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 and/or romans:
“The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 23:36,37.
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalm XXIV (l. XXIV, 7)
“So by all means lets have a television show quick and long, even if the commercial has to be delivered by a man in a white coat with a stethoscope hanging around his neck, selling ergot pills. After all the public is entitled to what it wants, isnt it? The Romans knew that and even they lasted four hundred years after they started to putrefy.”
—Raymond Chandler (18881959)