Hind Shihadeh
Professor Verdone
History 31
12 May 2015 Absolute Monarchies and the Scientific Revolutions
Many absolute monarchs believed their power to rule were given by God, otherwise known as divine right. An absolute monarch is a monarch who has complete, unlimited control. He or she can impose punishments with no imperative on his or her power. Two absolute monarchs that utilized the idea of divine right to justify and legitimize their ruling were Louis XIV and
Philip II. The Scientific Revolution, as it were, was a revolting done by central figures of the
Scientific Revolution. This is said in light of the fact that individuals would have never set out to test the power of, for instance, the Catholic Church; however the two individuals that did were
Galileo Galilei and Nicolas Copernicus. Louis XIV and Philip II were two absolute monarchs that utilized the idea of divine right to justify and legitimize their ruling. Divine right implied that God, not the individuals, gave the person a privilege to rule. Opposing them was a wrongdoing and since the dominant part of individuals used to unequivocally have faith in God, Louis XIV and Philip II got away with imposing punishments because people, in a way, were apprehensive. The first of the two examples of absolute monarchs utilizing divine right to justify and legitimize their ruling is Louis
XIV.
Louis XIV was extremely controlling and one of the reasons he built the Palace of Versailles was because it was a way to control the nobles. He also fought numerous wars, some which he lost. This cost the monarchy a considerable amount of money and put them in debt. Many rulers that believed in divine right, such as Louis XIV, got away with building lavish royal residences or wearing luxurious