King Louis XIV Of France: What Makes An Absolute Ruler?
What Makes an Absolute Ruler? An absolute monarch is a king or queen who has unlimited power who seeks to control all aspects of society. In the seventeenth century, people wanted to have a ruler that could be trusted and could lead the people well. To be an absolute ruler one must be able to control and obtain power. Louis XIV of France came into power as a young boy he was capable of ruling over a big population which helped him be an absolute ruler. Charles I of England came into power while the country was in financial ruins, in order to stable it he used his absolute rule, unfortunately it didn’t work out as well as he wanted it to. Peter the Great wanted to make the technology of Russia better so his plan was to westernize Russia.
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Louis XIV, Charles I, and Peter the Great legitimized their power by; limiting religious freedom, building architecture to make their reputation, and by reducing others. Louis XIV and Peter the Great take control of the church by limiting religious freedom to enhance their power. King Louis used something called the divine right of kings to help him obtain the church. The divine right was the idea that God created the monarchy and that the monarch acted as God's representative on earth. An absolute monarch answered only to God, not to his or her subjects. You could not lose the divine right so King Louis used it as a justification to his actions, which is why people did not question him. The government tried to pass something called the Edict of Nantes which was a law saying that …show more content…
When King Louis came into power, he sought to weaken the power of the nobles because he knew that if they became strong, they could overthrow him. To weaken the nobles’ power he started excluding them from his councils. By doing this he gave more power to agents that worked for the government called intendants, these intendants collected taxes and administered justice. Louis XIV also acted tough on his nobles and he scrutinized every action they did so that he could make sure they weren’t plotting against him, the Duke of Saint Simon said; “He marked well all absentees from the court, found out the reason of their absence, and never lost an opportunity of acting toward them” (De Rouvroy, Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and the Regency). King Louis knew what the nobles were capable of doing so when he noticed one was absent he immediately became suspicious. Not only did he forbid the nobles from attending his council but he also made them his own personal helpers, he had them help him dress and become his admirers. Charles I was a very financially troubled ruler, he ruled during the time of a couple wars which left England with huge debts that had to be paid. Therefore King Charles had to ask Parliament for the money, this however did not work out well because whenever Parliament refused to give him money he would dissolve parliament and ban them from
Louis XIV, Charles I, and Peter the Great legitimized their power by; limiting religious freedom, building architecture to make their reputation, and by reducing others. Louis XIV and Peter the Great take control of the church by limiting religious freedom to enhance their power. King Louis used something called the divine right of kings to help him obtain the church. The divine right was the idea that God created the monarchy and that the monarch acted as God's representative on earth. An absolute monarch answered only to God, not to his or her subjects. You could not lose the divine right so King Louis used it as a justification to his actions, which is why people did not question him. The government tried to pass something called the Edict of Nantes which was a law saying that …show more content…
When King Louis came into power, he sought to weaken the power of the nobles because he knew that if they became strong, they could overthrow him. To weaken the nobles’ power he started excluding them from his councils. By doing this he gave more power to agents that worked for the government called intendants, these intendants collected taxes and administered justice. Louis XIV also acted tough on his nobles and he scrutinized every action they did so that he could make sure they weren’t plotting against him, the Duke of Saint Simon said; “He marked well all absentees from the court, found out the reason of their absence, and never lost an opportunity of acting toward them” (De Rouvroy, Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and the Regency). King Louis knew what the nobles were capable of doing so when he noticed one was absent he immediately became suspicious. Not only did he forbid the nobles from attending his council but he also made them his own personal helpers, he had them help him dress and become his admirers. Charles I was a very financially troubled ruler, he ruled during the time of a couple wars which left England with huge debts that had to be paid. Therefore King Charles had to ask Parliament for the money, this however did not work out well because whenever Parliament refused to give him money he would dissolve parliament and ban them from