ipl-logo

Compare And Contrast Absolutism In 16th And 17th Century Europe

650 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What is the importance of absolutism

Absolutism during the 16th and 17th century in Europe would be in both cases a time of prosperity and tyranny, it depends on how you look at it and who and where you where from back in time. Absolutism is the ideology that the king has total power over everything in the country he/she rules over. Back in the 16th and 17th century it was a period where there were kings and queens ruling a country and each one would have been a fair and just ruler, or they could have been a unfair and unjust ruler. Most of the monarchs at the time were cruel, greedy, and unfair, most believed that they had been picked or chosen by god that they had the divine right to rule over the land which gave then justification to do what ever they wanted (stated in Document 2 : source King James of England). …show more content…

(Document 3 source : king Luis XIV of France) he stated that only the head is able to carry out with decisions and that they will decide what is best for the state, by stating that he is saying that he has all the power and he could do what ever he wants to because he is the king and he has the right to. That monarchs would abuse their power and say that they have the right to do so based on the ideology that they have been chosen by god him self, they excessively use their power for their own interests. (Document 5 source : Bishop Jacques Bossuet) states that if the kings have been given power to rule by god himself that they should rear and tremble when they use the power that has been given by god, and especially if that power would be used for

Show More
Related
577 Words | 3 Pages

Absolute monarchs centralize their absolute power. Louis XIV and Peter the Great are exceptional examples of an absolute monarch. Louis ruled in France from 1638 – 1715 and Peter ruled in Russia, but he was not liked by many people. They both had all four characteristics of an absolute monarch. Louis centralized his power by keeping nobles busy with court life, he increased revenue by supporting the arts and literature and reformed taxation with the help of Jean Baptiste Colbert.

Read More
1380 Words | 6 Pages

Absolute monarchies had all the power in Europe. Their kingdoms were powerful and accomplished. Although absolute monarchies empowered and enriched their kingdoms, they were still largely detrimental because of King Louis XIV of France, debt, Frederick the Great’s seizure of Silesia, and the city of St. Petersburg. King Louis XIV of France was an absolute monarch.

Read More
448 Words | 2 Pages

Martin Luther King, Jr. attempts to persuade clergymen to follow in his civil rights movement through exhibiting his knowledge over just and unjust laws, displaying peaceful behavior, and empathetic diction. King was very knowledgeable about laws and his right as a human. King stated laws in his letter to the clergymen, which displayed his credibility. He did not only state laws, he also stated just and unjust laws. King stated, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?”

Read More
959 Words | 4 Pages

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.

Read More
1427 Words | 6 Pages

Eastern and Western European countries had many differences on economics and political structures. Both the East and the West tried to achieve an absolute monarchy, which can be described as a type of government where the monarch has complete rule over everything. Although both had an absolute monarchy at some point, they were structured differently and one much more successful than the other. In Eastern Europe the members of nobility had almost all of the control over the poor peasants who lived in their community.

Read More
513 Words | 3 Pages

Louis XIV treated the people of France unfairly and he didn’t seem to care about their well-being. Louis XIV suppressed the Catholic church, and Nobles. He made the Nobles wait on him. Louis XIV weakened the power of the nobles and excluded them from his councils. This supports my thesis that Louis XIV was the best example of an absolute ruler because this shows he truly only cared about himself and he made sure that he had all of the power, by weakening the power of all of the nobles.

Read More
733 Words | 3 Pages

This religious aspect to these absolute monarchs caused the people to have respect for their rulers. People thought “Fear God, Honor the King.” (Document 5) It meant that people should have faith in their Kings and fear the course that God has set for them. They believed that monarchs were sent to do the good deeds of god and that using their power for evil was a horrible sin.

Read More
763 Words | 4 Pages

During the 1600s and 1700s a new type of monarch emerged known as an absolute ruler. Some of these rulers were Louis XIV, the Fredericks of Prussia, and Peter the Great. These rulers believed that a monarch had a divine right to rule and should only listen to God. All these rulers had characteristics that defined them as absolutists. Louis XIV was constantly at war during his reign which resulted in a powerful army.

Read More
1517 Words | 7 Pages

In great literature there are often characters who are deceitful to others to carry out a greater purpose. By doing so the character often compromises relationships with friends and family but it can also compromise the safety of the character and others around them. In the play Hamlet Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s character to elaborate on this situation, Claudius is deceiving his family and friends for a greater purpose which at times seems to do more bad than good. Claudius deceives many people in the tragedy Hamlet.

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

If the ruler desires control or strength they might force the people below them to bow down to their ever will. If the ruler desires riches they might steal from the poor or up the price on an item to draw more out of someone who may not have much but needs that item. An example of someone who may do this is a king or a president. Someone with plenty of power to have away with this kind of stuff. In some cases, powerlessness can lead

Read More
763 Words | 4 Pages

Domat wrote “On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy” to defend the king’s powers, and to give a better understanding of the hierarchy type system so ordinary people would accept it. Jean Domat’s life goal was explaining absolutism. Since he was not a king and seen as a regular person, people at his time can get a better understanding of the system when someone like him explains it. He explained that the king was given his power through God and is responsible to no one but God. At first this may not have caught the attention of the people, but when Domat tells that disobeying their king is the same as disobeying God it is the

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

The Age of Absolutism is defined as a time period in Europe in which monarchs gained all of the power and wealth over the state for themselves, expanding the idea of single rule. The Enlightenment, on the other hand, is defined as a movement during the 18th century that rejected traditional social, religious, and political ideas, and introduced a desire to construct governments free of tyranny (or single rule). Document 3, a primary source written by King Louis XIV of France in 1660, is describing the idea of monarchy stating,“ The more you grant . . . [to the assembled people], the more it claims . . . The interest of the state must come first” (Document 3).

Read More
754 Words | 4 Pages

It was believed that the authority and the power to rule the whole country came directly from god. In other words they were considered as representatives of earth. Absolute monarchs are not judged by the society and also there are higher chances of rebel. Another characteristic is that the ruler rules until his dies, and the throne is passed to their next generation. An

Read More
856 Words | 4 Pages

Absolutism was a period of prosperity during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Absolutism is a form of government, a monarchy, in which a monarch has full governmental control. This is different from that of a limited monarch whose power is kept in check by a constitution or other government officials. Absolute monarchs gain their power in one of two ways: being born into a royal family and being in line for the throne or seizing control. Absolutism meant prosperity because monarchs were considered gods (or God 's power on earth), they changed countries for the better, and could be liked by the people for not doing everything in a harsh way.

Read More
1042 Words | 5 Pages

Before the Age of Absolutism, institutions, such as the Church, legislatures, or social elites, restrained monarchical power. Absolutism was characterized by the ending of feudal partitioning, consolidation of power with the monarch, rise of state, rise of professional standing armies, professional bureaucracies, the codification of state laws, and the rise of ideologies that justify the absolutist monarchy. Hence, Absolutism was made possible by new innovations and characterized as a phenomenon of Early Modern Europe, rather than that of the middle Ages, where the clergy and nobility counterbalanced as a result of mutual

Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Absolutism In 16th And 17th Century Europe

Related Topics

Open Document