The Roman Empire and Its Politics

The empire never had a single fixed imperial capital. Rome was only briefly considered as the emperor's primary residence in the late 10th century. Its politics, and as a consequence its identities also, were always multi-centred. The idea that Catholic, Europe, was a single political order proved surprisingly durable. But none of these monarchs was presumptuous enough to assume an imperial title. Habsburgs forced to accept that the Sultan was akin to an emperor in 1606; they made the same arrangement with the Tsar in 1726.