Dr. Tamás Nótári, habil.,

Research Fellow, Institute for Legal Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences,

Associate professor, Károli Gáspár  University in Budampest – Faculty of Law and Political Sciences

Translatio imperii – Some thoughts on continuity of imperium in European political tradition

In this work i intent to give a short overview on thinking about translatio imperii. It is legitimite principle that exists more than two thousand years.  On that ground some countries/ empires consider themselves the contiunuers and direct legal successors of former empires, supporting their legal demands and great political ambitions. Firstly, i intend to clear up the roots of this ideology in antique literature and history and then to show the forms in which this ideology appears in mediaeval and modern age Europe.

Key words: translatio imperii, renevatio imperii, the Second Rome, the Third Rome, the Third Reiche.