22,256 articles
Emperor
Emperor, from Latin imperator, is the title of a monarch ruling an empire of multiple peoples or realms, ranked above king. Covers Roman origins under Augustus, medieval coronation rites, and the Japanese tennō, today a symbolic role with male-only succession.
Emperor Daigo
Emperor Daigo (醍醐天皇, Daigo-tennō; 885–930, personal name Atsugimi) was the 60th emperor of Japan, reigning from 897 to 930 as the first son of Emperor Uda.
Emperor Go-Hanazono
Emperor Go-Hanazono (後花園天皇, 1420–1470) was the 102nd emperor of Japan, reigning from 1428 to 1464, and adopted by Emperor Go-Komatsu; his reign saw famines and incessant warfare.
Emperor Go-Ichijō (後一条天皇)
Emperor Go-Ichijō (後一条天皇), personal name Atsuhira, 68th emperor of Japan, reigned 1016–1036 during the Heian period. Son of Emperor Ichijō and Fujiwara no Shōshi, enthroned at age 9 under Fujiwara no Michinaga, died at 29 without a son.
Emperor Go-Murakami
Emperor Go-Murakami (後村上天皇), whose personal name was Noriyoshi, was the second emperor of Japan's Southern Court. He temporarily recovered Kyoto before being driven out by the Ashikaga shogunate.
Emperor Go-Nara
Emperor Go-Nara (後奈良天皇; personal name Tomohito, 1496–1557) was the 105th emperor of Japan, reigning 1526–1557 in the Sengoku period; his enthronement was delayed ten years by the court's poverty.
Emperor Go-Sai
Emperor Go-Sai (後西天皇, personal name Nagahito; 1637–1685) was the 111th emperor of Japan, reigning from 1654 until 1663 as an interim sovereign between his brothers Emperors Go-Kōmyō and Reigen.
Emperor Go-Sakuramachi
Emperor Go-Sakuramachi (後桜町天皇, Gosakuramachi-tennō; 1740–1813) was the 117th emperor of Japan, reigning from 1762 to 1770 as the last of Japan's eight female emperors, acceding after Emperor Momozono's death.
Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado
Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado, personal name Fusahito, was the 103rd emperor of Japan, reigning from 1464 to 1500; he kept court ritual alive through the Ōnin War, but died without funds for a funeral.
Emperor Kanmu (桓武天皇)
Emperor Kanmu (桓武天皇, Kammu, 737–806, r. 781–806), 50th emperor of Japan, son of Kōnin, of Baekje maternal descent; moved the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyoto) in 794 and reformed government.
Emperor Kōkaku (光格天皇)
Emperor Kōkaku (光格天皇) reigned over Japan from 1779 to 1817 in the Edo period, disputed his father's retired-emperor title with the Tokugawa shogunate, rebuilt the Shishinden, and was the last abdicating emperor until Akihito in 2019.
Emperor Meiji (明治天皇)
Emperor Meiji (明治天皇), reigned 1867–1912, reigned over Japan's Meiji Restoration and modernization; swore the 1868 Charter Oath, promulgated the Prussian-modeled 1889 Meiji Constitution, and ordered Yasukuni Shrine's construction.
Emperor Monmu (文武天皇)
Emperor Monmu (文武天皇, 683–707), personal name Karu, was Japan's 42nd emperor (r. 697–707), grandson of Tenmu, son of Kusakabe and the later Genmei; his reign completed the Taihō Code of 701 and sent the 702 embassy to Tang China.
Emperor Montoku
Emperor Montoku, also known as Prince Michiyasu (827–858), was the 55th emperor of Japan, reigning from 850 to 858 and marking the beginning of Fujiwara dominance.
Emperor Nijō
Emperor Nijō (二条天皇), personal name Morihito, was the 78th emperor of Japan, reigning 1158 to 1165, remembered for ruling personally against his father Go-Shirakawa's cloistered government.
Emperor Norton
Emperor Norton, born Joshua Abraham Norton (1818-1880), proclaimed himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States, in San Francisco in 1859; his scrip was honored locally, and myths like the Frisco ban are debunked.
Emperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria (Kaiser von Österreich) was the hereditary Habsburg monarch title, created by Francis II on 11 August 1804 in reaction to Napoleon, ending with Karl in 1918.
Emperor of China
Emperor of China (huangdi,皇帝): the monarch of imperial China from Qin Shihuangdi's 221 BCE unification to Puyi's 1912 abdication, ruling through the Mandate of Heaven and a hierarchical bureaucracy.
Emperor of Ethiopia
Emperor of Ethiopia (Negus/Negusa Nagast): hereditary sovereign of the Ethiopian Empire, held by the Solomonic dynasty from 1270 until Haile Selassie's 1974 overthrow by the Derg.
Emperor of India
Emperor of India, feminine Empress of India, was a title borne by the British monarch from 1876 to 1947, created under the Royal Titles Act 1876.
Emperor of Japan (天皇)
The Emperor of Japan (天皇, tennō) is Japan's hereditary monarch, defined by the 1947 Constitution as the symbol of the State and unity of the people with no governing powers. Naruhito is the 126th emperor; succession follows the male-line Imperial House Law.
Emperor of the French
Emperor of the French (Empereur des Français): imperial title of Napoleon I (from 18 May 1804) and Napoleon III (from 2 December 1852), ruling the nation rather than the territory of France, legitimized by plebiscite; distinct from Emperor of France or Holy Roman Emperor.
Emperor Ōgimachi
Emperor Ōgimachi (正親町天皇), personal name Michihito, was the 106th emperor of Japan, reigning from 1557 to 1586, who rebuilt the impoverished imperial court with the support of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Emperor Sakuramachi
Emperor Sakuramachi, personal name Teruhito, was the 115th emperor of Japan, reigning from 1735 to 1747 during the Edo period and known for reviving lapsed imperial ceremonies.
Emperor Taishō (嘉仁)
Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito, 嘉仁), 123rd emperor of Japan, reigned 1912–1926. Third son of Emperor Meiji; frail health from childhood meningitis led to Hirohito's 1921 regency; era of Taishō democracy.
Emperor Xian of Han
Emperor Xian of Han (漢獻帝, Liu Xie, 181–234), last Eastern Han emperor (r. 189–220), was a puppet of Dong Zhuo, then Cao Cao at Xuchang; he abdicated to Cao Pi in 220 and died as Duke of Shanyang in 234.
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (宣宗), personal name Li Chen, was the 17th Tang emperor, reigning from 846 until his death in 859 and remembered for the Dazhong restoration.
Emperor-system fascism (天皇制ファシズム)
Emperor-system fascism (天皇制ファシズム, tennōsei fashizumu) is a historiographical concept, introduced by Japanese Marxist historians in the 1950s, that describes Japan's 1930s–1945 regime as fascism centered on the imperial institution rather than a mass party, a characterization still debated against labels like military authoritarianism.
Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后)
Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后), 1835–1908, Manchu consort and de facto ruler of Qing China for nearly fifty years; staged the 1861 Xinyou coup, crushed the 1898 Hundred Days' Reform, backed the Boxers, then launched the New Policies reforms.
Empress Elisabeth of Austria
Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi, 1837–1898), wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, Queen of Hungary from 1867, reclusive traveler, assassinated in Geneva in 1898 by anarchist Luigi Lucheni; subject of the enduring Sissi film myth.