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Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably Republican France before the Napoleonic counter-revolution. The relating adjective is consular, from the Latin consularis (which has been used, substantiated, as a title in its own right).
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During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic.
While in many cities (as in Gaul) there was a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but Consul was used in some.
It was not uncommon for various organisations under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state and city institutions for its own statutory agents (the very founding statute or contract was also called lex, 'law')
In various Italian city states, the republican regimes (elsewhere or in other periods, the presiding bishop or a hereditary prince or lord was in charge) gave its chief magistrates the title of Consul; thus there have been governments lead by consuls in Bologna, Novara (with one Maggiore as head of state), Trani, Treviso.
The same happened in some cities in France, especially in the Mediterranean south, e.g., Avignon, Limoges.
The city-state of Genoa, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of Consul on various state officials, not necessarily restricted to the highest. Among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities. This institution, with its name, was eventually emulated by other powers and eventually led to the modern meaning of consul — see Consul (representative).
In England, the clerks of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester made a practice of using the Latin word consul rather than the more common comes when translating his title of 'Earl' — though he was not, and made no pretence of being, an elected magistrate of any sort. Modern historians sometimes call him, for that reason, "Robert the Consul", though he himself and his contemporaries did not use that name.
In 1799, revolutionary France enacted a constitution that conferred supreme executive powers upon three officials that bore the title Consul as chief magistracy of the republic. In reality, however, the state was de facto under personal control of the First Consul, general Napoleon Bonaparte, so in political terms it was more like a re-edition of Julius Caesar's and Octavian's triumvirates.
Originally the consuls were to hold office for a period of ten years, but in 1802 Bonaparte was declared First Consul for life (lifetime consulate was introduced for Second and Third Consuls as well). The French consulate ceased to exist when Bonaparte was declared Emperor of the French in 1804.
Since on 15 February 1798 - 23 June 1800 the Roman Republic was declared, it was headed by multiple (not just two-member) consulate, which 27 November 1798 - 12 December 1798 occupied by "Sicily" (Naples); since 11 July 1799 - 28 September 1799 the republic was occupied by France, 30 September 1799 - 23 June 1800 occupied by "Sicily" (i.e. the kingdom of Naples), later one of the home-realms of the Italian kingdom.
The members of the Consulates were:
The short-lived Bolognese Republic, proclaimed in 1796 as a French client republic in the Central Italian city of Bologna, had a government consisting of nine consuls and its head of state was the Presidente del Magistrato, i.e., Chief Magistrate, a presiding office held for four months by one of the consuls. As noted above, Bologna already had Consuls at some parts of its Medieval history.
In between series of juntas (and various other short-lived regimes), the young republic was governed by Consuls of the Republic in power (2 consuls alternating in power every 4 months):
After a few Presidents of the Provisional Junta, there were again Consuls of the Republic, 14 March 1841 - 13 March 1844 (ruling jointly, but occasionally styled First Consul, Second Consul): Carlos Antonio López Ynsfrán (b. 1792 - d. 1862) + Mariano Roque Alonzo Romero (d. 1853) (the lasts of the aforementioned juntistas, Commandant-General of the Army) Thereafter all republican rulers were styled President
Among the many petty local republics that were formed during the first year of the Greek Revolution, prior to the creation of a unified Provisional Government at the First National Assembly at Epidaurus, were:
Note: in Greek, the term for "consul" is "ypatos", which translates as "supreme one", and hence does not necessarily imply a joint office.
