The Role Of Royal Absolutism In King Charles I

in 1629. It was symbolic of a time when the King felt that any joint

A Comparison of the Characteristics of the Absolutist Rule of Charles I of England and Louis XIV of France

However, Protestantism continued to spread to areas in Europe. Other types of churches were made that was similar to Lutherism but different in ways of their own. For example, the Calvinists believed that no matter what people do, God has already decided their fate. One of the churches of Protestantism is the Anglican church. It was made by King Henry VIII, after the pope refused annulment from his wife. In the Act of Supremacy, English Parliament in 1534, Parliament, influenced by the monarchy and declared, “...that the king, our sovereign lord, his heir and successors, kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted and reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England, called Anglicans

Louis XIV, the ruler of France from the late seventeenth century to the early eighteenth century, claimed, “I am the state.” He considered this to be absolutism. His goal, also acquainted with absolutism, was, “one king, one law, one faith;” Furthermore, Louis wanted to promote religious unity, royal dignity, and security of the state. In order to achieve this goal, he had to rule with a firm hand, laying down the law for all to see. Louis XIV’s absolutism fostered in four major parts: the building of Versailles to control the nobility, the breeding of a strong military, the improvement of France’s economy, and, while quite harsh, the brutal extinction of religious toleration.

After this was when things started to get harder for Charles V. He was faced with Religious differences as a challenge to political authority. Charles V.

     Charles I considered himself to be an absolute monarch in England in the 1630¡¯s. A large portion of the parliament dislikes him because they wanted more of a say on the government and because the

Clashes over religion were a never-ending battle with England. The church was being used for corruption and power, and citizens had the Catholicism religion forced upon them. They had no choice but to accept this religion because going against the church meant going against the king. So many people dealt with the situation and conformed to Catholicism. However, there was a vast majority that didn’t. These rebels would start something that would forever be a major part of history. It may seem as though these non-conformists did good, but they actually did not. Puritans did not set a good example for England to learn from, the Quakers did.

The English had been under the combined rule of both the king and the assembly for so long that they were not ready to give all the power of government to a single person. The least influential, Charles I, was born in 1600 and died 1649 when he inherited the throne parliament was very upset with the monarchy and sought to lessen the power of the monarchy. Charles I tried to rule without consenting Parliament, but Parliament had so much control at the time that he failed to decrease its power. However, Charles believed in the divine rights of kings. Charles went on to oppress his people by levying taxes without the consent of the parliament. Many of his subjects saw him as a tyrannically oppressive leader. He created

The first successful implementation of constitutionalism was during the English Revolution. Before the revolution, England was dominated by absolute monarchs like James II (who openly favored Catholicism), and Charles I (who grew independent of parliament through trade). After the revolution however, previously nonexistent political rights were granted for men with property. Civil rights, including the right to free speech, religion, and due process of Law were granted to all englishmen. Voltaire, a french philosopher, also argued for the right to free speech by famously stating, “I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (Document 4). While Voltaire supported enlightened despotism, his ideas on freedom of speech would in fact be best preserved by a constitutionalist government. Constitutionalism forced the monarch to be subject to the law, eliminating his ability to violate the freedoms of his citizens. On the other hand, absolutism allowed monarchs the power to persecute those who didn’t follow a popular religion, as seen in Louis XIV of France’s banning of Protestants. Ultimately, this new institution of constitutionalism in England, helped to

England’s lengthy history of hereditary monarchs and abusive absolutists has led to the system of constitutionalism in 17th century English government. The encouragement of these absolutism practices triggered the need to search for a new way to govern. The reigns of the Stuart monarchy led to the shift from absolutism to constitutionalism during 17th century England. After witnessing the success of Louis XIV's of France establishment of absolutism, England would soon see that James I, and his son Charles I, will fail at establishing absolutism in England and see a constitutional government established.

The Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Toleration Act of 1689, and the English Bill of Rights of 1689 were major political actions that helped to establish religious freedoms. These political actions established that the Crown could not have a standing army or levy taxes on the citizens without the permission of Parliament. They also abolished the concept of the divine right of kings and extreme religious persecution. Before the Glorious Revolution, the Toleration Act, and the English Bill of Rights, the King or Queen was able to mandate a universal religion for all of the nation’s citizens. This caused a lot of turmoil within the nation and caused it to stand divided. With more citizens beginning to

An absolute monarch is a ruler by divine right who has control over every portion of his kingdom. The most famous absolute monarch, Louis XIV, had the longest reign of any of the French kings. Louis achieved this as a result of his reformed laws, foreign policy, a smart economic advisor, and his decision to deny power to the nobility. Although some of these ideas could be viewed as having a negative impacting on France, overall Louis XIV's absolute government was beneficial to the development of his country.

On January 1st of 1649, the Rump Parliament of England passed a mandate for the trial of King Charles I to which he would be charged with “subverting the fundamental laws and liberties of the nation while maliciously making war on the parliament and people of England.” After years of civil war and various failures in fulfilling kingly duties, Charles faced a trial against a strategically assembled English court that would choose his fate. This stands out in history as one of the most noteworthy and dramatic events in early modern England- a domestic political crisis unlike anything that had ever been seen before. Over the years historians have debated in how they characterize the king’s trial and its end result, referring to the execution as “a crime of the worst magnitude, a regrettable necessity, or a laudable challenge to either an individual ruler or the entire political system.” Due to the overall disapproval of the trial by prominent individuals, biased personnel assembled in the court, questionable legal legitimacy, improper court proceedings and unfortunate socio-economic circumstances during his reign, it can be concluded that King Charles I did not receive a fair trial.

In addition, absolute monarchs attempted to interfere with the religion of the people. The most notable case is in England where monarchs constantly attempted to either keep the Protestant beliefs or convert back to Catholicism. Even before the age of absolutism, this was a cause for much unrest. In fact, when James II came to the throne and made it clear he wished to restore the Catholic faith, England was almost thrown into another civil war. Over in Russia, Peter’s adoption of the Julian calendar did not cause so much civil unrest as it did instability due to the resulting confusion. Louis XIV also allowed mistreatment of French Protestants, also known as Huguenots, by revoking the Edict of Nantes. The Edict granted

The Magna Carta is the most famous document in British history, being introduced and signed by King John in 1215. The Magna Carta opened the doors to democracy in England and America. The Magna Carta or the “Great Charter” has been hailed as the “sacred text” of liberty in the Western World. The Magna Carta set the foundation and basic ideas for modern democracy. It gave the people basic rights and abolished absolute monarchy for England. The Magna Carta provided and built the foundation for modern democracy with its premises the government guarantees basic rights for the people, established a basic rule of law and allowing a group to govern rather than an individual.