Consul (abbrev. ''cos.'';

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief

magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

, and subsequently also an important title under the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. The title was used in other European

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

s through antiquity and the Middle Ages, in particular in the Republics of Genoa and Pisa, then revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic. The related adjective is consular, from the Latin ''

consularis ''Consularis'' is a Latin adjective indicating something pertaining to the position or rank of consul. In Ancient Rome it was also used as a noun (plural ''consulares'') to designate those senators who had held the office of consul or attained co ...

''. This usage contrasts with modern terminology, where a consul is a type of diplomat.

Roman consul

A consul held the highest elected political office of the

(509 to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the highest level of the ''

cursus honorum The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The '' ...

'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired). Consuls were elected to office and held power for one year. There were always two consuls in power at any time.

Other uses in antiquity

Private sphere

It was not uncommon for an organization under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state and city institutions for its own statutory agents. The founding statute, or contract, of such an organisation was called ''lex'', 'law'. The people elected each year were

patricians The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...

, members of the upper class.

City-states

While many cities, including the Gallic states and the

Carthaginian Republic Carthage () was a settlement in modern Tunisia that later became a city-state and then an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century BC, Carthage reached its height in the fourth century BC as one of the largest metropolises in t ...

, had a double-headed chief magistracy, another

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

was often used, such as the

Punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...

'' sufet'', ''Duumvir'', or native styles like ''Meddix''.

Medieval city-states, communes and municipalities

Throughout most of southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, a consul (french: consul or ') was an office equivalent to the of the north and roughly similar with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members the ...

. The most prominent were those of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

, which came to be known as

jurat The ''jurats'' () are lay people in Guernsey and Jersey who act as judges of fact rather than law, though they preside over land conveyances and liquor licensing. In Alderney, however, the jurats are judges of both fact and law (assisted by the ...

s and

capitoul The ''capitouls'', sometimes anglicized as ''capitols'', were the chief magistrates of the commune of Toulouse, France, during the late Middle Ages and early Modern period. Their council and rule was known as the ''Capitoulate'' (frenc ...

s, respectively. The capitouls of Toulouse were granted transmittable nobility. In many other smaller towns the first consul was the equivalent of a mayor today, assisted by a variable number of secondary consuls and jurats. His main task was to levy and collect tax. The

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

s of Gaeta often used also the title of "consul" in its Greek form "

Hypatos ''Hypatos'' ( gr, ὕπατος; plural: , ''hypatoi'') and the variant ''apo hypatōn'' (, "former ''hypatos''", literally: "from among the consuls") was a Byzantine court dignity, originally the Greek translation of Latin ''consul'' (the litera ...

" (see

List of Hypati and Dukes of Gaeta This is a list of the hypati, patricians, consuls, and dukes of Gaeta. Many of the dates are uncertain and sometimes the status of the rulership, with co-rulers and suzerain–vassal relations, is vague. Native rule (839–1032) Anatolian dynasty ...

Republic of Genoa

The city-state of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of ''consul'' on various state officials, not necessarily restricted to the highest. Among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities. Great Britain reciprocated by appointing

consuls A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

to Genoa from 1722. This institution, with its name, was later emulated by other powers and is reflected in the modern usage of the word (see

Consul (representative) A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Republic of Pisa

In addition to the Genoese Republic, the

Republic of Pisa The Republic of Pisa ( it, Repubblica di Pisa) was an independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa, which existed from the 11th to the 15th century. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated ...

also took the form of "Consul" in the early stages of its government. The Consulate of the Republic of Pisa was the major government institution present in Pisa between the 11th and 12th centuries. Despite losing space within the government since 1190 in favor of the

Podestà Podestà (, English: Potestate, Podesta) was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city ...

, for some periods of the 13th century some citizens were again elected as consuls.

French Revolution

French Republic 1799–1804

After

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

staged a coup against the

Directory Directory may refer to: * Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files * Directory (OpenVMS command) * Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...

government in November 1799, the French Republic adopted a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

which conferred executive powers upon three consuls, elected for a period of ten years. In reality, the first consul, Bonaparte, dominated his two colleagues and held supreme power, soon making himself consul for life (1802) and eventually, in 1804,

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

. The office was held by: *

, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès,

Roger Ducos Pierre Roger Ducos (25 July 174716 March 1816), better known as Roger Ducos, was a French political figure during the Revolution and First Empire, a member of the National Convention, and of the Directory. In the Revolution Born in Montfort-en- ...

, provisional consuls (10 November – 12 December 1799) *

(first consul), Jean-Jacques Cambacérès (second consul),

Charles-François Lebrun Charles-François Lebrun, 1st duc de Plaisance (, 19 March 1739 – 16 June 1824), was a French statesman who served as Third Consul of the French Republic and was later created Arch-Treasurer and Prince of the Empire by Napoleon I. Biog ...

(third consul), consuls (12 December 1799 – 18 May 1804)

Bolognese Republic, 1796

The short-lived Bolognese Republic, proclaimed in 1796 as a

French client republic A sister republic (french: république sœur) was a republic established by French armies or by local revolutionaries and assisted by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. These republics, though nominally independent ...

in the Central Italian city of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, had a government consisting of nine consuls and its head of state was the ''Presidente del Magistrato'', i.e., chief magistrate, a presiding office held for four months by one of the consuls. Bologna already had consuls at some parts of its Medieval history.

Roman Republic, 1798–1800

The French-sponsored

(15 February 1798 – 23 June 1800) was headed by multiple consuls: * Francesco Riganti, Carlo Luigi Costantini, Duke Bonelli-Crescenzi, Antonio Bassi, Gioacchino Pessuti, Angelo Stampa, Domenico Maggi, provisional consuls (15 February – 20 March 1798) * Liborio Angelucci, Giacomo De Mattheis, Panazzi, Reppi,

Ennio Quirino Visconti Ennio Quirino Visconti (November 1, 1751 – February 7, 1818) was an Italian antiquarian and art historian, papal Prefect of Antiquities, and the leading expert of his day in the field of ancient Roman sculpture. His son, Pietro Ercole Visconti, ...

, consuls (20 March – September 1798) * Brigi, Calisti, Francesco Pierelli, Giuseppe Rey, Federico Maria Domenico Michele, Zaccaleoni, consuls (September – 24 July 1799) Consular rule was interrupted by the Neapolitan occupation (27 November – 12 December 1798), which installed a Provisional Government: * Prince Giambattista

Borghese The House of Borghese is a princely family of Italian noble and papal background, originating as the Borghese or Borghesi in Siena, where they came to prominence in the 13th century and held offices under the ''commune''. During the 16th century, ...

, Prince Paolo-Maria

Aldobrandini The House of Aldobrandini is an Italian noble family originally from Florence, where in the Middle Ages they held the most important municipal offices. Now the Aldobrandini are resident in Rome, with close ties to the Vatican. History Their ...

, Prince Gibrielli, Marchese Camillo Massimo, Giovanni Ricci (29 November 1798 - 12 December 1798) Rome was occupied by France (11 July – 28 September 1799) and again by Naples (30 September 1799 – 23 June 1800), bringing an end to the Roman Republic.

Revolutionary Greece, 1821

Among the many petty local republics that were formed during the first year of the

Greek Revolution The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted b ...

, prior to the creation of a unified Provisional Government at the First National Assembly at Epidaurus, were: * The Consulate of

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

(from 26 May 1821, under the Senate of the Peloponnese) had a ''single'' head of state, styled consul, 28 March 1821 – 26 May 1821: Stamatellos Antonopoulos * The Consulate of East Greece (

Livadeia Livadeia ( el, Λιβαδειά ''Livadiá'', ; grc, Λεβάδεια, Lebadeia or , ''Lebadia'') is a town in central Greece. It is the capital of the Boeotia regional district. Livadeia lies north-west of Athens, west of Chalkida, south-ea ...

) (from 15 November 1821, under the Areopagus of East Greece) was headed 1 April 1821 – 15 November 1821 by three consuls: Lambros Nakos, Ioannis Logothetis & Ioannis Filon ''Note: in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, the term for "consul" is "hypatos" (ὕπατος), which translates as "supreme one", and hence does not necessarily imply a joint office.''

Paraguay, 1813–1844

In between a series of juntas and various other short-lived regimes, the young republic was governed by "consuls of the republic", with two consuls alternating in power every 4 months: * 12 October 1813 – 12 February 1814, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco * 12 February 1814 – 12 June 1814, Fulgencio Yegros y Franco de Torres * 12 June 1814 – 3 October 1814, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco; he stayed on as " supreme dictator" 3 October 1814 – 20 September 1840 (from 6 June 1816 styled "perpetual supreme dictator") After a few presidents of the Provisional Junta, there were again consuls of the republic, 14 March 1841 – 13 March 1844 (ruling jointly, but occasionally styled "first consul", "second consul"): Carlos Antonio López Ynsfrán (b. 1792 – d. 1862) + Mariano Roque Alonzo Romero (d. 1853) (the lasts of the aforementioned juntistas, Commandant-General of the Army) Thereafter all republican rulers were styled "president".

Modern uses of the term

In modern terminology, a consul is a type of diplomat. The ''American Heritage Dictionary'' defines consul as "an official appointed by a government to reside in a foreign country and represent its interests there." ''

The Devil's Dictionary ''The Devil's Dictionary'' is a satirical dictionary written by American journalist Ambrose Bierce, consisting of common words followed by humorous and satirical definitions. The lexicon was written over three decades as a series of installments ...

'' defines Consul as "in American politics, a person who having failed to secure an office from the people is given one by the Administration on condition that he leave the country". In most governments, the consul is the head of the consular section of an embassy, and is responsible for all consular services such as immigrant and non-immigrant

visas Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

, passports, and citizen services for expatriates living or traveling in the host country. A less common modern usage is when the consul of one country takes a governing role in the host country.

Sources and references

WorldStatesmen.org
see each present country Specific {{Reflist Ancient Roman titles Heads of government Heads of state Military ranks of ancient Rome Latin political words and phrases Collective heads of state Cursus honorum Diplomats by role cs:Konzul (antický Řím) hr:Konzul io:Konsulo ku:Konsûl sr:Конзул tl:Konsulado