Interregnum (pronounced inn-ter-reg-numb)
(1) (a) An interval of time between the close of a
sovereign's reign and the accession of his or her normal or legitimate
successor. (b) A period when normal
government is suspended, especially between successive reigns or regimes. (c)
Any period during which a state has no ruler or only a temporary
executive
(2) The period in English history from the execution of
Charles I in 1649 to the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.
(3) An interval in the Church of England dioceses between the
periods of office of two bishops.
(4) In casual use, any pause or interruption in continuity.
1570-1580: From the Latin interregnum (an interval between two reigns (literally "between-reign), the construct being inter (between; amid) + rēgnum (kingship, dominion, reign, rule, realm (and related to regere (to rule, to direct, keep straight, guide), from the primitive Indo-European root reg- (move in a straight line), with derivatives meaning "to direct in a straight line", thus "to lead, rule"). To illustrate that linguistic pragmatism is nothing new, in the Roman republic, the word was preserved to refer to a vacancy in the consulate. The word is now generally applied to just about any situation where an organization is between leaders and this seems an accepted modern use. The earlier English noun was interreign (1530s), from French interrègne (14c.).
The classic interregnum. One existed between 1204 and 1261 in the Byzantine Empire. Following the Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire was dissolved, to be replaced by several Crusader states and several Byzantine states. It was re-established by Nicean general Alexios Strategopoulos who placed Michael VIII Palaiologos back on the throne of a united Byzantine Empire.
The retrospective
interregnum. The Interregnum of (1649–1660) was a
republican period in the three kingdoms of England, Ireland and Scotland. Government was carried out by the Commonwealth
and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell after the execution of Charles I and
before the restoration of Charles II; it became an interregnum only because of the restoration. Were, for example, a Romanov again to be crowned
as Tsar, the period between 1917 and the restoration would become the second Russian
interregnum, the first being the brief but messy business of 1825, induced by a
disputed succession following the death of the Emperor Alexander I on 1
December. The squabble lasted less than
a month but in those few weeks was conducted the bloody Decembrist revolt which
ended when Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich renounced his claim to throne and Nicholas
I declared himself Tsar.
The constitutional
interregnum. In the UK, under normal conditions, there is
no interregnum; upon the death of one sovereign, the crown is automatically
assumed by the next in the line of succession: the King is dead, long live the
King. The famous phrase signifies the
continuity of sovereignty, attached to a personal form of power named auctoritas. Auctoritas
is from the Old French autorité &
auctorité (authority, prestige,
right, permission, dignity, gravity; the Scriptures) from the Latin auctoritatem (nominative auctoritas) (invention, advice, opinion,
influence, command) from auctor (master,
leader, author). From the fourteenth century,
it conveyed the sense of "legal validity" or “authoritative
doctrine", as opposed to opposed to reason or experience and conferred a “right
to rule or command, power to enforce obedience, power or right to command or
act". It’s a thing which underpins
the legal theory of the mechanics of the seamless transition in the UK of one the
sovereign to the next, coronations merely ceremonial and proclamations procedural.
Other countries are different. When
a King of Thailand dies, there isn’t a successor monarch until one is
proclaimed, a regent being appointed to carry out the necessary constitutional
(though not ceremonial) duties. A number
of monarchies adopt this approach including Belgium and the Holy See. The papal interregnum is known technically as
sede vacante (literally "when
the seat is vacant") and ends upon the election of new pope by the College
of Cardinals.
The interregnum by analogy. The term has been applied to the period of time between the election of a new President of the United States and his (or her!) inauguration, during which the outgoing president remains in power, but as a lame duck in the sense that, except in extraordinary circumstances, there is attention only to procedural and ceremonial matters. So, while the US can sometimes appear to be in a state with some similarities to an interregnum between the election in November and the inauguration in January, it’s merely a casual term without a literal meaning. The passage of the twenty-fifth amendment to the US Constitution in 1967 which dealt with the mechanics of the line of succession in the event of a presidential vacancy, disability or inability to fulfil the duties of the office, removed any doubt and established that there is never a point at which the country is without a chief executive.
Fashions change: The dour Charles I (left), the puritanical Oliver Cromwell (centre) and the merry Charles II (right).
The famous interregnum in England, Scotland, and Ireland
began with the execution of Charles I (1600-1649) and ended with the
restoration to the thrones of the three realms of his son Charles II
(1630-1685) in 1660. Immediately after
the execution, a body known as the English Council of State (later re-named the
Protector's Privy Council) was created by the Rump Parliament. Because of the implication of auctoritas, the king's beheading was
delayed half a day so the members of parliament could pass legislation
declaring themselves the sole representatives of the people and the House of
Commons the repository of all power.
Making it a capital offence to proclaim a new king, the laws abolished
both the monarchy and the House of Lords.
For most of the interregnum, the British Isles were ruled by Oliver
Cromwell (1599–1658) an English general and statesman. He combined the roles of head of state and
head of government of the republican commonwealth.
When Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022; Queen of England and other places variously 1952-2022) took her last breath, Charles (b 1948) in that moment became King Charles III; the unbroken line summed up in the phrase "The King is dead. Long Live the King". In the British constitution there is no interregnum and the coronation (which may happen weeks, months or even years after the succession) is in secular legal terms purely ceremonial although there have been those who argued it was substantive in relation to the monarch's role as supreme governor of the established Church of England, a view long regarded sceptically by most. As a spectacle however it's of some interest and given the history, there will be interest in the wording used in reference to the queen consort. However, any constitutional loose ends which may persist after the moment of the succession will have been tidied up at a meeting of the Accession Council, comprised of a number of worthies who assemble upon the death of a monarch and issue a formal proclamation of accession, usually in the presence of the successor who swears oaths relating to both church (England & Scotland) and state.
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