Consul

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For modern, semi-diplomatic or colonial consuls, see Consul (representative).

Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably Republican France before Napoleon turned it into an Empire.

The relating adjective is consular, from the Latin consularis (which has been used, substantivated, as a title in its own right).

Ancient Rome

Republic

After the mythical expulsion of the last Etruscan King Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and the ending of the Roman Kingdom, all the powers and authority of the King were alledgedly given to the newly instituted Consulship. However, it is likely that first the chief magistrates were the Praetors. The office of Consul is believed to date back to the traditional establishment of the Republic in 509 BC but the succession of Consuls was not continuous in the 5th century. Consuls had extensive competences in peacetime, administrative, legislative and judicial, and in (frequent) war time often held the highest military command(s); additional religious duties included certain rites which, as a sign of their formal importance, could only be carried out by top level state officials (compare Rex sacrorum); the reading of the auguries was an essential step before leading armies into the field.

Under the laws of the Republic, the minimum age of election to consul for patricians was 40 years of age, for plebeians 42. Two consuls were elected each year, serving together with veto power over each other's actions, a normal principle for magistratures.

In Latin, consules means "those who walk together". If a consul died during his term (not uncommon when consuls were in the forefront of battle), another would be elected, and be known as a suffect consul (cos. suff.).

According to tradition, the consulship was initially reserved for patricians and only in 367 BC the plebeians won the right to stand for this supreme office, when the lex Licinia Sextia provided that at least one consul each year should be plebeian; the first plebeian consul, Lucius Sextius, was thereby elected the following year. Modern historians have questioned the traditional account of plebeian emancipation during the Early Republic (see Conflict of the Orders), noting for instance that about thirty percent of the consuls prior to Sextius had plebeian, not patrician, names; probably only the chronology has been distorted.

During times of war, the primary criterion for consul was military skill and reputation, but at all times the selection was politically charged. With the passage of time, the consulship became the normal endpoint of the cursus honorum, the sequence of offices pursued by the ambitious Roman.

Beginning in the late Republic, after finishing a consular year, a former consul would usually serve a lucrative term as a Proconsul, the Roman Governor of one of the (senatorial) provinces.

Empire

When Augustus established the Principate, he changed the political nature of the office, stripping it of most of its powers. While still a great honor — in fact invariably the constitutional head of state, hence eponymous — and a requirement for other offices, many consuls would resign part way through the year to allow other men to finish their term as suffects. Those who held the office on January 1, known as the consules ordinarii, had the honor of associating their names with that year. As a result, about half of the men who held the rank of praetor could also reach the consulship. Sometimes these suffect consuls would in turn resign, and another suffect would be appointed. This reached its extreme under Commodus, when in AD 190 twenty-five men held the consulship.

Emperors frequently appointed themselves, protégés, or relatives consul, even without regard to the age requirements. For example, Emperor Honorius was given the consulship at birth. The most ludicrous excess was when mad emperor Caligula elevated a horse.

Holding the consulship was a great honor and the office was the major symbol of the still republican constitution. Probably as part of seeking formal legitimacy, the break-away Gallic Empire had its own pairs of consuls during its existence (260–274). The list of consuls for this state is incomplete, drawn from inscriptions and coins.

One of the reforms of Constantine I was to assign one of the consuls to the city of Rome, and the other to Constantinople. Therefore, when the Roman Empire was divided into two halves on the death of Theodosius I, the emperor of each half acquired the right of appointing one of the consuls— although one emperor did allow his colleague to appoint both consuls for various reasons. As a result, after the formal end of the Roman Empire in the West, many years would be named for only a single consul. This rank was finally allowed to lapse in the reign of Justinian I: first with the consul of Rome in 534, Decius Paulinus, then the consul of Constantinople in 541, Flavius Basilius Junior.

Consular dating

The highest magistrates were eponymous, i.e. each year was officially identified (like a regnal year in a monarchy) by the two Consuls' names, though there was a more practical numerical dating ab urbe condita (i.e since the mythical foundation year of Rome). For instance, the year 59 BC in the modern calendar was called by the Romans "the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus," since the two colleagues in the consulship were (Gaius) Julius Caesar and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus--although Caesar dominated the consulship so thoroughly that year that it was jokingly referred to as "the consulship of Gaius and Julius".

In Latin, the ablative absolute construction is frequently used to express the date, such as "M. Messalla et M. Pupio Pisone consulibus," translated literally as "Marcus Messalla and Marcus Pupio Piso being Consuls," which appears in Caesar's De Bello Gallico.

In most accounts of Roman history, consular elections are detailed and usually mark the beginning of each year, as the Consuls were elected in January. Outgoing Consuls were expected to return to Rome to oversee the elections.

Lists of Roman Consuls

For a complete list of Roman consuls, see:

List of Republican Roman Consuls (before 33 BC)
List of early imperial Roman consuls (33 BC‑AD 192)
List of late imperial Roman consuls (after AD 192)

Other uses in antiquity

Other city states

While in many cities there was a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but in some Consul was used.

Private sphere

It was not uncommon for various organisations under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state and city institutions for its own statutory agents (the very founding statute or contract was also called lex, 'law')

In Feudal times

In various Italian city states, the republican regimes (elsewhere or in other periods, the Bishop or a hereditary Prince or Lord was in charge) gave its Chief Magistrates the title of consul ... Thus there have been governments lead by consuls in Bologna, Novara (with one Maggiore as head of state), Trani, Treviso.

The same happened in some cities in France, especially in the Mediterranean south, e.g. Avignon, Limoges.

Modern republics

French republican consuls

In 1799, revolutionary France enacted a constitution that conferred supreme executive powers upon three officials that bore the title "consul" as chief magistracy of the republic. In reality, however, the state was de facto under personal control of the First Consul, general Napoleon Bonaparte, so in political terms it was more like a re-edition of Julius Caesar's and Octavian's triumvirates.

Originally the consuls were to hold office for a period of ten years, but in 1802 Bonaparte was declared First Consul for life (lifetime consulate was introduced for Second and Third Consuls as well), again rather like Caesar was Dictator for life (after declining the royal style). The French consulate ceased to exist when Bonaparte was declared Emperor of the French in 1804.

Roman republican consuls

Since on 15 February 1798 - 23 June 1800 the Roman Republic was declared, it was headed by multiple (not just two-member) consulate, which 27 November 1798 - 12 December 1798 occupied by "Sicily" (Naples); since 11 July 1799 - 28 September 1799 the republic was occupied by France, 30 September 1799 - 23 June 1800 occupied by "Sicily" (i.e. the kingdom of Naples), later one of the home-realms of the Italian kingdom.

The members of the Consulates were:

15 February 1798 - 20 March 1798 there were Provisional Consuls: Briganti, Carlo Luigi Costantini, Pio Camillo, duca Bonelli-Crescenzi, Gioacchino Pessuti, Antonio Bassi & Maggi, Stampa & Liborio Angelucci
20 March 1798 - September 1798 the first regular Consuls: Liborio Angelucci, Giacomo De Mattheis, Panazzi, Reppi & Ennio Quirino Visconti
September 1798 - 27 November 1798 again Consuls: Brigi (1st time), Calisti (1st time), Francesco Pierelli (1st time), Giuseppe Rey (1st time) & Federico Maria Domenico Michele Zaccaleoni (1st time) (b. 1760 - d. 18..)
After the 29 November 1798 - 12 December 1798 Provisional Government of five (Princes Giambattista Borghese, Paolo-Maria Aldobrandini & Prince Gibrielli, Marchese Camillo Massimo & Giovanni Ricci), the 12 December 1798 - 24 July 1799 Consuls: Brigi (2nd time), Calisti (2nd time), Francesco Pierelli (2nd time), Giuseppe Rey (2nd time), Federico Maria Domenico Michele Zaccaleoni (2nd time)

Paraguay

In between series of juntas (and various other short-lived regimes), the young republic was govered by Consuls of the Republic in power (2 consuls alternating in power every 4 months):

12 October 1813 - 12 February 1814 José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco (1st time)
12 February 1814 - 12 June 1814 Fulgencio Yegros y Franco de Torres
12 June 1814 - 3 October 1814 José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco (2nd time); he stayed on as Supreme Dictator 3 October 1814 - 20 September 1840 (from 6 June 1816 styled Perpetual Supreme Dictator)

After a few Presidents of the Provisional Junta, there were again Consuls of the Republic, 14 March 1841 - 13 March 1844 (ruling jointly, but occasionally styled First Consul, Second Consul): Carlos Antonio López Ynsfrán (b. 1792 - d. 1862) + Mariano Roque Alonzo Romero (d. 1853) (the lasts of the aforemenioned juntistas, Commandant-General of the Army) Thereafter all republcan rulers were styled President

Partitioned revolutionary Greece

Among the many petty republics that shortly existed while 21 March 1821 - 6 February 1833 Greek Revolutionary Authorities had to step in after the term of the last Ottoman Wali (governor), were:

The Consulate of Argos (from 26 May 1821, under the Senate of Peloponnes) had a single Head of state, yet paradoxically styled consul, 28 March 1821 - 26 May 1821: Stamatellos Antonopoulos
The Consulate of East Greece (Levadea) (from 15 November 1821, under Senate of East Greece) was headed 1 April 1821 - 15 November 1821 by three Consuls: Lambros Nakos, Ioannis Logothetis & Ioannis Filon

Sources and references

Ancient Roman titles | Heads of government | Heads of state | Military ranks of Ancient Rome

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