Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states through antiquity and the Middle Ages, in particular in the Republics of Genoa and

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, then revived in modern states, notably in the

First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

. The related adjective is consular, from the Latin '' consularis''. 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 Roman Republic (509 to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the highest level of the '' cursus honorum'' (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, 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 was often used, such as the Punic ''

sufet In several ancient Semitic-speaking cultures and associated historical regions, the shopheṭ or shofeṭ (plural shophṭim or shofeṭim; he, שׁוֹפֵט ''šōfēṭ'', phn, 𐤔𐤐𐤈 ''šōfēṭ'', xpu, 𐤔𐤐𐤈 ''šūfeṭ'', ...

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

Medieval city-states, communes and municipalities

Throughout most of southern France, a consul (french: consul or ') was an office equivalent to the of the north and roughly similar with English aldermen. The most prominent were those of Bordeaux and Toulouse, which came to be known as jurats and capitouls, 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 Dukes of

Gaeta Gaeta (; lat, Cāiēta; Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a city in the province of Latina, in Lazio, Southern Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples. The town has played a consp ...

often used also the title of "consul" in its Greek form " Hypatos" (see List of Hypati and Dukes of Gaeta).

Republic of Genoa

The city-state of Genoa, 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)).

Republic of Pisa

In addition to the Genoese Republic, the Republic of Pisa 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, 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 who ...

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 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. The office was held by: *

, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, Roger Ducos, provisional consuls (10 November – 12 December 1799) *

(first consul), Jean-Jacques Cambacérès (second consul), Charles-François Lebrun (third consul), consuls (12 December 1799 – 18 May 1804)

Bolognese Republic, 1796

The short-lived

Bolognese Republic The Bolognese Republic was proclaimed in 1796 in the Central Italian city of Bologna. History It was a French client republic established when Papal authorities escaped from the city of Bologna in June 1796. It was annexed by the Cispadane Repu ...

, 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, had a government consisting of nine consuls and its head of state was the ''Presidente del Magistrato'', i.e.,

chief magistrate Chief magistrate is a public official, executive or judicial, whose office is the highest in its class. Historically, the two different meanings of magistrate have often overlapped and refer to, as the case may be, to a major political and admini ...

, 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 Roman Republic (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 Liborio Angelucci (born 1746, Rome; died 1811, Milan) was an Italian physician and politician. Biography He had an excellent reputation as a physician and obstetrician and as a scholar because he was editor of the first Roman edition of Dante's Di ...

, Giacomo De Mattheis, Panazzi, Reppi, Ennio Quirino 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 Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

occupation (27 November – 12 December 1798), which installed a Provisional Government: * Prince Giambattista Borghese, 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, prior to the creation of a unified Provisional Government at the

First National Assembly at Epidaurus The First National Assembly of Epidaurus (, 1821–1822) was the first meeting of the Greek National Assembly, a national representative political gathering of the Greek revolutionaries. History The assembly opened in December 1821 at Piada (to ...

, were: * The Consulate of Argos (from 26 May 1821, under the Senate of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

) 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, 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 A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

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 José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

* 12 February 1814 – 12 June 1814,

Fulgencio Yegros y Franco de Torres Fulgencio Yegros y Franco de Torres (born 1780 in Quyquyhó, died 1821) was Paraguayan soldier and first head of state of independent Paraguay. The town of Yegros is named in his honor. Life Yegros was born to a family of military tradition ...

* 12 June 1814 – 3 October 1814, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco; he stayed on as "

supreme dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

" 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 Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhe ...

(b. 1792 – d. 1862) +

Mariano Roque Alonzo Romero Mariano Roque Alonso Romero (16 August 1792 Ybytimí – 7 August 1853) was President of the Provisional Junta of Paraguay from 9 February 1841 to 14 March 1841. On 14 March 1841, he established a government ruling jointly with Carlos Antonio L� ...

(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 satire, 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 insta ...

'' 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 allo ...

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

s, 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