Divine right of kings

The divine right of kings, was a political and religious doctrine. It meant that a monarch was given the right to rule by God alone. His authority could not be questioned because he ruled in God's name. It gave a king absolute rule over his subjects.

Beginnings

Pharaohs and some other ancient Kings were thought to actually be gods or descendants of gods. That concept went away when monotheism spread. A medieval principle held that God gave the right in to rule in secular matters to political rulers.Thinkers and Theories in Ethics, ed. Brian Duignan (New York: Britannica Educational Pub. in association with Rosen Education Services, 2011), p. 76 God gave the right to rule over spiritual matters to the Pope as head of the Church. This has been called the 'doctrine of the two swords'.Dick Westwood, The Two Swords: Empire, Christendom, and European Disunion (Houston, TX: Strategic Book Publishing, 2013), p. 147 In 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor.Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family Who Forged Europe, Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), pp. 120–22 From that time on the Emperor was the secular power while the Pope was the spiritual power. This concept began to break down prior to the First Crusade. Rather than have the Emperor provide the manpower for the crusade, the Pope called on the nobility of Europe directly.

Rise and fall

In England, Henry VIII broke free of the Catholic church and the authority of the Pope. By the Acts of Supremacy in 1534 Henry was both king and "Supreme Head" of the Church of England.John A. Wagner, Susan Walters Schmid, Encyclopedia of Tudor England (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012). p. 1075 Following the Protestant Reformation the theory of divine right gave the king absolute authority as God's representative on earth in both political and spiritual matters. It made him accountable to no one but God.Robert Jackson, Sovereignty: The Evolution of an Idea (Cambridge; Malden, MA: Polity, 2007), p. 57 James I of England in his speech to Parliament in 1609 said:

In France the theory had been considered from the 13th century. Although France remained Catholic, her kings gradually pulled away from papal rule. By the 16th century the king replaced the pope as supreme authority over the French church.Liah Greenfeld, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), p. 111 After the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89 the divine rights theory was no longer popular in England. In France, kings including Louis XIV of France (1643–1715) continued the divine rights doctrine. That was until the French revolution in 1789. By the 19th century it no longer had any credibility.

 China 
The Chinese culture had a similar but older concept called the 'Mandate of Heaven'.Xuezhi Guo, The Ideal Chinese Political Leader: A Historical and Cultural Perspective (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002), p. 9  A good ruler had the blessings of heaven.  But one who ruled badly would cause the mandate to be removed.  When the People's Republic of China was formed in 1949, they claimed the Mandate of Heaven from the people.Judith F. Kornberg, John R. Faust, China in World Politics: Policies, Processes, Prospects (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2005), p. 30

References

Other page
Theocracy

Other websites

 J.P. Sommerville, Divine Right of Kings, University of Wisconsin 
 Divine Right of Kings, Spartacus Educational 

Category:Monarchy
Category:Political systems
Category:Religious ethics