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Absolutism is a historiographical term used to describe a form of monarchical power that is unrestrained by any other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or social elites. Absolutism is typically used in conjunction with some Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an monarchs during the transition from feudalism
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
 to capitalism
Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system in which wealth, and the means of producing wealth, are private property and controlled rather than commonly, publicly, or state-owned and controlled....
, and monarchs described as "absolute" can especially be found in the 17th century
17th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th Century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700 in the Gregorian calendar.The 17th Century falls into the Early Modern period of Europe and was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the French Grand Si?cle dominated by Louis XIV, and the Scientific Revolution, includ...
 through the 19th century
19th century

The 19th century began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar.During the 19th century, the Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, Late Imperial China, and Ottoman Empire empires began to crumble, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, and the Mughal Empire empire collapsed....
.






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Louis Xiv of France
Absolutism is a historiographical term used to describe a form of monarchical power that is unrestrained by any other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or social elites. Absolutism is typically used in conjunction with some Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an monarchs during the transition from feudalism
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
 to capitalism
Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system in which wealth, and the means of producing wealth, are private property and controlled rather than commonly, publicly, or state-owned and controlled....
, and monarchs described as "absolute" can especially be found in the 17th century
17th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th Century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700 in the Gregorian calendar.The 17th Century falls into the Early Modern period of Europe and was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the French Grand Si?cle dominated by Louis XIV, and the Scientific Revolution, includ...
 through the 19th century
19th century

The 19th century began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar.During the 19th century, the Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, Late Imperial China, and Ottoman Empire empires began to crumble, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, and the Mughal Empire empire collapsed....
. Absolutism is characterized by the ending of feudal partitioning, consolidation of power with the monarch, rise of state power, unification of the state, and a decrease in the influence of nobility.

Absolute monarchs are also associated with the rise of professional standing armies, professional bureaucracies, the codification of state laws, and the rise of ideologies that justify the absolutist monarchy. Absolutist monarchs typically were considered to have the divine right of kings
Divine Right of Kings

The Divine Right of Kings is a politics and religion doctrine of royal absolutism. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God....
 as a cornerstone of the philosophy that justified their power.

Monarchs often depicted as absolute rulers include Louis XIII and Louis XIV of France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, Ivan III
Ivan III of Russia

Ivan III Vasilevich , also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Duchy of Moscow and "Grand Prince of all Russia" Sometimes referred to as the "gatherer of the Russian lands", he tripled the territory of his state, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state....
, Ivan IV and Peter the Great of Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor Habsburg , Holy Roman emperor, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, was the second son of the emperor Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Maria Anna of Spain....
 of Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
, Charles XI
Charles XI of Sweden

Charles XI was Monarch of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in an unruly period in Swedish history known as the Swedish empire .Charles was the only son of King Charles X of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp....
 and Charles XII of Sweden
Charles XII of Sweden

Charles XII was the Monarch of Sweden from 1697 to 1718.Charles was the only surviving son of King Charles XI of Sweden and Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark, and he assumed the crown at the age of fifteen, at the death of his father....
, and Frederick the Great of Prussia
Prussia

Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history....
.

Absolute monarchs spent considerable sums on extravagant houses for themselves and their nobles. In an absolutist state, monarchs often required nobles to live in the royal palace, while state officials ruled the noble lands in their absence. This was designed to reduce the effective power of the nobility by causing nobles to become reliant upon the largesses of the monarch for their livelihoods.

There is a considerable variety of opinion by historians on the extent of absolutism among European monarchs. Some, such as Perry Anderson
Perry Anderson

Perry Anderson is a Marxist intellectual and historian. He is Professor of History and Sociology at UCLA and an editor of the New Left Review. He is the brother of historian Benedict Anderson....
, argue that quite a few monarchs achieved levels of absolutist control over their states, while historians such as Roger Mettam dispute the very concept of absolutism. In general, historians who disagree with the appellation of "absolutism" argue that most monarchs labeled as "absolutist" exerted no greater power over their subjects than any other "non-absolutist" rulers, and these historians tend to emphasize the differences between the absolutist rhetoric
Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of using language as a means to persuade. Along with logic and dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse....
 of monarchs and the realities of the effective use of power by these absolute monarchs. Renaissance historian William Bouwsma summed up this contradiction:
Nothing so clearly indicates the limits of royal power as the fact that governments were perennially in financial trouble, unable to tap the wealth of those most able to pay, and likely to stir up a costly revolt whenever they attempted to develop an adequate income.


Bibliography

  • Anderson, Perry
    Perry Anderson

    Perry Anderson is a Marxist intellectual and historian. He is Professor of History and Sociology at UCLA and an editor of the New Left Review. He is the brother of historian Benedict Anderson....
    . Lineages of the Absolutist State. London: Verso, 1974.
  • Kimmel, Michael S. Absolutism and Its Discontents: State and Society in Seventeenth-Century France and England. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1988.
  • Mettam, Roger. Power and Faction in Louis XIV's France. New York: Blackwell Publishers, 1988.
  • Miller, John (ed.). Absolutism in Seventeenth Century Europe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1990.
  • Wilson, Peter H. Absolutism in Central Europe. New York: Routledge, 2000.
  • Zmora, Hillay. Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the State in Europe - 1300-1800. New York: Routledge, 2001.


See also

  • Absolute monarchy
    Absolute monarchy

    Absolute monarchy is a monarchy form of government where the king or queen has absolute power over all aspects of his/her subjects' lives. Although some religious authorities may be able to discourage the monarch from some acts and the sovereign is expected to act according to custom, in an absolute monarchy there is no constitution or legal...
  • Sovereignty
    Sovereignty

    File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
  • Jean Bodin
    Jean Bodin

    Jean Bodin was born in Angers, France, and became a French jurist and political philosophy, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse....
     (1500s theorist)
  • Thomas Hobbes
    Thomas Hobbes

    Thomas Hobbes was an English philosophy, remembered today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory....
     (1600s theorist)
  • Divine Right of Kings
    Divine Right of Kings

    The Divine Right of Kings is a politics and religion doctrine of royal absolutism. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God....