Interregnum
An
interregnum is a period between monarchs, between
popes of the
Roman Catholic Church,
emperors of
Holy Roman Empire, Polish kings (
elective monarchy) or between
consuls of the
Roman Republic. It can also refer to the period between the pastorates of ministers in some
Protestant churches, or generally, any gap in the continuity of a government, organization, or social order.
In
Roman law,
interregnum was usually accompanied by the proclamation of
justitium (or
state of exception, as did
Giorgio Agamben demonstrate in his
eponymic book - 2005). This is not surprising, as when a
sovereign died - or when the
Pope died -
tumultus (upheavals) usually accompanied the news of a sovereign's death. Progressively,
justitium came to significate the public mourning of the sovereign, and not anymore
justitium,
auctoritas being (mythically) attached to the physical body of the sovereign.
Particular historical periods known as interregna include:
* The
575-
585 period in the
Kingdom of Lombards.
* The
1022-
1072 period in
Ireland, between the death of
Mael Sechnaill II and the accession of
Tairrdelbach I, is sometimes regarded as an interregnum, as the
High Kingship of Ireland was disputed throughout these decades. The interregnum may even have extended to
1121, when
Tairrdelbach II acceded to the title.
* The
1254-
1273 period in the
Holy Roman Empire between the end of
Hohenstaufen rule and the beginning of
Habsburg rule.
*
First Interregnum 1290-1292 in
Scotland*
Second Interregnum 1296-1306 in Scotland
* The 1332-1340 period in
Denmark when the country was mortgaged to a few German counts.
* The
1383-1385 Crisis in
Portugal * The
1402-
1413 Ottoman Interregnum * The
1481â€"
1483 in
Norway* The
English Interregnum from
1649–
1660 was a
republican period in Britain, comprising the
Commonwealth and the
Protectorate of
Oliver Cromwell after the
regicide of
Charles I and before the
restoration of
Charles II* A second English interregnum occurred between 23 December
1688, when
James II was deposed in the
Glorious Revolution, and the installation of
William III and
Mary II as joint sovereigns on 13 February
1689 pursuant to the
Declaration of Right.
In some monarchies, such as the
United Kingdom, an
interregnum is usually avoided due to a rule described as "
the king is dead, long live the King", i.e. the
heir to the throne becomes a new monarch immediately on his predecessor's death or
abdication. This famous phrase signifies the continuity of
sovereignty, attached to a personal form of power named
Auctoritas. This is not so in other monarchies where the new monarch's reign begins only with
coronation or some other formal or traditional event. In the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for instance, kings were elected, which often led to relatively long interregna. During that time it was the Polish
primate who served as an
interrex (ruler between kings).
Ernst Kantorowicz's famous theory of the
Kings's Two Bodies (1957) showed how
auctoritas (Kantorowicz used the synonym term - here - of
dignitas) was transferred from the defunct sovereign to the new one.
An
interregnum occurs also upon the death of the Roman Catholic Pope, though this is generally known as a
sede vacante (vacant seat). The interregnum ends immediately upon
election of the new Pope by the
College of Cardinals. It used to be a troubled period of
riots and upheavals, akin to
carnivals inversion of normal habits and laws.
*
Auctoritas*
Giorgio Agamben*
Geoffrey of Monmouth**
Interregnum of Severus, see also
Libius Severus**
Saxon Interregnum*
Regent*
Giorgio Agamben's
State of Exception (2005)
*
Ernst Kantorowicz's
The King's Two Bodies (1957).
