Absolute Monarchy In The Middle Ages

Absolute Monarchy As the Middle Ages began to come to a close, feudalism began to die out. The strongest lords began to consolidate power and lands, turning them into kingdoms with themselves as the King. Many of which sought to control their realms through absolute monarchy. However, absolute sovereignty is not always easily obtained. As history has shown us, a lot of these kingdoms had absolute monarch’s while others had a representative government along with the monarchy. What was the cause for how a nation would either become a representative government or an absolute monarchy? The main factors for whether or not a nation allowed absolute monarchy depended on the nobility, the common people and the church. The first major obstacle facing
1 Module 2 Study: The Rise of European Kings 2 Eventually the strongest lord would consolidate power, and bring the nobility under his authority. Although they may have sworn loyalty to the king, the nobility in most kingdoms did not just give absolute power over to them. For instance, the nobility in England created the Magna Carta or the Great Charter to reign in the powers of King John after he had unjustly punished his vassals during a costly and losing war effort against France. The nobility made sure to put a clause in the Magna to prevent this from happening. Clause number thirty-nine says, “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”2 This clause would keep the king from being able to punish anyone without having just cause to do
While the monarchs may have had absolute power, the nobility in most kingdoms helped to keep them from abusing their power. The second obstacle to a government that was looking to become an absolute monarchy was the common people. In a lot of cases, the common people of a monarchy system were more of an obstacle to overcome than the nobility was. If a monarch was too heavy handed, the people might revolt. John Locke attributed this to mankind's natural infinity for being free. “This freedom from absolute, arbitrary power is so necessary to, and closely joined with, a man's preservation, that he cannot part with it but by what forfeits his preservation and life together.”3 If mankind was so concerned with freedom, then why would they allow one man absolute 2 Davis, G.R.C. d. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. The Magna Carta (Revised ed.). British Library. 3. Locke, J. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. Second Treatise of Government, Book II.