Divine Right of Kings

Definition

The divine right of kings is the belief that monarchs derive their authority from God and are accountable only to Him. This principle asserts that kings and queens have a God-given right to rule, and their subjects have a moral and religious obligation to obey them.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. The divine right of kings was a prominent political theory during the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in Europe.
2. Proponents of the divine right of kings believed that kings were chosen by God and were not accountable to the people, only to God.
3. This theory was used to justify the absolute power of monarchs and their resistance to challenges from the nobility or the church.
4. The divine right of kings was challenged by Enlightenment thinkers, who argued for the social contract and the consent of the governed as the basis of political authority.
5. The decline of the divine right of kings was a significant factor in the rise of modern democratic and republican forms of government.

Review Questions

• Explain how the divine right of kings relates to the concept of Enlightenment social theory.
  • The divine right of kings directly contradicts the Enlightenment's emphasis on social contract theory and the consent of the governed as the basis of political authority. Enlightenment thinkers, such as John Locke, argued that the legitimacy of a ruler's power comes from the people, not from a divine right granted by God. The decline of the divine right of kings was a crucial step in the Enlightenment's promotion of democratic and republican forms of government, which challenged the absolute power of monarchs.
• Analyze how the divine right of kings was used to justify the consolidation of power by European monarchs during the 16th and 17th centuries.
  • The divine right of kings provided a powerful theological and ideological justification for the absolute rule of European monarchs during the 16th and 17th centuries. By claiming that their authority came directly from God, rather than from the consent of the people, monarchs were able to resist challenges to their power from the nobility, the church, and the masses. This allowed them to centralize power and establish systems of absolutism, where the monarch held unrestricted control over the state. The divine right of kings was a key tool used by European rulers to consolidate their political, economic, and social dominance during this period.
• Evaluate the role of the decline of the divine right of kings in the emergence of modern democratic and republican forms of government.
  • The decline of the divine right of kings was a crucial factor in the rise of modern democratic and republican forms of government. As Enlightenment thinkers challenged the theological justification for absolute monarchical power, they promoted new political theories based on the consent of the governed and the social contract. This paved the way for the American and French Revolutions, which overthrew monarchical rule and established representative democracies. The rejection of the divine right of kings represented a fundamental shift in the source of political legitimacy, from a divinely ordained ruler to the will of the people. This transition was a key step in the broader Enlightenment project of promoting individual rights, popular sovereignty, and the limitation of state power.

Related terms

Absolutism: A system of government in which the ruler has absolute, unrestricted power, often justified by the divine right of kings.

Theocracy:

A form of government in which a deity or religious authority is the source of all political power.

Monarchy:

A form of government in which a single person, the monarch, is the head of state.