Majesty

The name comes from the Latin Majesty maiestas and originally meant size, majesty or sovereignty. It is nobility and form of address for kings and emperors with the preceding pronoun your, your or your rare. The male sovereign will with His Majesty, his wife (if the rank of a queen or empress dressed ) titled Her Majesty. The right to the salutation Majesty is usually beyond a Queen Mother. The usual abbreviations are I.M. ( Her Majesty ) or S. M. ( His Majesty ) and Ew.M. ( Your / Your Majesty ).

Moreover, it was - especially in official correspondence - as usual, the pronouns he and she to avoid in relation to a king / emperor or a queen / empress. Instead, the pronoun Majesty or Allerhöchstdieselbe were used.

History

The origin of the name Majesty was intended as a property of a god. In ancient Rome it was also awarded the state population. Since Emperor Tiberius then also applied to the respective rulers ( maiestas principis ).

Rota therefore was used in the Middle Ages in the German Reich of the title for the Emperor, and since the 16th century, especially in the beginning in England and France for mighty kings. Since the Peace of Westphalia address and title of general application to kings and emperors, and also the respective consorts are titled accordingly. Here, a widowed Empress and Queen reserves the right to this form of address even after the death of her husband.

Special Majesty title

• Most Christian Majesty (Latin Rex christianissĭmus, French Sa majesté très - chrétienne ) was the title of the kings of France, of them. Pope Paul II in 1469 and the first time to Louis XI was awarded.
• Catholic Majesty was the title of the kings of Spain. Ferdinand V. received him by the Pope Alexander VI. expressly conferred because he expelled the Moors and Jews from Spain and the Inquisition introduced. However, according to Meyers Great Conversation Lexicon of 1907, the title should already have been done earlier.
• Apostolic Majesty was the honorary title of the kings of Hungary, awarded in the year 1000 by Pope Sylvester II to King Stephan and 1758 for the Austro-Hungarian. Royal House was renewed.
• Allergetreueste Majesty (actually Allergläubigste Majesty, Latin Rex fidelissĭmus ) was the title of the Portuguese king who was given them by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748.