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During the 17th and 18th centuries, kings wanted absolute power over their kingdoms. Some kings, like Louis XIV, could accomplish this goal while others like Charles I, were executed. What was royal absolutism? How did a king become an absolute monarch? Why did Charles fail so miserably? Let's explore royal absolution!
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Team Royal Absolutism Teachers
The royal absolutism definition is when a ruler gains complete control over their nation. To gain full control, a monarch must have control over the nobles, religion, and the people. Gaining control can be very difficult to achieve, and many kings were unsuccessful.
Royal absolutism emerged in the 17th century from scholars like Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes wrote The Leviathan, stating that before people had a ruler, they lived terrible lives. People need monarchs who can maintain all aspects of their lives. A robust, central ruler who alone had complete control.
Fig 1: Thomas Hobbes
Then Bishop Bossuet introduced the divine right of kings. This belief was that God granted kings their authority. Divine right was traced back to the biblical King David who was chosen by God to lead the Israelites. If someone were to disagree with the king, then they also disagreed with God. Combining Hobbes and Bossuet's theories, we have a king chosen by God with absolute power that no one can oppose.
Earlier, we discussed that absolute monarchs had to control their nobles, religion, and people. Let's look a little deeper at that! So, 17th-century hierarchy had the king at the top, the nobles, the merchants, and the peasants. Nobles had a lot of power; in France, for example, there was a class of nobles called the Nobles of the Robe who worked as judges.
To control the nobles, the monarch could lock them away, kill them, or convince them to give up their power. Rulers could give the nobles' responsibilities to bureaucrats who were loyal to the monarchy and would do as they asked.
Bureaucrats:
A government official
Religion needed to be uniform, or it could threaten the rule of the king. Monarchs could purge non-conformists forcing them to flee to kinder kingdoms. Lastly, the peasants would blame heavy taxation on the nobles because they believed that their divine king would not overly tax them.
So, who would oppose the divine king? Opponents of royal absolutism tended to be those who would lose power. Nobles would be against it because they would lose all of their power. The Nobles of the Robe's families had bought their title so they would lose a lot of money.
Some clergy opposed it if the monarch was of a different religion, then the clergy would be persecuted. Lastly, the people sometimes opposed it. When the absolute monarch raised taxation, the people suffered the most.
Mercantilism is the economic theory that gold and silver are finite. These precious metals determine how rich a kingdom is so a ruler must collect as much of it as they can. To collect more, the kingdom would need a favorable trade balance which would mean that the kingdom would export more goods than it imported. The country that exports fewer goods than they import must pay the other country gold and silver.
Let's look at some of the positive and negative effects of absolutism. An absolute monarch can pass legislation far quicker than other forms of government. Absolute monarchies don't have to wait for anyone's approval, votes, or even counsel, they can simply pass legislation.
Absolute monarchs have stronger militaries. The monarch needed to be able to wage war whenever he chose so he needed a ready military loyal only to him. The ruler appointed the army's commander, and it could be whoever they wanted.
Absolute monarchs had full control over religion which meant that there was a uniform religion. People who believed something else were either persecuted or forced to flee to a more tolerable nation.
During the rule of Louis XIV, French Huguenots were forced to flee France because Louis was having them executed. Huguenots were French Protestants.
Lastly, attempting to run an absolute monarch could lead to rebellion or civil war. If the nobles or the people were against the monarch and refused to submit, then they could wage war against the ruler. This was the case with the English Civil War.
Let's look at two cases of absolute monarchy, one is a success, and the other is a failure. Our success case will be Louis XIV who some historians consider to be the most successful absolute monarch. For our failure we will look at Charles I whose attempt at absolutism ended with his beheading.
Louis XIV was crowned king in 1643 when he was four years old. His mother ruled for him as his regent until he was fifteen. In order to be an absolute monarch, he needed to strip the nobles of their power. Louis set about to build the Palace of Versailles. The nobles would relinquish their power in order to live in this glorious palace.
Fig 2: Palace of Versailles
Over 1000 people lived at the palace including nobles, workers, Louis's mistresses, and more. He had operas for them and sometimes even starred in them. The nobles would try to obtain different privileges; one heavily sought-after privilege was helping Louis undress at night. To live in the castle was to live in luxury. Louis was called the Sun King because living with him was like being in the sun.
The church believed in the divine right of the king. So, with the nobles occupied and the church on his side, Louis was able to obtain absolute power.
Charles I wanted to obtain absolute power, but England had a parliament. After the Petition of Rights in 1628, Charles wasn't allowed to raise taxes or go to war without Parliament. Charles was annoyed by this, so he simply did not call Parliament until 1640. Scottish Presbyterians had invaded, and the king wanted to go to war.
He assumed Parliament would grant his war but instead, they fired the archbishop who had angered the Scottish and then declared that Parliament had to meet at least once every three years. Charles was so angry that he ordered his soldiers to arrest Parliament and thus the English Civil War began.
Fig 3: Charles I and his wife
The war lasted from 1642 to 1646 and ended when Charles was captured. In 1649 the king was executed. Charles was unable to strip the nobles of their power. He didn't have the support of the people either. Parliament was made up of elected officials so even the merchants and commoners didn't support Charles. The merchants preferred leaders that they voted for.
Royal Absolutism gave monarchs the ability to completely control their countries. It was not easy for monarchs to obtain absolute authority nor was it easy to maintain. Absolutism affected everyone from the king to the commoners. While it may have offered the absolute monarch and those around them an easier life, it tended to make things difficult for everyone else.
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Where did royal absolutism first emerge?
Royal Absolutism first emerged in 17th century Europe.
What is royal absolutism?
Royal absolutism is when one royal figure has all of the power and control over the government.
What is the connection between royal absolutism and mercantilism?
Mercantilism is the belief that the world's precious metals are finite and for one king to be all-powerful then he would need as much of those resources as he can gather. He would have to maintain a favorable trade balance to do so.
Why did royal absolutism fail in England?
Absolutism failed in England because King Charles I was unable to consolidate power. He could not strip the nobles of their power.
Who were the most important opponents of royal absolutism?
The most important opponents of absolutism were the nobles who did not want to lose power.
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