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MAJESTY (Fr. majeste; Lat. majestas, ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 449 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAJESTY (Fr. majeste; See also:Lat. majestas, grandeur, greatness, from the See also:base mag-, as in See also:magnus, See also:great, See also:major, greater, &c.) , dignity, greatness, a See also:term especially used to See also:express the dignity and See also:power of a See also:sovereign. This application is to be traced to the use of majestas in Latin to express the supreme sovereign dignity of the See also:Roman See also:state, the majestas reipublicae or populi Romani, hence majestatem laedere or minuere, was to commit high See also:treason, crimen majestatis. (For the See also:modern See also:law and usage of laesa majestas, lese majeste, Majestittsbeleidigung, see TREASON.) From the See also:republic majestas was transferred to the emperors, and the majestas populi Romani became the majestas imperii, and augustalis majestas is used as a term to express the sovereign See also:person of the See also:emperor. See also:Honorius and See also:Theodosius speak of themselves in the first person as nostra majestas. The term " majesty " was strictly confined in the See also:middle ages to the successors of the Roman emperors in the See also:West, and at the treaty of See also:Cambrai (1529) it is reserved for the emperor See also:Charles V. Later the word is used of See also:kings also, and the distinction is made between imperial majesty (caesareana majestas) and kingly or royal majesty. From the 16th See also:century See also:dates the application of " Most See also:Christian and See also:Catholic Majesty " to the kings of See also:France, of " Catholic Majesty " to the kings of See also:Spain, of " Most Faithful Majesty " to the kings of See also:Portugal, and " Apostolic Majesty " to the kings of See also:Hungary. In See also:England the use is generally assigned to the reign of See also:Henry VIII., but it is found, though not in See also:general usage, earlier; thus the New See also:English See also:Dictionary quotes from an Address of the Kings Clerks to Henry II. in I171 (Materials for the See also:History of See also:Archbishop See also:Becket, vii. 471, Rolls See also:Series, 1885), where the See also:king is styled vestra majestas, and See also:Selden (Titles of See also:Honour, See also:part i. ch. 7, p. 98, ed. 1672) finds many See also:early uses in letters to See also:Edward I., in charters of creation of peers,,&c.

The fullest See also:

form in English usage is " His Most Gracious'Majesty "; another form is " The King's Most Excellent Majesty," as in the English See also:Prayer-See also:book. " His Sacred Majesty " was See also:common in the 17th century; and of this form Selden says: " It is true, I think, that in our memory or the memory of our fathers, the use of it first began in England." " His Majesty," abbreviated H.M., is now the universal See also:European use in speaking of any reigning king, and " His Imperial Majesty," H.I.M., of any reigning emperor. From the particular and very early use of " majesty " for the See also:glory and splendour of See also:God, the term has been used in ecclesiastical See also:art of the See also:representation of God the See also:Father enthroned in glory, sometimes with the other persons of the Trinity, and of the Saviour alone, enthroned with an aureole.

End of Article: MAJESTY (Fr. majeste; Lat. majestas, grandeur, greatness, from the base mag-, as in magnus, great, major, greater, &c.)

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