List of Roman emperors

A list of all Roman emperors. We highly recommend hiding the sidebar to let the table display in full width.

## Notes

### Navigating the list

* Dark green rows are for co-emperors.
* Gray rows are for *caesars* (who were never "full" co-emperors).
* Unsuccessful usurpers are **not** listed; for that see, see the page List of Roman emperors and usurpers, where they are marked in red.
	+ An exception to this rule is Romulus Augustulus (r. 475 – 476); while technically illegitimate and an usurper (Julius Nepos was universally recognized as real Western emperor from 474 until 480), he is still listed among legitimate Roman emperors by historians, likely due to the romanticization of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
* From 1204 to 1261, the Eastern Roman Empire split into three successor states: Nicaea, Trebizond and Epirus. The leaders of all three states claimed to be the rightful Roman emperors, but only the Nicean ones are listed here, as they are the ones who recaptured Constantinople, and as Trebizond and Epirus both gave up their claims and retroactively legitimized the Nicaeans.

### Claims to the imperial office after 1453

Andreas Palaiologos, a nephew of the final Roman emperor Constantine XI (who died in the Ottoman siege), claimed the title from 1483 onwards. His father Thomas and uncle Demetrios did not claim the emperorship directly, but as Despots of the Morea (which outlived Constantinople by seven years), were *de facto* rulers of the last Roman rump state; furthermore, Demetrios was head of the Palaiologos family until his death.

Andreas conditionally sold his title to Charles VIII of France in 1494, who planned to call a crusade against the Ottomans, capture Constantinople and become Roman emperor. The sale included a clause that dictated the return of the title to Andreas if this was not fullfilled. Charles died unexpectedly in 1498 after accidentally bashing his head against a doorway, before he could attack the Ottomans, and subsequently, the title returned to Andreas.

Upon his deathbed in 1502, Andreas willed the title of Roman emperor to the Spanish monarchy. From a judicial standpoint, this makes all competing claims factually invalid: Roman emperorship was never fully hereditary, and as the final titular Roman emperor from the Palaiologos family willed his titles to the Spanish monarchy, that alone makes them the legal emperors. Thus, even though the Romanovs have blood ties to the Palaiologi due to their descent from the Rurikids (one of whom, Ivan III of Moscow, married a niece of Constantine XI), the Spanish claim is the only legally correct one; in a monarchy where hereditary succession was a custom and not a rule, legal willing has more weight than blood ties. Thus, this wiki considers all rightful, titular emperors after Andreas to be the Spanish monarchs.

The Ottoman sultans claimed succession to the Roman Empire, using the title *Caesar of Rome*, but as their state is culturally, linguistically, politically and religiously unrelated to the Roman state, their claims are not taken seriously. Russian claims of succession based on blood ties to the Palaeologans and the shared Eastern Orthodox faith are similarly considered bogus.

## Notes

1. ↑ More rarely given as *Flavius Valerius Valentinianus*.
2. ↑ More rarely given as *Flavius Valerius Valens*.
3. ↑ More rarely given as *Flavius Valentinianus Gratianus*.
4. ↑ Consistently referred to as *Flavius Theodosius Arcadius* on genealogical websites, but this is unsourced.
5. ↑ Consistently referred to as *Flavius Theodosius Honorius* on genealogical websites, but this is unsourced.
6. ↑ More rarely *Flavius Arcadius Theodosius*.
7. ↑ Born as *Trascalissaeus* (or *Tarasicodissus*).
8. ↑ Born as *Istocus*.
9. ↑ More rarely given as *Flavius Valerius Iustinianus*.
10. ↑ Sometimes given as *Flavius Valerius Iustinus* in older sources.
11. ↑ Alternatively spelled as *Mauritius*.