Mercantilism In Europe

Most of Europe in the past two thousand years has been ruled by monarchies, with some states having active monarchs up until the 20th century C.E. In this stretch of time, different kingdoms in Europe saw the rise and fall of absolute monarchy, which refers to a ruler having total control over his or her kingdom, free from the restrictions of legislature and customs. The rise of absolute monarchy gives credit to two features which radically transformed governance in these kingdoms, and mainly those of England and France. The feature of mercantilism allowed further involvement of the ruler in the economic sphere of his kingdom, namely in trade and production, as compared to his previous role in simply collecting revenue. Further, the king used

Previously, the sole source of revenue for the ruler was through the taxation of land. However, the ruler found another way of increasing his revenue. He employed himself as a critical part of the home market by taking control of the taxation of the movement of goods within the kingdom. This specific tax was previously collected and overseen by the local headman who showed authority in his region by restricting the mobility or imposing certain taxes on goods that were moving through his territory. By removing such local expressions of power, the ruler moved to create a unified home market which he would essentially be able to control. Further, one tax on all such goods also implied one law and one imposer of the law. In this manner, the ruler slowly started involving himself in the trade and economic affairs of the

When these measures did not prove sufficient, the monarch waged war against these opposing groups, which was cleverly called ‘diplomacy by other means’. The spoils of the wars brought in revenue for the kingdom and displayed the military prowess of the state. However, these wars did not take place simply to further eco-political aspirations but more importantly, in the monarch’s expansionist view, he sought to destroy obstacles that would prevent him from being the sole power in all his conquered land. Many of these wars took place within the state itself, as there were several ruling families and warring factions with varying ideologies who all looked to be the only rulers of the state. Therefore, absolutism was also an achievement that referred to a ruler being able to diminish the power of the other ruling families and establish their power as the strongest and, most importantly, the only power in that state. In improving the economic condition of the state and helping establish a one man rule in the state, war was one of the most important factors that gave rise to the absolutist monarch in many parts of