Vicegerent Explained

Vicegerent is the official administrative deputy of a ruler or head of state: vice (Latin for "in place of") and gerere (Latin for "to carry on, conduct").^[1]

In Oxford colleges, a vicegerent is often someone appointed by the Master of a college to assume their powers and responsibilities during a period of absence.

Usage

Catholic Church

In the Catholic Church, the Vicegerent is an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rome, who is granted the personal title of archbishop and serves as the chief assistant to the Cardinal Vicar of Rome.^[2]

Church of England

Early in 1535, closely following the passing of Parliament's Act of Supremacy formally creating the Church of England, King Henry VIII appointed his chief minister Thomas Cromwell "Vice-Gerent in spirituals", effectively acting as the king's deputy in church matters and taking precedence over the two archbishops; this was a necessary step as Cromwell, as an unordained layman, otherwise had no jurisdiction within the Church. The office was not continued after Cromwell's execution in 1540.^[3] Cromwell's earlier appointment, that of Vicar General, had different responsibilities: under this title he directed the royal commissions into monastic affairs.^[4]

Southeast Asia

Patih or Pepatih is a regent title equivalent to vicegerent which was traditionally used among Austronesian polities of insular Southeast Asia, in particular those of Java and the Malay world. In the first place it denoted the chief minister of a kingdom or (in the case of Java) a traditional regency. Lesser ministers could also be known by the title. In some cases the headmen of local communities could be termed Patih, for example on 16th-century Java and in Banjarmasin in southeastern Kalimantan.^[5]

In his capacity of chief minister in a realm, the Patih was the right hand and representative of the ruler. The commands of the ruler were transferred to the regional or local chiefs via the Patih. In the Javanese kingdoms the Patih had his own palace, the Pepatihan, and carried a particular name; in Yogyakarta his name as regent was Danurejo, in Surakarta (Solo) it was Joyonegoro.^[6]

Notable vicegerents

• King John became vicegerent under the Pope.^[7]
• Thomas Cromwell, Vicegerent of Henry VIII, appointed 1535.
• The Byzantine Emperors held as a title "God's Vicegerent on Earth".^[8]
• Milton, in his work Paradise Lost, titles the Son "The Vicegerent", in Book 10.

Further reading

• W. L. Olthof (1987), Babad Tanah Djawi. Dordrecht: Foris.

Notes and References

1. Random House Dictionary (2009 ed.)
2. Web site: Vicariae potestatis in urbe. 6 January 1977. Pope Paul VI. Pope Paul VI. Libreria Editrice Vaticana . it. 9 April 2014.
3. Book: MacCulloch . Diarmaid . Diarmaid MacCulloch . Thomas Cromwell : a life . 27 September 2018 . 9781846144295 . 268–9; 533.
4. Book: Burnet . Gilbert . Gilbert Burnet . The History of the Reformation of the Church of England . 1753 . William S Orr & Co. London . 135 . 1850. 1.
5. A. Cortesão (1944), The Suma Oriental of Tomé Pires, Vol. I-II. London: Hakluyt Society; J.J. Ras (1968), Hikajat Bandjar; A Study in Malay Histiography. The Hague: M. Nijhoff.
6. G.F.E. Gonggrijp (1934), Geïllustreerde Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië. Leiden: Leidsche Uitgeversmaatschappij, p. 1154.
7. Book: Browning . Charles Henry . 1898 . The Magna charta barons and their American descendants with the pedigrees of the founders of the Order of Runnemede deduced from the sureties for the enforcement of the statutes of the Magna charta of King John . Philadelphia . 14.
8. Book: Littlewood . Anthony R. . Maguire . Henry . Byzantine court culture from 829 to 1204 . 16 March 1988 . Harvard University Press . 9780884022428 . 21.