King of the Romans (Latin: Rex Romanorum) was, since the days of Emperor Henry II (1014–1024), the title used by the ruler of the Kingdom of Germany following his election to the office by the German princes. The title was predominantly a claim by the German kings to become emperor, a title, which in contemporary views of the Middle Ages, also had a religious aspect and was dependent on the coronation by the Pope.
The title originally referred to any elected king who had not yet been granted the Imperial Regalia and title of "Emperor" at the hands of the Pope; later it came to be used solely for the heir apparent to the Imperial throne between his election (during the lifetime of a sitting Emperor) and his succession on the Emperor's death.
Read more about King Of The Romans: Heirs Designate, First French Empire
Famous quotes containing the words king of the, king of, king and/or romans:
“The lion cares less about being king of the beasts than about finding his dinner.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“I see that Time’s the king of men;
He’s both their parent, and he is their grave,
And gives them what he will, not what they crave.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Do we call this the land of the free? What is it to be free from King George and continue the slaves of King Prejudice? What is it to be born free and not to live free? What is the value of any political freedom, but as a means to moral freedom? Is it a freedom to be slaves, or a freedom to be free, of which we boast?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There was about all the Romans a heroic tone peculiar to ancient life. Their virtues were great and noble, and these virtues made them great and noble. They possessed a natural majesty that was not put on and taken off at pleasure, as was that of certain eastern monarchs when they put on or took off their garments of Tyrian dye. It is hoped that this is not wholly lost from the world, although the sense of earthly vanity inculcated by Christianity may have swallowed it up in humility.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)