Say a emperoror decides to visit a kingdom and orders the king to vacate their throne and allow the emperor to sit upon it. for as long as he was in the kingdom’s capital Would the king be bound to listen to his “king”? Could the emperor, as the king’s ruler, overrule any of the king’s rulings as per his wish? Say the king wanted to avoid war with a neighboring country but the emperor wanted it, who would the people listen to?
In: Other
As is often the case in these things it depends. Feudal governments were not so much governed by law as by relations between people. An emperor got their position because the kings and princes under them allowed them to be emperor. In some cases there were actual elections while in others the emperor were depending on soldiers and taxes from their vassals. If a king wanted to break out of the empire the emperor usually needed help from the neighbouring kingdoms. But they might be worried that what upset the king who wanted to break free might happen to them as well.
So an emperor had to both be authoritative and show that he was in charge while also make sure that his orders was what the vassals wanted. Kind of like a boss telling you what to do and when to take your vacation knowing full well that he can not fire you or have you quit because he needs you to do the work.
Latest Answers