The History of Absolute Monarchy

King Louis XIV's reign is an example of an absolute monarchy.

Absolute monarchies are governments ruled by one person with unlimited power. Some monarchs are elected officials, but most are members of a royal family who often inherit the position from a family member. Absolute monarchs do not have any laws restraining them. These types of monarchies differ from constitutional monarchies. Constitutional monarchies, such as England's current monarchy, do not have any real power in the government and are mostly figureheads or advisers to elected government officials.

Powers

In absolute monarchies, the monarch makes all of the major decisions, usually with the help of his or her chief ministers and advisers. This makes the monarch the head of the administration, the chief commander of the military forces and the head lawmaker. During the upheaval of the reformation period in 1500s, many absolute monarchs declared that they had the power to decide what religion their subjects would practice. This led to many wars over religion.

Origins

The theory of the absolute monarchy dates back to the middle ages, when feudalism gave monarchs more power than lower-ranking nobles, yet absolute monarchies didn't begin to gain power until the 17th and 18th centuries. During this time period, many monarchs in Europe began to increase the power of their governments. In doing so, they increased their own power. These monarchs justified their power with a newly emerging theory called the Divine Right of Kings, which states that monarchs are not subject to laws of the people and have been granted the right to rule by God, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of History.

Acceptance and Defiance

Some countries, such as France, accepted an absolute monarchy because it provided a more efficient and secure government for the country. An absolute monarchy meant the country would have a ruler at all times and that ruler would learn from a young age how to govern the country. Many countries eventually came to dislike the absolute monarchy and staged revolts, protests and revolutions to overthrow the governments. The French Revolution in the late 1700s is an example of one country's attempt to overthrow the absolute monarchy and establish a different type of government.

Examples of Absolute Monarchies

One of the most well known examples of an absolute monarchy was the reign of Louis XIV in France during the late 1600s and early 1700s. Louis XIV defended his supreme power by declaring “L'etat, c'est moi,” meaning “I am the state.” England had an absolute monarchy as well until a charter known as The Magna Carta was signed into law in 1215. This charter greatly limited King John's power and paved the way for the British government's current constitutional government.

References

• The Civil Government of the United States; Author Unknown; 1889
• A History of Literary Criticism; Rafey Habib; 2005
• ThinkQuest: Magna Carta
• Union County College: Louis XIV
• University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of History; Divine Right of Kings
• Official Website of the British Monarchy: History and Background