Renaming document

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The Renaming Document (更名令, krang-mying-ringh) was a Themiclesian law issued in 1386 that changed the names of the monarch and a number of government offices in response to Yi-Menghean demands to relinquish the imperial title.

Background

In the late 13th century, Menghe recovered from a period internal turmoil and entered an expansionary phase, which brought it into conflict with Themiclesia's maritime empire in Meridia. While the Yi navy, fielding gunpowder weapons, unexpectedly conquered Portcullia in the battle of 1325, Themiclesia refurbished her forces and established a new base in what is now Naseristan. A second battle in 1352 ensued in waters there resulted in yet another defeat for Themiclesia, for which many of the polities previously disposed to Themiclesia re-aligned with the Yi court.

The Themiclesian fleet was rebuilt again to protect access to Maracaibean gold, but Yi ordered Cho Myeong-won to attack Themiclesia itself in 1385, riding over the vast Dzhungestan desert and laying siege to Kien-k'ang. Her standing armies occupied in Columbia and unable to communicate with the outside world, Themiclesia was forced to surrender and negotiate terms of peace. One of the Menghean demands was for Themiclesia's ruler to abolish the title gwang-tegh, usually translated as "emperor" in Tyrannian. The court assented to these terms and issued instructions for a number of names to be changed.

Issuance

The edict that contained the Renaming Document was issued on March 5, 1386 and was the final edict using the title of emperor until the title was resumed in 1634. This edict was issued to every government department, military unit, prefecture, and county so that the entire country would perceive the change, and it may have been a measure to assure the Yi court of Themiclesia's compliance, in case spies remained in the country.

Contents

The original document consisted of a series of instructions in the form "do not write X, write Y" (勿書X,書Y), with the former being the names that by treaty the Themiclesian ruler agreed to abandon and the latter those to replace them.  There was no explicit reason given in the renaming document itself, but at least two original copies survive and (surprisingly) are given with the old seal that bears the title of "Emperor". While most things were simply renamed to remove references to the imperial title, the term "imperial hall" was replaced with "gwryeng-gwai-ntenh", the name of a specific building.

Before After
Shinasthana Transliteration Translation Shinasthana Transliteration Translation
皇帝 hwang-tai emperor 伯王 ghwyang hegemon prince
皇后 hwang-hoh empress 王君 ghwyang-qur prince's lady
皇太后 hwang-dai-hoh empress-dowager 帝君 tiks-qur agnate lady
皇帝室 hwang-tai-syit imperial house 公室  qeng-stit patriarchal household
皇帝宮 hwang-tai-kyung imperial palace 公宮  qeng-kyung patriarchal palace
皇帝殿 hwang-tai-tinh imperial hall 光和殿  gwryeng-gwai-ntenh The Hall of Eternal Peace
皇帝所 hwang-tai-syo′ emperor's location 公在所  qeng-dzeq-skraq king's present location
陛下 prai-gra′ your majesty 殿下 ntenh-gra′ your serene highness
以制 tyaih by edict 以公令 qeng-ringh by order
京兆 kyeng-tryaw′ capital region 內史 nups-sreq Inner Region
京兆尹 kyeng-tryaw′-yun′ capital magistrate 內史 nups-sreq Inner Administrator

Observations

One quirk of the edict is the first statement that "We hereby revert to the title of 'Hegemon Prince'" (今朕更伯王稱), which implies that such a title had always existed.

Reversion

The Yi empire disintegrated in 1518 due to the Menghean Black Plague, which had already ravaged Themiclesia in the 13th century. The king ordered his court to discuss reclaiming the lost title, but the result, led by the President of Tribunes, was in the negative. Leading jurists argued that changing the sovereign's title was prejudicial to stability and juridical references, since the last title chagne resulted in years spent in editing all the laws to remove references to an emperor.[1]  

In 1634, King Hor (桓王) of the current dynasty declared that he would use the title emperor again, which met opposition from his courtiers. They said that emperor was simply a title, without which his country functioned perfectly well and made many advances. Hor responded that if recanting the title could save an invasion, then he should proclaim it first and then remove it as one of the terms of peace; if he did not use this title, he would have to give up something more substantial. Some of the courtiers were convinced by this line of thinking, but others argued that taking the title was a source of unwanted conflict in the first place, and those that he could waive simply by removing the title would not have occurred if he did not use the title anyway.

In order to reduce the trouble of editing all the laws to reflect changes in titles, only the titles "emperor" and "empress" were resurrected.

In translation

The Sylvanate style of the Themiclesian monarch varied from time to time, as it was used solely in foreign correspondence. There is no observed trend in the styles used during the period when Themiclesia officially stopped using the title "emperor" domestically, and the word imperator was very infrequently used. In 1398, a diplomatic note to Sylva used the title Rex et princeps dominorum Thimiensibus, "king and first amongst Themiclesian lords".

See also

Notes

  1. 王令曰:曩哀王四年,義犯我使去皇帝號。今義彊大,上帝疾之民,終之邦。命既改,當復稱皇帝。其議。御史駁之,曰頻頻改號無益于事,今不煩改號,便。竟不行。The king commanded, "In the fourth year of King ′Ei, Yi invaded us and forced [us] to remove the title "emperor". Because Yi is powerful and great, God has afflicted its people and ended its state. The mandate has changed, and we should reclaim the title "empror". Let the court discuss [this matter]." The Tribunes refuted this, saying that frequent changes to titles are of no benefit to affairs of state, [and] we will not go through the trouble to change titles, being more convenient. The matter ultimately did not proceed.