Ruling Europe by Divine Right 1600s and 1700s ABSOLUTE MONARCHS Ruling Europe by Divine Right 1600s and 1700s

It Starts with an idea about what makes a king a king Divine Right The idea that God created the monarch and that the monarchy acts as God’s representative on earth.

Why this is a good thing --if you’re king: _____________________________________________________________________________ • Monarchs answer only to God. • Disobeying a monarch is disobeying God. The power of a monarch, then, was absolute --at least, that was the theory.

The principle theorist of absolutism was Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704) . he gave his arguments in a treatise called Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Scripture (title says it all!) in 1709; most of these theories he developed for Louis XIV in France. He helped Louis XIV establish one of the strongest, fullest absolute monarchies in Europe. Bossuet: God institutes monarchy for the welfare of the people; for that reason, absolute rule is not arbitrary rule,

More re: Bossuet’s Theory Within the Enlightment there were two main theories for ordering society: "divine right" and "natural law” : The first of those, divine right, leads the idea of absolute power for a king. The second theory, based on natural law, leads to theories of liberty. Bossuet re divine right: the universe was ordered by a reasonable God. Therefore His representative on earth had the powers of that God. The orderliness of the cosmos* was proof of God, and therefore as proof of the power of monarchy. *as Newton’s laws had shown was the case.

Louis XIV, King of France His reign: 1643 - 1715. Louis XIV was the ultimate absolute monarch: his policies and his personal style expressed an attitude of unrestrained pursuit of power and a grand vision of his own person as king. In addition to setting a pattern for other absolute monarchs, he built Versailles, undertook a series of wars (for the most part, without success), and established a strong central government with professional civil servants.

Catherine The Great, ruled as Empress of Russia from 1762-1796

Catherine was one of history’s ‘great leaders’: those who, seemingly by themselves, and by force of personality, alter the course of history. Through hard experience, unbounded intelligence, and overwhelming practicality, she changed the face of a country against overwhelming odds. She was a German princess who was married to Peter, a nephew of Elizabeth. Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, was Empress of Russia from 1741 to 1762. She was a shrewd, Machiavellian ruler. She did not like Catherine. Catherine’s husband, Peter, was cruel and generally considered ‘mad’.

A young Catherine (known only as ‘Catherine the Pretty Darn Good’at this point--kidding!) From her marriage to Peter in 1745, to the death of Elizabeth in 1762, Catherine escaped the abuse and plotting of the two of them, by reading. She studied the new ideas of France’s ‘philosophes’. Those ideas, and her background as a German princess, led her to view Russia as a barbaric, backward country; she dedicated her monarchy to bringing Russia into the modern, European age.

Maria Theresa Empress of Austria, 1740 - 1780 Came to power upon death of her father, Charles VI, but as a woman her succession was challenged. She centralized power to resist challenges. Also, she eased burden of peasants by reducing amount of labor they owed their land-owner lords.

…also Maria Theresa

--oops!--wrong ‘Queen’

But there were many others--

Charles V of Spain

Charles II of England

James II of England

A later ‘king’.

Frederick the Great, of Prussia

Fred the Great and friends--jus’ hanging

Louis XV, of France

Louis XVI, king of France

Louis XVI of France

King George III--and family--of England

King George III of England

Though they ruled at different times (over a span of 200-some years) and in different countries, these rulers were united by an outlook, or set of assumptions: that their power ought to extend as far as they could make it go. They fought wars, over religion and power, vied for power with nobles and/or with a growing middle class. They built stronger, more professional central governments. They paved the way to what we consider ‘modern’ versions of states.