Editing Elective monarchy (section)

====Ancient Rome and Byzantium====
In the ancient [[Roman Kingdom]] the kings were elected by the [[Roman assemblies]]. When a king died, the senate would appoint an ''interrex'' to oversee the election for a new king.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Allen M. Ward, Fritz M. Heichelheim, Cedric A. Yeo |title=History of the Roman People |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780205846795 |page=36}}</ref> Once the Roman kings were overthrown, there remained an absolute prohibition for royal establishment in the Roman constitution, a prohibition which formally remained in place during imperial times,{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} both classical [[Roman Empire|Roman]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]]. In practice, however, Imperial Rome was a monarchy. During the [[Principate]] (27 BC to 284 AD), which was the foundational stage of Roman imperialism, Roman monarchs would often take care to disguise their ''de facto'' position with the ''de jure'' apparatus of republicanism.  This was particularly the case for [[Augustus]], the first Emperor, who established the Principate. Whilst given many titles (including "Augustus", i.e. "majestic") he described himself as ''princeps senatus'', or merely "first among senators". The illusion of being elected from the [[Roman Senate|Senate]] continued.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adrastos Omissi |title=Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire Civil War, Panegyric, and the Construction of Legitimacy |date=2018 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780192558268 |pages=13–14}}</ref> Over time the principle weakened as [[Roman Republic|republican government]] passed into distant history, and the Empire became functionally an absolute monarchy. The office of Roman and Byzantine emperor remained vaguely elective (albeit with the election procedure never strictly defined, but generally understood to be a matter for the Senate). For instance, whilst the first five Emperors were all [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|descended from Julius Caesar]], in each case their position was proclaimed, not inherited as of right. [[Claudius]], the fourth Emperor, in particular stands out, being "elected" to office once the [[Praetorian Guard]] had made it clear he was their candidate.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Accordingly, heredity never was, and could never be, formally established in law. And whilst the later, more overtly authoritarian [[Dominate]] period further stripped the republican veneer from the constitution, Emperors succeeded by a mixture of proclamation by the Legions or Senate as much as by blood (though sons did succeed fathers).{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

In order to bypass the prohibition on heredity and ensure dynastic continuity, many reigning Byzantine emperors had their heirs crowned co-emperor so that the throne could not be considered vacant at their own death and thus the need for succession by election would not arise.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}