Enlightenment Ideals and the Absolutist State in Europe - Essay Example

Introduction Absolutism is defined as the form of government in which the monarchy has powers that cannot be restrained by any other institution that exists in the country such as social elites, churches and the legislature. As the name suggests, the monarchy has absolute power which cannot be interfered with by the churches, the legislature or even the social elites1. Absolutism was more common during the 16th to the 19th century particularly in Europe during the period when the countries in Europe were moving from feudalism to capitalism. Hence, the main characteristics of the absolutism include power consolidation in and around the monarch, emergence of state power, feudal partitioning demise, state laws unification and finally the decrease in nobility and influence of the church2. Absolutism is also characterized by the rise of professional armies, the rise of professional bureaucracies and state laws codification and emergence of different types of ideologies that justify the existence of absolute monarchy. Among the rulers known to have used absolutism in their monarchs include Louis XIV and Louis XIII of France, Catherine the Great and the Peter the Great of Russia, Elizabeth I of England and Fredrick III of Denmark (to mention a few) 3 The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which enlightenment ideals eroded the absolutist state in Europe. King Louis XIV: Absolutism France is one of the key examples of absolutism. Absolute leadership or government centralized political authority and power in the monarch. The monarch exercised control and allied with the landed traditional aristocracy, gained support and loyalty from the city rulers who were mainly merchants and exercised the power through a standing army as well as through bureaucracy. The power of the king lay in the hands of aristocracy which was subordinate to the monarchy. The reign of King Louis XIV during the period 1643 to 1715 represented the classic example of absolutism in France. Under the guidance of Mazarin, King Louis XIV obtained education on how to handle the state affairs. Louis the XIV played the role of the superior which was characterised by absolute power to lead and rule the monarch4 .In 1680, Louis XIV increased the authority of the crown over the aristocracy and the church thus giving rise to the era of absolute monarchy in the country. The authority of the papal was limited through the Declaration of the France Clergy which had been accepted in 16815. The declaration limited the power of the pope and increased the crown’s authority. This meant that the approval of the king was to be sought before bishops left France. The Pope was no longer responsible for the appeals made to him. Excommunication of the government officials for acts committed in the duty was also abolished by the King6. The King could also participate in the formulation of ecclesiastical laws but the Pope could not make or formulate any regulations that affected France. Any regulations made by the Pope without the assent of the royal crown were considered invalid. Reforms were also instituted by Louis XIV which brought numerous changes to the military administration. Through his son Louvois, the spirit of nobility that had for long characterised the way the army was led particularly during the times of war was curbed. The King imposed orders on the nobility in the army and at the court7. This marked the end of the era when the army generals ignored orders from the Kings and carried on with the war as they seemed best. Every army general under the absolute rule of King Louis XIV was required to wait for orders from the King before taking any move in the war. The old aristocracy in the army lost its monopolistic powers. The well-being of the army was enhanced and professionalism of the army was also introduced by the King through his son Louvois. In order to further consolidate power to him, Louis XIV attached nobles to key institutions such as the courts. Through this approach, Louis XIV managed to increase his control over the aristocratic elements in France8. The privileges and pensions of the nobles were entirely dependent upon the King’s order to increase or lower the privileges and the pensions. By distracting and entertaining the nobles close to him Louis exerted absolute power over the aristocratic elements by ensuring that they remained under his close watch and scrutiny. King Louis XIV’s absolutism was taken to mean that the ultimate authority and the sovereign power were entirely in the King’s hands. The King therefore had the divine right to rule the state9. The sovereign power of the King was characterised by his sole authority and power in making the laws, administering justice, making laws and collecting taxes, control of the administrative systems of the state and determining the policies that governed the Monarch’s relation with other countries. After the death of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV made a declaration which sought to end the influence of the church upon the state by stating the following “Up to this moment I have been pleased to entrust my affairs to the late Cardinal. It is now time that I govern them myself. You [secretaries and ministers of state] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. I request and order you to seal no orders except by my command . . . I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favour no one” 10 King Louis XIV drew his aspiration from Bishop Bossuet, a French Theologian, who argued that in order to bring organization to the society, God ordained the government to rule over mankind. The theologian continued that as compared to all other forms of governments the most divinely appointed was the monarchy because it was the most ancient, most general, the best and the most natural of all other types of governments since Kings were appointed by God from ancient times to reign over other people11. Drawing from this inspiration, King Louis XIV declared that he had absolute authority and power which had been given to him by God. He was neither responsible to the citizens nor to the legislature nor to the church except to God. In a further demonstration of absolutism, King Louis XIV had the motto that leaned towards making him the sun King, that is, the only King who enabled his people to receive and have sunlight. His motto was “one faith, one law, one king”. This motto meant that there were no other religious practices allowed in the state apart from Catholicism and any other religion was perceived as undermining the power and the authority of the King12. One law meant that the state was to be governed uniformly by a law that came from the King himself and not any other law formulated by the legislature or the Church. Any other law that came from other sources could not take effect in the state. The aspect of one King in the motto meant that every element in the state was to be subject to the authority and power of the King without questioning the Kings authority. Enlightenment In spite of his tight reign and absolutism in leading France as the King, the onset of enlightenment eroded the ideas of absolutism in France and in general Europe. The Age of Enlightenment emerged in the 18th Century where the concepts and ideas that had been formulated during the Age of Reason were popularized13. The Enlightenment period comprised of the belief that the living conditions in the world could only be improved by the increased understanding of the role played by modern science as well as the understanding of the importance of the social aspects that prevailed in the world. Poverty, war and other forms of injustices were seen as retrogressive means of managing the state since they were not derived from God. Enlightenment thus played an important role in eroding the ideas of absolutism in a number of ways; First, Enlightenment ideals eroded the ideas of absolutism by empowering the people with the ideas that social inequality brought by bad management of the state and the resources of the state could be easily overcome and alleviated by overthrowing the oppressive govermements and instituting reforms that could operate for the common good of all the subjects of the state. The enlightenment period changed the mindset of the people by changing the way people performed their activities under the King’s leadership by agitating for the use of technologies and inventions to fight diseases and increase productivity in the state in order to fight poverty 14. Through different publications, the amount of ignorance that had engulfed the citizens was slowly removed and people begun to perceive things differently. Hence, by changing the mindset of the people through educational publications Enlightenment enabled and empowered people to see the oppressive nature of absolutism and thus it eroded the popular ideas of absolutism15. Second, the highest achievement brought by the Age of Enlightenment was the application of scientific principles to contradict the absolute arguments. One of the issues condemned by the enlightenment was the aspect of divine-right which was termed as unnatural, irrational and generally evil16. The concepts of State Churches, aristocracy by birth and mercantilism were also condemned and considered as instruments through which the absolute monarch used to advance the oppressive forms of governance against the people. Enlightenment leaders and agitators argued that absolutism ideas were less concerned about the people17. As a matter of fact, the enlightenment leaders who criticised the absolutism ideas held that frightening and forcing people in order to conform with the absolutism ideas contributed to destroying the potential of the people that could be used for greater development of the state 18. By applying scientific principles, the Enlightenment leaders managed to convince people that absolutism was not the best mode of leadership because it frustrated the state subjects into conforming to retrogressive ideas formulated and developed by one person regardless of his knowledge on different areas. Third, the Age of Enlightenment was based on the passionate appeal for greater human freedom. Absolutism was therefore perceived as a violation of human nature particularly the right to freedom which was freely provided by nature. The most important aspect identified as abused by the absolutism ideas was the power of human reason which enabled people to realize their potential by learning. Absolutism monarch such as that of King Louis XIV denied people the freedom to exercise their power of reason thus denying the people their power to exercise their potential19. Absolutism was based on the premise that the King was solely responsible for the welfare of the people by making laws that governed the conduct of the people in the state. However, enlightenment viewed this approach as retrogressive and a reflection of bad management of the affairs of the state. It is important to realize that the Age of Enlightenment led directly to French revolution and other revolutionary wars in Europe which eventually eroded the ideas of absolutism in Europe because democracy and other aspects of human rights were introduced in the laws of the state20. The rise of capitalism was also necessitated by the Age of Enlightenment further eroding the ideas of absolutism. In conclusion, it is clear that absolutism idea were some of the earliest forms of governorship in Europe and other parts of the world. The authority and power to govern the State was centrally concentrated in the hands of the King which gave rise to absolute monarch in which the King formulated the laws with which he governed the state. The King was not answerable to anyone and thus the church, the legislature and other organs in the state were rendered useless. King Louis XIV of France is a good example of the way in which absolute monarchy was advanced in the state and the extent to which enlightenment eroded the idea of absolutism in Europe. References Meriman, J. A History of Modern Europe. W.W. Norton & Company, 1996, p. 319. Daniel, B. The Enlightenment Past: Reconstructing Eighteenth-Century French Thought , Cambridge Press, 2008. Roger, C. The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution, 1991. Jones, C. The Great Nation: France from Louis XIV to Napoleon (1715–1799), 2002. Israel, J. Radical Enlightenment; Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650–1750, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 159 Cowart, G. The Triumph of Pleasure: Louis XIV and the Politics of Spectacle, U of Chicago Press, 2008, 299. Philip, B. Enlightening the World, 2005, pp. 35-37 Burke, P. "The fabrication of Louis XIV", 1992, History Today 42 (2) Lynn, J. The Wars of Louis XIV (1667–1714). Longman New York, 1999, p.161-171. Hazard, P. European thought in the 18th century: From Montesquieu to Lessing, 1965 James, V. The Rise of the Public in Enlightenment Europe, 2001, 4. Bryan, M. The Story of Philosophy. New York, DK Publishing, Inc., 1998. page 124 Jonathan, I. A revolution of the mind, Princeton University Press, 2010, p. 19 Robert R. The Age of the Democratic Revolution, 1964 Richard, V., and Anthony, W. The Society of the Enlightenment: The Rise of the Middle Class and Enlightenment Culture in Germany, 1992. Elise, K. 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