The Roman Senate during the Monarchy

Welcome. Let's take a look at the pre-republican senate. The roman senate came into being in the bad old days of the roman kingdom. Originally, there were probably 100 men from 100 different noble families who advised the king. The senate would draft proposals or advice for the king, which he would either accept or reject entirely at his own discretion. In this respect, the senate was much more a council of elders than it was a functioning legislative body, and it had no authority to enforce their will except through the consent of the king. The senate's real moment to shine came upon the death of the king. When this happened, the senate would immediately spring into action and convene with the purpose of appointing a fellow senator to the office of interrex. The interrex was an unusual position. He would carry with him the exact same power and authority of a king, but would only reign for five days. Upon expiry of this extremely short term of office, he would nominate, with the senate's approval, a new interrex to serve as his replacement. Although the interrex had all the rights and responsibilities of an actual king, he had the additional task of searching for a nominee to become the next permanent king. When he arrived at a suitable candidate, he would place his nominee before the senate for questioning, debate, and ultimately for their approval. If an interrex acted quickly, he had the opportunity of a lifetime to handpick his own monarch. If he wasted his five days in office, he would be replaced by one of his colleagues and lose this chance forever. Clearly, there was a huge incentive for each interrex to act quickly to get his preferred candidate through the senate's approval process. Once a candidate was approved by the senate, the interrex would bring his nominee before a public assembly for a simple up or down vote. If the assembly approved, the nominee would leave to consult with religious officials, who would interpret the will of the gods by looking for signs. This was probably a simple formality, since the senate and people had already signed off on their choice. If the signs were good, and from what we can tell they always were, the religious establishment gave their assent and the nominee would return to the public assembly once more to formally ask for imperium, or military command. When the people agreed to this final request, the process was over and Rome had a new king. It's easy to see the central role of the senate here, even in the age of the monarchy. Somehow, they managed to construct a This man was pre-vetted and pre-approved by the senate. From their perspective, the absolute worst-case scenario was that their pre-approved candidate was rejected and another pre-approved candidate had to be found. In other words, nothing bad could happen. The senate left no room for error, and in practice, they controlled every aspect of this election process. It should be no surprise why kings often deferred to the senate's so-called advice. After all, the senate was responsible for the king being there in the first place. Even in this early system, it's clear that the senate was the real power behind the throne. In time, being the power behind the throne wasn't enough. After almost 250 years of being ruled by kings, the senate and people of Rome rose up and banished them from their city. The senate placed itself at the political heart of Rome and would remain there for an incredible 500 years. We'll get into that next week. Thanks for watching.