White Czar (The)

Strictly speaking means the Czar of Muscovy; the King of Muscovy was called the White King from the white robes which he wore. The King of Poland was called the Black King.

“Sunt qui principem Moscoviæ Album Regem nuncupant. Ego quidem causam diligenter quierēbam, cur regis albi nomine appellarētur, cum nemo principum Moscoviæ eo titulo antea [I van III.] esset usus … Credo autem ut Persam nunc propter rubea tegumenta capitis ‘Kissilpassaʹ (i.e. rubeum caput) vocant; ita reges Moscoviæ propter alba tegumenta ‘Albos Regesʹ appellari.”—Sigismund.

“The marriage of the Czarevitch with the Princess Alex of Hesse (2 syl.), will impress the Oriental mind with the expectation that the Empress of India and the White Czar will henceforth … labour to avoid the … mischief of disagreement.”—The Standard, April 21st, 1894.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.