matter, abbot Scarlati opined that the term is not translatable and therefore may be used by the Pope without any harm. Paul Menesius
, the Russian envoy in Vatican, seconded Scarlati's opinion by saying that there is no adequate Latin translation for "tsar", as there is no translation for "shah" or "sultan". In order to avoid such difficulties of translation and to assert his imperial ambitions more clearly, an edict of Peter I the Great
decreed that the Latin-based title imperator should be used instead of "tsar" (1721).
The title tsar remained in common usage, and also officially as the designator of various titles signifying rule over various states absorbed by the Muscovite monarchy (such as the former Tatar khanates and the Georgian Orthodox kingdom). In the 18th century, it was increasingly viewed as inferior to "emperor" or highlighting the oriental side of the term. Upon annexing Crimea
in 1783, Catherine the Great adopted the hellenicized title of "Tsaritsa of Tauric Chersonesos", rather than "Tsaritsa of the Crimea", as should have been expected. By 1815, when a large part of Poland was annexed, the title had clearly come to be interpreted in Russia as the equivalent of Polish Król "king", and the Russian emperor assumed the title "tsar of Poland", (and the puppet Kingdom of Poland
was officially called Królewstwo Polskie in Polish and Царство Польское - Tsardom of Poland - in Russian) (see also Full style of Russian Sovereigns below).
Since the word "tsar" remained the popular designation of the Russian ruler despite the official change of style, its transliteration of this title in foreign languages such as English is commonly used also, in fact chiefly, for the Russian Emperors up to 1917.
The Tsar was also commonly called батюшка, which means "Father", a term of affectionate respect, especially by the lower classes. Some people translate батюшка as "Little Father"; the adjective "Little" was meant to contrast with the Heavenly "Big" Father, i.e. God.
Full style of Russian Sovereigns
The full title of Russian emperors started with By the Grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias
(Божию Милостию, Император и Самодержец Всероссийский [Bozhiyu Milostiyu, Imperator i Samoderzhets Vserossiyskiy]) and went further to list all ruled territories. For example, according to the article 59 of the Russian Constitution of April 23, 1906, "the full title of His Imperial Majesty is as follows: We, ------ by the Grace of God, Emperor
and Autocrat of all the Russias
, of Moscow
, Kiev
, Vladimir
, Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan
, Tsar of Astrakhan
, Tsar of Poland
, Tsar of Siberia
, Tsar of Tauric Chersonesos, Tsar of Georgia
, Lord
of Pskov
, and Grand Duke
of Smolensk
, Lithuania
, Volhynia
, Podolia
, and Finland
, Prince
of Estonia
, Livonia
, Courland
and Semigalia
, Samogitia
, Belostok, Karelia
, Tver
, Yugra
, Perm
, Vyatka
, Bulgaria
and other territories; Lord and Grand Duke of Nizhni Novgorod, Sovereign of Chernigov, Ryazan
, Polotsk, Rostov
, Yaroslavl
, Beloozero, Udoria, Obdoria, Kondia
, Vitebsk
, Mstislavl, and all northern territories; Sovereign of Iveria
, Kartalinia
, and the Kabard
inian lands and Armenia
n territories - hereditary Lord and Ruler of the Circassia
ns and Mountain Princes and others; Lord of Turkestan
, Heir of Norway
, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
, Stormarn
, Dithmarschen
, Oldenburg
, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth."
For example, Nicholas II of Russia
(1 November 1894 - 15 March 1917) was titled as follows (notice the archaic Cyrillic spelling):
- Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію: МЫ, НИКОЛАЙ ВТОРЫЙ ИМПЕРАТОРЪ и САМОДЕРЖЕЦЪ ВСЕРОССІЙСКІЙ
- Московскій, Кіевскій, Владимірскій, Новгородскій,
- Царь Казанскій, Царь Астраханскій, Царь Польскій, Царь Сибирскій, Царь Херсонеса Таврическаго, Царь Грузинскій,
- Государь Псковскій, и
- Великій Князь Смоленскій, Литовскій, Волынскій, Подольскій и Финляндскій;
- Князь Эстляндскій, Лифляндскій, Курляндскій и Семигальскій, Самогитскій, Бѣлостокский, Корельскій,
- Тверскій, Югорскій, Пермскій, Вятскій, Болгарскій и иныхъ;
- Государь и Великій Князь Новагорода низовскія земли, Черниговскій, Рязанскій, Полотскій,
- Ростовскій, Ярославскій, Бѣлозерскій, Удорскій, Обдорскій, Кондійскій, Витебскій, Мстиславскій и
- всея Сѣверныя страны Повелитель; и
- Государь Иверскія, Карталинскія и Кабардинскія земли и области Арменскія;
- Черкасскихъ и Горскихъ Князей и иныхъ Наслѣдный Государь и Обладатель;
- Государь Туркестанскій;
- Наслѣдникъ Норвежскій,
- Герцогъ Шлезвигъ-Голстинскій, Стормарнскій, Дитмарсенскій и Ольденбургскій, и прочая, и прочая, и прочая.
Russian Latin transliteration
- Bozhiyu Pospeshestvuyusheyu Milostiju:
- MY, NIKOLAI VTOR'YI IMPERATOR I SAMODERSHETS VSEROSSIISKIY
- Moskovski, Kievskii, Vladimirskiy, Novogorodskiy,
- Tsar Kazanskiy, Tsar Astrakhanskiy, Tsar Pol'ski, Tsar Sibirski, Tsar Khersonesa Tavricheskago, Tsar Gruzinskiy,
- Gosudar' Pskovskiy, i Velikiy Knyaz' Smolenskiy, Litovskiy, Volynskiy, Podol'skiy i Finlyandskiy,
- Knyaz' Estlyandskiy, Liflyandskiy, Kurlyandskiy i Semigal'skiy, Samogitskiy, Belostokskiy, Korel'skiy,
- Tverskiy, Yugorskiy, Permskiy, Vyatskiy, Bolgarskiy i inykh,
- Gosudar' i Velikiy Knyaz' Novagoroda nizovskiya zemli, Chernigovskiy, Ryazanskiy, Polotskiy,
- Rostovskiy, Yarolslavskiy, Belozerskiy, Udorskiy, Obdorskiy, Kondiyskiy, Vitebskiy, Mstislavski i
- vseya Severnyia strany Povelitel', i
- Gosudar' Iverskiya, Kartalinskiya i Kabardinskiya zemli i oblasti Armenskiya,
- Cherkasskikh i Gorskikh Knyazei i inykh Nasledniy Gosudar' i Obladatel',
- Gosudar' Turkestanskiy;
- Naslednik Norvezhskiy,
- Gertsog Shlezvig-Golstinskiy, Stormarnskiy, Ditmarsenskiy i Ol'denburgskiy, i prochaya, i prochaya, i prochaya.
- The Emperor's subsidiary title of Tsar of Kazan proclaimed the chief Orthodox dynasty as successor in law to the mighty Islamic khanate of KazanKhanate of KazanThe Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar state which occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El,...
, not maintaining its 'heathen' (khanKhan (title)Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
) title (as the Ottoman Great Sultans did in several cases), but christening it. It should also be noted that Khans of Kazan were mentioned in Russian chronicles such as Kazan ChronicleKazan ChronicleKazan Chronicle or Story of the Tsardom of Kazan is a document written between 1560 and 1565 by a Muscovite chronicler. The chronicler introduces himself as a Russian who was held in captivity in Kazan for about 20 years until Ivan the Terrible sacked Kazan in 1552...
as Tsars of Kazan. - The Emperor's subsidiary title of Tsar of Siberia refers to the Tatar Khanate of SibiriaSiberia KhanateThe Khanate of Sibir were the patrilineal descendants of Shayban , the fifth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The Khanate had an ethnically diverse population of Siberian Tatars, Khanty, Mansi, Nenets and Selkup people. Along with the Khanate of Kazan it was the northernmost Muslim state....
, easily subdued in the early stages of the exploration and annexation of the larger eponymous region, most of it before inhabited by nomadic tribal people without a state in the European sense. - The subsidiary title of Tsar in chief of Transcausasian GeorgiaGeorgia (country)Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
is the continuation of a royal style of a native dynasty, that had as such been recognized by Russia. - The subsidiary title of Tsar of PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
demonstrates the Russian Emperors' rule over the legally separate (but actually subordinate) Polish Kingdom, nominally in personal union with Russia, established by the Congress of ViennaCongress of ViennaThe Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
in 1815 (hence also called "Congress PolandCongress PolandThe Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
"), in a sense reviving the royal style of the pre-existent national kingdom of Poland. Internationally and in Poland, the tsars were referred to as Kings (królKrolKrol is a surname and may refer to:* George A. Krol, American ambassador to Belarus* Henk Krol , Dutch journalist* Jack Krol , American baseball coach and manager* Joe Krol , Canadian Football League player...
owie) of Poland.
In some cases, defined by the Code of Laws, the Abbreviated Imperial Title was used:
- "We, ------ by the grace of God, EmperorEmperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
and Autocrat of all the RussiasAll the RussiasAll the Russias is the standard English translation of a term which was used to refer either to the Russian Empire, or to the Russian-inhabitated lands of the Russian Empire...
, of MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, KievKievKiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tsar of KazanKazanKazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, Tsar of AstrakhanAstrakhanAstrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
, Tsar of PolandCongress PolandThe Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
, Tsar of SiberiaSiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, Tsar of TauricTauricaTaurica, Tauric Chersonese, and Taurida were names by which the territory of Crimea was known to the Greeks and Romans.- Etymology of the name :...
Chersonesos, Tsar of GeorgiaGeorgia (country)Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, LordLordLord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
of PskovPskovPskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...
, and Grand DukeGrand DukeThe title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...
of SmolenskSmolenskSmolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
, LithuaniaGrand Duchy of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
, VolhyniaVolhyniaVolhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
, PodoliaPodoliaThe region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
, and FinlandGrand Duchy of FinlandThe Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed 1809–1917 as part of the Russian Empire and was ruled by the Russian czar as Grand Prince.- History :...
, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth."
In other cases, also defined by the Code of Laws, the Short Imperial Title was used:
- "We, ------ by the grace of God, EmperorEmperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
and Autocrat of all the RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
s, Tsar of PolandCongress PolandThe Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
, Grand DukeGrand DukeThe title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...
of FinlandGrand Duchy of FinlandThe Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed 1809–1917 as part of the Russian Empire and was ruled by the Russian czar as Grand Prince.- History :...
, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth."
Titles in the Russian Royal/Imperial family
Tsaritsa(царица) is the term used for a Queen
, though in English contexts this seems invariably to be altered to tsarina (since 1717, from Italian czarina, from German Zarin). In Imperial Russia, the official title was Empress (Императрица). Tsaritsa (Empress) could be either the ruler herself or the wife (Empress consort) of the tsar. The title of tsaritsa is used in the same way in Bulgaria and Serbia.
Tsesarevich
(Цесаревич) is the term for a male
heir apparent
, the full title was Heir Tsesarevich ("Naslednik Tsesarevich", Наследник Цесаревич), informally abbreviated in Russia to The Heir ("Naslednik") (capitalized).
Tsarevich (царевич) was the term for the younger sons and grandsons of a Tsar or Tsaritsa prior to 1721. In older times the term was used in place of "Tsesarevich" (Цесаревич). After 1721 a son who was not an heir was formally called Velikii Kniaz (Великий Князь) (Grand Duke
or Grand Prince
). The latter title was also used for grandsons (through male lines).
Tsarevna
(царевна) was the term for a daughter and a granddaughter of a Tsar or Tsaritsa prior to 1721. After 1721, the official title was Velikaya Kniaginya (Великая Княгиня), translated as Grand Duchess or Grand Princess.
See also Grand Duchess for more details on the Velikaya Kniaginya title.
Tsesarevna (Цесаревна) was the wife of the Tsesarevich.
Metaphorical uses
Like many lofty titles, e.g. Mogul, Tsar or Czar has been used as a metaphor
for positions of high authority, in English, since 1866 (referring to U.S. President Andrew Johnson
), with a connotation of dictatorial powers and style, fitting since "Autocrat" was an official title of the Russian Emperor (informally referred to as 'the Tsar'). Similarly, Speaker of the House
Thomas Brackett Reed
was called "Czar Reed" for his dictatorial control of the House of Representatives
in the 1880s and 1890s.
In the United States the title "czar" is a slang term for certain high-level civil servants, such as the "drug czar
" for the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
, "terrorism czar" for a Presidential advisor on terrorism policy, "cybersecurity czar" for the highest-ranking Department of Homeland Security official on computer security
and information security
policy, and "war czar" to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
. More specifically, a czar refers to a sub-cabinet level advisor within the executive branch of the U.S. government. One of the earliest known usages of the term was for Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
, who was named commissioner of baseball, with broad powers to clean up the sport after it had been dirtied by the Black Sox scandal
of 1919.
See also
- List of Bulgarian monarchs
- List of Serbian monarchs
- TsaritsaTsaritsaTsaritsa , formerly spelled czaritsa , is the title of a female autocratic ruler of Bulgaria or Russia, or the title of a tsar's wife....
- TsesarevichTsesarevichTsesarevich was the title of the heir apparent or presumptive in the Russian Empire. It either preceded or replaced the given name and patronymic.-Usage:...
External links
- Detailed List of Roman and Byzantine Rulers
- Detailed List of Bulgarian Rulers
- Detailed List of Russian Rulers
- Detailed List of Serbian Rulers
- Detailed List of Georgian Rulers
- The entry on tsar in the Eleventh Edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1911)
- EtymOnline
- WorldStatesmen- see each present country