Absolutism and Limited Monarchy - Essay Example

Absolutism and Limited Monarchy Affiliation: Identify and discuss factors that led to a different solution to the monarchy question in England in the 17th century, as opposed to the continent. One of the factors was the concern for revenue that would be used to run the monarchy. During this 17th Century, the monarch in England had shortage of revenues and therefore demanded the nobility and other politicians in England to give them the money but they refused and saw the monarchy as weak. Religion is another factor that made the monarch of England questionable.

This is because there were many Protestants in England and whose puritanism influence and movement opposed strongly the monarch. Institutional influence was another factor during this period in England where parliament of England was known to have strong political interests in the country and this threatened the monarch (Duiker and Spielvogel, 2006).Why do you think that limited monarchy was not an option in France and Central Europe?France and central Europe had strong Catholic roots and hence the Protestants who were known to interfere with monarchy system had no voice.

These countries also had strong traditional sources of revenue that they used to run their monarch and this made even the nobility and other political interests in their countries to be at their mercy. This too place in around 1850s and it tossed aside the option of having a limited monarch (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob and Von Laue, 2008). Compare the classical absolutism of Louis XIV in France with one other ruler, Kangxi of China who ruled from 1661 to 1722, Peter the Great of Russia who ruled from 1689 - 1725, or Aurangzeb, Mughal emperor who ruled India from 1658-1707.

Both Louis XIV of France and Kangxi of China ruled using “iron hands.” They were the two longest serving absolutist rulers in their respective countries and this way possible due to their ruling style and dictatorship manner. They both had wealth from the revenues they collected from their countries and from the countries they went to war with and they both had their religious issues and even political issues in check and hence avoiding any disruption of their ruling (Duiker and Spielvogel, 2010).

What elements did all of the absolutist rulers share in common? How did they differ from one another?All absolutist leaders including Louis XIV had monetary stability to rule. The funds enabled them command even the military to fight enemies, conquer areas and put wealthy people at their service. They also had almost similar goals and tough rules that made them strong and relentless in their ruling. The difference however came in their personal life and how they had been raised up. Some had tough childhoods like Kangxi but others like Louis XIV and XV had it smooth and hence this affected how they imposed their ruling (McNeese, 2000).

ReferencesDuiker, W. J. and Spielvogel, J. J. (2006). World History: From 1500. New York: Cengage Learning.Duiker, W. J. and Spielvogel, J. J. (2010). The Essential World History. New York: Cengage Learning.McNeese, T. (2000). History of Civilization - The Age of Absolutism. Illinois: Lorenz Educational Press.Perry, M., Chase, M., Jacob, M., Jacob, J. and Von Laue, T. (2008). Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society: From the 1600s, Volume 2. New York: Cengage Learning.