Czar

Czar, more properly Tsar, Tzar, or Zar, the title of the emperors of Russia. The word occurs early in Old Slavonic, equivalent to king or kaiser, and is connected with the Latin Cæsar, continued in the Roman empire as a title of honour long after the imperial house itself had become extinct. In the Slavonic Bible the word basileus is rendered by czar; Cæsar (kaiser) by Cesar. In the Russian chronicles also the Byzantine emperors are styled czars, as are also the khans of the Mongols who ruled over Russia. The title of the Russian princes was kniaz ('prince') and veliki kniaz ('great prince'); and the princes of Moscow took the title of czar as rulers of the Mongolians. As individual sub-khans made themselves independent of the kingdom of the Golden Horde, they also assumed the title of czar; thus, there were czars of Siberia, of Kasan, and of Astrakhan. The conquest of the Golden Horde by the khan of the Crimea in 1480 made the grand-princes of Moscow completely independent; and upon them devolved the absolute power which the czars had exercised over all Russia. Ivan IV. the Terrible first caused him- self to be crowned czar in 1547; from that time the title of czar became the chief title of the Muscovite rulers, and became practically the equivalent of emperor. The wife of the czar was named tzaritza (czarina); the sons, tzarewitch; the daughters, tzarevna; but after the death of Alexei—Peter I.'s son—these titles were abolished, and the imperial princes were called grand-dukes, and the imperial princesses grand-duchesses. In 1799 the Emperor Paul I. introduced the title of cesarewitch (not czarewitch) for his second son, the Grand-duke Constantine. The heir-apparent and his wife are still called cesarevitch and cesarevna. Among the Russian people themselves, the emperor is more frequently called Gossudar (Hospodar, 'Lord') than czar. The term White Czar, belyj zar', comes down from Mongol times, and is merely equivalent to an independent, non-tribute-paying czar. See RUSSIA.