Universal monarchy

A Universal Monarchy is a concept and a political situation where one monarchy is deemed to have either sole rule over everywhere (or at least the predominant part of a geopolitical area or areas) or to have a special supremacy over all other states (or at least all the states in a geopolitical area or areas).

Universal Monarchy is differentiated from ordinary monarchy in that a Universal Monarchy is beholden to no other state and asserts a degree of total sovereignty over an area, or predominance over other states.

The concept has arisen in Europe and Asia. The concept is linked to that of Empire, but implies more than simply possessing imperium.

The Latin phrase Dominus Mundi, Lord of the World, encapsulates the concept. Though in practice no Universal Monarchy ever held rule over the whole world, it may have appeared to many people, particularly pre-modern, that it did.

Critical of the concept in Europe in the Middle Ages were philosophers such as Nicole Oresme and Erasmus; whereas Dante and Guillaume Postel were more favourable. Later, Protestants would seek to reject the concept, identifying it with Catholicism.

In Europe the expression of a Universal Monarchy as actual total imperium can be seen in the Roman Empire, and as the predominate ‘sole sovereign’ state during its Byzantine period, where the Emperor by virtue of being the head of Christendom claimed a sovereignty over all other kings even though in practice this could not be enforced. The Byzantine conception went through two phases, initially as expounded by Eusebius that just as there was one God so there could only be one Emperor, which developed in the 10th century into the conception of the Emperor as the paterfamilias of a family of kings who were the other rulers in the world. Such concepts were a feature of the Ottoman Empire successor state, particularly when military rule was augmented by the Caliphate.

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