ABSTRACT
Historians consistently following hermeneutic ("emic") methodology can consider the idea of the Grand Duchy as the rise and demise of an empire only as patently absurd. In this view, the empire is an ancient Roman invention and a part of their legacy. This chapter examines why the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania really never aspire to an empire's laurels. It illuminates its context – the history of European peoples' and dynasties' struggles over the succession of the Roman Empire up to the seventeenth century. In the original meaning of the word, imperium is the Latin for power, once held by the highest-ranking officers or magistrates of the Roman republic. The decline of the popes' authority and power meant that the authority of the Holy Roman emperors could recover, as they had at least temporarily regained the role of leaders of the Christian world.
