The history of Empires has been the subject of a recent craze, leading to the emergence of a specific field, "imperiology". On the other hand, the question of "imperialism", i.e. the Empire as a horizon of possibilities, has not benefited from a comprehensive approach. Yet, as recent studies have shown, the success of imperial ideology can also be measured by its mark on non-imperial monarchies (France, Sicily, England, Castile, the Papal States...). The Imperialiter program (2017-2021) thus aims to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the reappropriation of Empire in the Middle Ages and modern period through regular scientific meetings.
Four of these have been held successively in Rome (two meetings, in October 2017), Oxford (June 2018), Madrid (October 2019). The symposium hosted at the Collège de France is therefore the fifth in the series. The theme of "the imperial eschatology of the sovereign" that this colloquium explores emerged during the previous days, which highlighted in the discourses, representations and models associated with imperializing kings, the importance of the theme of eschatology and its various manifestations (messianism, prophetism, crusades and the liberation of holy cities, the Antichrist, the "king of three religions"), which enable the sovereign to amplify the manifestations of his sovereignty by associating traits that link him to the second Parousia, the definitive one of Christ's return (the royal model par excellence), which will abrogate all earthly and imperial sovereignty.