True Invention: On the Highly Useful and Splendid Inventions and Arts of the German Nation

...any more than a tailor gives the clothes that he fits upon a person, nor does the goldsmith give the rings that he places onto the buyer’s fingers.

It is also manifest and known to everyone that it is one thing to receive a fief original: Lehen; a grant of land or right given by a superior to a subordinate from a feudal lord original: Lehen-Herrn, but quite another to receive only the ceremonies and empty customs from someone else. Furthermore, no one is found to be above the highest Prince of this world, or the Emperor, except for the Divine Majesty, by whom all kingdoms and principalities of the world are given; humans, however, being persons of a lower rank, have no power at all over these things.

Among the ancient Romans, a Roman Emperor was established either through regular succession inheritance of the title or by the force of the military and the bodyguards original: Leibguardi; referring to the Praetorian Guard, who often decided the imperial succession in Rome. In such cases, significant gifts and presents were often exchanged. For this reason, the Roman citizenry did not appoint their princes or emperors through a formal election, but rather had to accept them once they were chosen and proclaimed by the proven military. This happened especially during those times when the Roman Empire was in its highest bloom and prosperity, as history gives sufficient testimony. Beyond all this, it is also through the ancient law of the Roman people,