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For other uses, see Interregnum (disambiguation).
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.
[edit] Historical periods of interregnum
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 Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill and the accession of Toirdhealbhach Ua Briain, 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 Toirdhealbhach Ua Conchobhair 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 1481–1483 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.
[edit] Pope's interregnum (or sede vacante)
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.
[edit] See also
- Auctoritas
- Giorgio Agamben
- Geoffrey of Monmouth
- Interregnum of Severus, see also Libius Severus
- Saxon Interregnum
- Regent
[edit] References
- Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception (2005)
- Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies (1957).
