Question by Nick V: Why did Russian leaders change their title from Grand Princes of Moscow to tsars to emperors?
Is it just a title or is there a political difference?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Gary L
Following his assertion of independence from the Golden Horde and perhaps also his marriage to an heiress of the Byzantine Empire, “Veliki Kniaz” Ivan III of Muscovy started to use the title of tsar regularly in diplomatic relations with the West. From about 1480, he is designated as “imperator” in his Latin correspondence, as “keyser” in his correspondence with the Swedish regent, as “kejser” in his correspondence with the Danish king, Teutonic Knights, and the Hanseatic League. Ivan’s son Vasily III continued using these titles, as his Latin letters to Clement VII testify: “Magnus Dux Basilius, Dei gratia Imperator et Dominator totius Russiae, nec non Magnus Dux Woldomeriae”, etc. (In the Russian version of the letter, “imperator” corresponds to “tsar”). Herberstein correctly observed that the titles of “kaiser” and “imperator” were attempts to render the Russian term “tsar” into German and Latin, respectively
This was related to Russia’s growing ambitions to become an Orthodox “Third Rome”, after Constantinople had fallen. The Muscovite ruler was recognized as an emperor by Maximilian I, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1514.[12] However, the first Russian ruler to be formally crowned as “tsar of all Russia” was Ivan IV, until then known as Grand Prince of all Russia (1547). Some foreign ambassadors — namely, Herberstein (in 1516 and 1525), Daniel Printz a Buchau (in 1576 and 1578) and Just Juel (in 1709) — indicated that the word “tsar” should not be translated as “emperor”, because it is applied by Russians to David, Solomon and other Biblical kings, which are simple “reges”.[13] On the other hand, Jacques Margeret, a bodyguard of False Demetrius I, argues that the title of “tsar” is more honorable for Muscovites than “kaiser” or “king” exactly because it was God and not some earthly potentate who ordained to apply it to David, Solomon, and other kings of Israel.[14] Samuel Collins, a court physician to Tsar Alexis in 1659-66, styled the latter “Great Emperour”, commenting that “as for the word Czar, it has so near relation to Cesar… that it may well be granted to signifie Emperour. The Russians would have it to be an higher Title than King, and yet they call David Czar, and our kings, Kirrols, probably from Carolus Quintus, whose history they have among them”.[15]
On 31 October 1721 Peter I was crowned emperor with a new style, “imperator”, which is a westernizing form equivalent to the traditional Slavic title “tsar”. He based his claim partially upon a letter discovered in 1717 written in 1514 from Maximilian I to Vasili III, Sophia’s son and Ivan IV’s father, in which the Holy Roman Emperor used the term in referring to Vasili. The title has not been used in Russia since the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II on 15 March 1917. The apparent distinction between the titles of “tsar” and “imperator” in post-1721 usage have led to the mistaken impression that the title of “tsar” is an intermediate rank between those of “emperor” and “king”, or else equivalent to the latter.
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Quilter says
The Grand Prince of Moscow was the leader of the city of Moscow and its surrounding area. There came a time where that was not encompassing enough. The leader of the Moscow area eventually became the ruler of a much larger area.
Tsar is a derivant of Caesar. Caesar, being a famous Roman emperor whose name was used by his successors, became a bit of a model for other emperors. Once the Prince of Moscow had taken over other lands, he had an empire. He became an Emperor. And the Emperor decided on the title of Tsar, or Caesar.