HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Consul (abbrev. ''cos.'';
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...
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 judic ...
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-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
. The title was used in other European city-states 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''. 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 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 ...
(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'', ''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 France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, 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 ...
aldermen. The most prominent were those of Bordeaux 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 fr ...
, 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 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) 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 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 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' ...
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 pr ...
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 sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
. The office was held by: * Napoleon Bonaparte, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, Roger Ducos, provisional consuls (10 November – 12 December 1799) * Napoleon Bonaparte (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 Repub ...
, 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, 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 150 different na ...
, 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
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 ...
(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, e ...
, 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 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, prior to the creation of a unified Provisional Government at the First National Assembly at Epidaurus, were: * The Consulate of Argos (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) (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 * 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 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 tim ...
" 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 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'' 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, 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.


See also

Differently named, but same function *
Captain Regent The Captains Regent (Italian: ''Capitani reggenti'') are the two heads of state of the Republic of San Marino. They are elected every six months by the Grand and General Council, the country's legislative body. Normally the Regents are chose ...
(similar modern position in San Marino's government) * Consularis (Roman gubernatorial style) Modern UN System * Consulate


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