Patriarcha Or The Natural Power Of King Essay

In the 21st Century, most of the people realise, that god does not appoint monarchs, and think that the idea of kingship appointed by God is seen as a sign of tyranny and highly religious society, which contradicts the liberal and democratic ideologies. During the Tudor and Stuart eras, Englishmen were convinced that kings gained their authority from God as part of the natural order of the world. In the Tudor era, this was an acknowledged rebellion against the power of the Pope, and during the Stuart era, it became more part of the current political thought. This argument is based on ‘The First Book of Homilies’, and ‘Patriarcha, OR, The Natural Power of Kings’ by Robert Filmer.

The Homily on Obedience (1546) tells us that a strict and natural order exists in the world created by God. This “natural order” applied to both forces of nature and human society: “[God]

From 1534 to 1536, Henry VIII enforced a series of acts, which cut all the ties of the church with Rome and confirmed his title as the supreme head of the Church of England. This series of acts were claimed to be a restoration of King’s godly power from the usurpation of the ‘bishop of Rome’. To support the acts, the reformist leaders used the Bible and history as basis of their arguments. In the Old Testament they showed Jewish kings having authority over the clergy and used the letters of St. Paul to prove the religious connections of monarchy and church. In history, they saw Emperor Constantine and Charlemagne as the highest authority of early church, and claimed that after King John, the Papacy had seized the power of English monarchy. Thus, the Act of Supremacy, in which the king gained power over both spiritual and administrative courts, was a restoration of power to English monarchy. As Henry had declared years earlier, “The kings of England in time past have never had any superior but God