Translatio imperii

Translatio imperii (Latin for "transfer of rule") is a historiographical concept that originated from the Middle Ages, in which history is viewed as a linear succession of transfers of an imperium that invests supreme power in a singular ruler, an "emperor" (or sometimes even several emperors, e.g., the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Holy Roman Empire). The concept is closely linked to translatio studii (the geographic movement of learning). Both terms are thought to have their origins in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible (verses 39–40). Jacques Le Goff describes the translatio imperii concept as "typical" for the Middle Ages for several reasons: The idea of linearity of time and history was typical for the Middle Ages; The translatio imperii idea typically also neglected simultaneous developments in other parts of the world (of no importance to medieval Europeans); The translatio imperii idea didn't separate "divine" history from the history of "worldly power": medieval Europeans considered divine (supernatural) and material things as part of the same continuum, which was their reality. Also the causality of one reign necessarily leading to its successor was often detailed by the medieval chroniclers, and is seen as a typical medieval approach. Each medieval author described the translatio imperii as a succession leaving the supreme power in the hands of the monarch ruling the region of the author's provenance: Adso of Montier-en-Der (French area, 10th century): Roman Empire → Carolingian Franks → Saxons Otto of Freising (living in German region): Rome → Franks → Longobards → Germans (Holy Roman Empire) Chrétien de Troyes (living in medieval France): Greece → Rome → France Richard de Bury (England, 14th century): Athens → Rome → Paris → England Ibrahim Pasha (Ottoman Empire, 16th century) Roman Empire → Eastern Roman Empire → Seljuk Empire → Sultanate of Rum → Ottoman Empire Snorri Sturluson (Prose Edda Prologue, Iceland/Norway, c.