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.
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 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
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.
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.
See also
*
Auctoritas* Giorgio Agamben
* Geoffrey of Monmouth
** Interregnum of Severus, see also Libius Severus
** Saxon Interregnum
*
Regent References
*Giorgio Agamben's
State of Exception (2005)
*Ernst Kantorowicz's
The King's Two Bodies (1957).
Category:Emergency laws
Category:Monarchy
Category:Philosophical concepts
Category:Roman law
Category:Philosophical terminology
Category:Political philosophy
Category:Philosophy of law
