Absolutism was mainly based on one popular belief, which was the divine right of kings and stated that kings were divinely anointed and shared in the divinity of God. They believed that they answered directly from God to rule for the good of the people. For this reason kings disregarded the authority of anyone else but himself to make laws and tax citizens yet kings also relied on the nobility of their nation to collect taxes and form the nation’s army. The absolutist ruler still possessed sole power of the government but used the nobility to administer his laws and represent the government. In countries such as France and Russia absolutism affected the status of the nobility in different ways. In France the nobility acted as a reinforcement …show more content…
In both societies in Europe the absolutist ruler possessed supreme power and mainly used the nobility to carry out his laws. During the reign of Louis XIV in France the status and power of the nobility was reduced to its weakest extent. King Louis XIV was a firm believer in the divine right of kings as well as unity throughout the nation. He took a major role in the decisions of his elected councils because he wanted the public to know that he did not wish to share his power with anyone else and wished maintain strict authority among everyone within the government. In 1682 Louis decided to move his court and nobility to Versailles, which was a massive palace that each high ranking noble was required to live in for a certain amount of time. Louis’s plan was to move the nobility and bureaucrats as well as all servants to one building in order to oversee their work. In …show more content…
Peter believed that his power must surpass that of the nobility and wanted to create a more “Western” Russia after traveling to Western Europe and observing their policies and ideas of absolutism. Peter completely disregarded his boyars, or nobility, by making government decisions such as foreign policies without first discussing matters with them. The streltsy, or military corps in Russia, started a rebellion in 1698 in order to overcome Peter’s rule but instead they failed miserably, leading to the public executions of 1000 rebel streltsy. Peter wanted his nobility and other government officials to know that his power far exceeded theirs and attempted to instill fear within them. The nobles were persistent and led multiple rebellions in order to gain some political power. In 1711 the Senate of Russia, a group of nine interchangeable nobles that dealt with government matters in Peter’s absence during war, was created and thus entitled the nobility to small amounts of power and caused competition among them to become Peter’s favorite