Gesta Theodorici - Theodoric the Great (455-526)

King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the title may refer to

tribal kingship A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as ...

. Germanic kingship is cognate with Indo-European traditions of tribal rulership (c.f. Indic '' rājan'', Gothic '' reiks'', and Old Irish '' rí'', etc.). *In the context of classical antiquity, king may translate in Latin as '' rex'' and in Greek as ''

archon ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...

'' or ''

basileus ''Basileus'' ( el, ) is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. In the English-speaking world it is perhaps most widely understood to mean "monarch", referring to either a "king" or an "emperor" and al ...

''. *In classical European feudalism, the title of ''king'' as the ruler of a ''kingdom'' is understood to be the highest rank in the feudal order, potentially subject, at least nominally, only to an emperor (harking back to the client kings of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire). *In a modern context, the title may refer to the ruler of one of a number of modern monarchies (either absolute or constitutional). The title of ''king'' is used alongside other titles for monarchs: in the West, emperor, grand prince, prince,

archduke Archduke (feminine: Archduchess; German: ''Erzherzog'', feminine form: ''Erzherzogin'') was the title borne from 1358 by the Habsburg rulers of the Archduchy of Austria, and later by all senior members of that dynasty. It denotes a rank within ...

, duke or

grand duke Grand duke (feminine: grand duchess) is a European hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. In status, a grand duke traditionally ranks in order of precedence below an emperor, as an approxi ...

, and in the Islamic world,

malik Malik, Mallik, Melik, Malka, Malek, Maleek, Malick, Mallick, or Melekh ( phn, 𐤌𐤋𐤊; ar, ملك; he, מֶלֶךְ) is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic duri ...

sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

, emir or hakim, etc. *The city-states of the

Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua peoples, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled ...

had a Tlatoani, which were kings of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. The

Huey Tlatoani ''Tlatoani'' ( , "one who speaks, ruler"; plural ' or tlatoque) is the Classical Nahuatl term for the ruler of an , a pre-Hispanic state. It is the noun form of the verb "tlahtoa" meaning "speak, command, rule". As a result, it has been variousl ...

was the emperor of the Aztecs. The term ''king'' may also refer to a king consort, a title that is sometimes given to the husband of a ruling queen, but the title of prince consort is more common.

Etymology

The English term is derived from the Old English language, Anglo-Saxon ''cyning'', which in turn is derived from the Common Germanic *''kuningaz''. The Common Germanic term was borrowed into Estonian and Finnish at an early time, surviving in these languages as . It is a derivation from the term ''*kunjom'' "kin" (Old English ) by the ''-inga-'' suffix. The literal meaning is that of a "scion of the [noble] kin", or perhaps "son or descendant of one of noble birth" (OED). The English term translates, and is considered equivalent to, Latin ''Rex (title), rēx'' and its equivalents in the various European languages. The Germanic term is notably different from the word for "King" in other Indo-European languages (''*rēks'' "ruler"; Latin ''King of Rome, rēx'', Sanskrit language, Sanskrit ''Raja, rājan'' and Irish language, Irish '' ríg''; however, see Gothic '' reiks'' and, e.g., modern German ''Reich'' and modern Dutch ''rijk'').

History

The English word is of Germanic origin, and historically refers to Germanic kingship, in the pre-Christian period a type of

. The monarchies of Europe in the Christian Middle Ages derived their claim from Christianisation and the divine right of kings, partly influenced by the notion of Germanic king, sacral kingship inherited from Germanic antiquity. The Early Middle Ages begin with a fragmentation of the former Western Roman Empire into barbarian kingdoms. In Western Europe, the kingdom of the Franks developed into the Carolingian Empire by the 8th century, and the Heptarchy, kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England were unified into the kingdom of England by the 10th century. With the breakup of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century, the system of feudalism places kings at the head of a pyramid of relationships between liege lords and vassals, dependent on the regional rule of barons, and the intermediate positions of counts (or earls) and dukes. The core of European feudal manorialism in the High Middle Ages were the territories of the former Carolingian Empire, i.e. the kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire (centered on the nominal kingdoms of kingdom of Germany, Germany and Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire), Italy). In the course of the European Middle Ages, the Monarchies in Europe, European kingdoms underwent a general trend of centralisation of power, so that by the Late Middle Ages there were a number of large and powerful kingdoms in Europe, which would develop into the great powers of Europe in the Early Modern period. *In the Iberian Peninsula, the remnants of the Visigothic Kingdom, the petty kingdoms of kingdom of Asturias, Asturias and Kingdom of Pamplona, Pamplona, expanded into the kingdom of Portugal, the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon with the ongoing Reconquista. *In southern Europe, the kingdom of Sicily was established following the Norman conquest of southern Italy. The Kingdom of Sardinia was claimed as a separate title held by the Crown of Aragon in 1324. In the Balkans, the Kingdom of Serbia (medieval), Kingdom of Serbia was established in 1217. *In central Europe, the Kingdom of Hungary was established Europe in AD 1000, in AD 1000 following the Christianisation of the Magyars. The kingdoms of Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385), Poland and Kingdom of Bohemia, Bohemia were established within the Holy Roman Empire in 1025 and 1198, respectively. *In eastern Europe, the Grand Duchy of Moscow did not technically claim the status of kingdom until the early modern Tsardom of Russia. *In northern Europe, the tribal kingdoms of the Viking Age by the 11th century expanded into the North Sea Empire under Cnut the Great, king of Denmark, England and Norway. The Christianization of Scandinavia resulted in "consolidated" kingdoms of Consolidation of Sweden, Sweden and Norwegian expansion during the Middle Ages, Norway, and by the end of the medieval period the pan-Scandinavian Kalmar Union.

Contemporary kings

Currently (), fifteen kings are recognized as the heads of state of sovereign states (i.e. English ''king'' is used as official translation of the respective native titles held by the monarchs). Most of these are heads of state of constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarchies; kings ruling over absolute monarchy, absolute monarchies are the King of Saudi Arabia, the King of Bahrain and the King of Eswatini.The distinction of the title of "king" from "sultan" or "emir" in oriental monarchies is largely stylistics; the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are also categorised as absolute monarchies.

Notes

References

*Thomas J. Craughwell, ''5,000 Years of Royalty: Kings, Queens, Princes, Emperors & Tsars'' (2009). *David Cannadine, Simon Price (eds.), ''Rituals of Royalty: Power and Ceremonial in Traditional Societies'' (1992). *Jean Hani, ''Sacred Royalty: From the Pharaoh to the Most Christian King'' (2011).

External links