Absolute Monarchy

The seventeenth century saw the evolution of two new types of government mainly because of the instability that was caused by religious wars. One type of government was a constitutional monarchy in which rulers were confined to the laws of the state, giving the people some liberties, best exemplified by William and Mary during the Stuart monarchial rule. Constitutional monarchy was successful in mainly in England because of the Magna Carta, which kept the king’s power in check. The other type was absolute monarchy, in which the king has power over everything, shown by the French under Louis XIV. Although these two

A Comparison of the Characteristics of the Absolutist Rule of Charles I of England and Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV and Peter the Great were two of the most famous absolutism monarchs in Europe. In my point of view Louis XIV did a better job as a leader. In the 17th century the Europe world entered the age of absolutism. After the religious wars, most European people put their attentions back from the wars and more focused on their own life. At that time, nobles and kings of European countries get more power in managing people. And monarchs’ power and rights reached to the top stage as they claimed to rule by divine will.

Louis XIV, the ruler of France from the late seventeenth century to the early eighteenth century, claimed, “I am the state.” He considered this to be absolutism. His goal, also acquainted with absolutism, was, “one king, one law, one faith;” Furthermore, Louis wanted to promote religious unity, royal dignity, and security of the state. In order to achieve this goal, he had to rule with a firm hand, laying down the law for all to see. Louis XIV’s absolutism fostered in four major parts: the building of Versailles to control the nobility, the breeding of a strong military, the improvement of France’s economy, and, while quite harsh, the brutal extinction of religious toleration.

During the 16th century to the 18th century, Monarchs in Europe used absolutism. Monarchs such as King Louis and Peter The Great used absolute tactics because they wanted to consolidate power from the nobility. They wanted to consolidate power from the nobility because they wanted to take the power they lost during the middle ages. King Louis and Peter the Great used all multiple means to reclaim power. They used their power to glorify themselves and their country. The practice of absolutism can be argued to have both positive and negative effects.

Absolutism affected the power + status of the European nobility depending on the country in which they lived. In England the power of the nobility increases due to a victory in the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution of 1658. However, in France, Louis XIV¡¯s absolutist regime decreased the powers of the noble but heightened their material status. In Russia and in Prussia, the absolutist leaders of those countries modernized their nations + the nobility underwent a change, but it retained prestige + power.

The leader of the semi-nomadic Turks that were around until 1922. He founded the Ottoman Empire in the 13th century.

By the close of the 17th century, England had developed into a Constitutional Monarchy and France had developed into an Absolutist, centralized form of monarchy.

In 17th-18th century Europe, the age of absolutism, absolute monarchs ruled most of Europe. Absolute monarchs are rulers that have complete control over the government and its people. They claimed to rule by “divine right,” where their authority comes from God and they were above the law. The views of being a proper role as an absolute monarch differed very much between rulers and their subjects. Certain rulers had ideas that both the people and ruler should be united, some abused their power with no sympathy towards the people they rule, and the subjects that suffered from the rulings of the monarch had a completely different perspective than the rulers that were in power.

Of all the absolute rulers in Europe, by far the best example of one, and the most powerful, was Louis XIV of France. Although Louis had some failures, he also had many successes. He controlled France’s money and had many different ways to get, as well as keep his power, and he knew how to delegate jobs to smart, but loyal people.

In the latter half of the 1600 's, monarchial systems of both England and France were changing. Three royal figure throughout history who all tried to establish a role of absolutism in their societies all of them had varying factors with the greatest success from least to greatest being Charles I, Louis XIV, and Peter the Great. Absolutism is a form of government where a king or queen rules with unrestricted powers. They are often followed in heredity by passing on the leadership through bloodlines. All over the world these bloodlines still exist except, that most of them only remain as a symbolic figure or a person of fame. A couple of monarchs that still rule are Brunei, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, the emirates comprising the UAE, and Vatican City.

In “Social Order and Absolute Monarchy, written by Jean Domat, Domat argues that the absolute monarchy portrayed by King Louis XIV of France was created in the best interest of France. Domat’s audience in this document seems to be the middle class as well as the lower classes of France since Domat’s main goal of this paper is to justify the actions and amount of power held by the upper class and the king in an absolute monarchy.

An absolute monarch is a ruler by divine right who has control over every portion of his kingdom. The most famous absolute monarch, Louis XIV, had the longest reign of any of the French kings. Louis achieved this as a result of his reformed laws, foreign policy, a smart economic advisor, and his decision to deny power to the nobility. Although some of these ideas could be viewed as having a negative impacting on France, overall Louis XIV's absolute government was beneficial to the development of his country.

During the late 17th and early 18th century, many European nations such as France and Russia were absolute monarchies. Even countries such as England had kings who at least attempted to implement absolutism. Indeed the concept of absolutism, where the monarch is the unquestionably highest authority and absolute ruler of every element in the realm, is certainly appealing to any sovereign. However, this unrestricted power was abused, and by the end of the 18th century, absolutism was gone. Absolutism failed because the monarchs' mistreatment of the population caused the people to revolt against their rule and policies. There are many factors which caused this discontent. For one, there was a great loss of human lives. Louis XIV of France

France ,before 1789, was governed by an absolute monarchy. In an absolute monarchy the king’s word was law and only person who could change the powers was the monarch himself (tames). King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu altered France's feudal monarchy into an absolute monarchy. Absolutism within France was a political system correlated with kings such as Louis XIII and, especially Louis XIV. A succession of wars drove them to tax massively and borrow heavily. The nobles and priest did not pay taxes, and approximately the whole taxation fell on the peasants and the middle class. They [middle class] noted themselves as the most useful part of society, because they worked and established wealth. The new king, Louis XVI, was too dense to provide