During the Middle Ages, rulers from different regions aspired to an idea of imperial hegemony. On the other hand, there were rulers who deliberately refused to be «emperors», although their reign showed characteristics of imperial rule. The contributions in this volume ask for the reasons why some rulers such as Charlemagne strove for imperial titles, whereas others voluntarily shrank from them. They also look at the characteristics of and rituals connected to imperial rule as well as to the way Medieval empires saw themselves. Thus, the authors in this volume adopt a transcultural perspective, covering Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern Europe, Byzantium and the Middle East. Furthermore, they go beyond the borders of Christianity by including various caliphates and Islamic «hegemonic» rulers like Saladin.

Christian Scholl studied History and English Language and Literature in Trier and Dublin. He is a researcher at the Institute for Early Medieval Studies at the University of Münster. Torben R. Gebhardt studied History and English Language and Literature in Bochum. From 2011 to 2015, he worked at the Department of History in Münster. From 2016 onwards, he has been working as a project coordinator at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Jan Clauß studied History and Catholic Theology in Bochum and Dublin. From 2011 to 2015, he worked at the Department of History in Münster. Today, he works as a teacher.