Thomas Hobbes was a British philosopher.He wrote in the 1600s that a powerful

monarch was the best way to unify a nation.

Like Confucius inZhou China, Thomas

Hobbes believedthat kings were

justified in assumingabsolute power

because only kingscould maintain

order.

Absolutism isa political systemwhere a monarch

has absolutepower over his

or hersubjects.

Historians call this period of absolute monarchs the Age of Kings.

In the Age of Kings,many monarchs hadabsolute power over

their subjects. Peopleoften believed thata monarch’s powercame from God.

The belief that a monarch’s powercame from God was known as

Divine Right Theory.

The king wasGod’s deputyon Earth. The

king’s commandsexpressed

God’s wishes.

The king couldnot be

questioned.

Louis XIV of France provided a modelfor other absolute monarchs. Under

his rule, the king’s command waslaw. As the monarch said, “L’etat

C’est moi” or “I am the state.”

To control France’snobles, Louis XIV

built a huge palaceat Versailles. Leadingnobles were expectedto spend most of the

year at Versaillesunder the watchful

eye of the king.

Louis XIV also demanded that FrenchProtestants convert to Catholicism or

leave France!

Louis XIV chose the sun as hisemblem. The sun gave life

to all things and regulated everythingas it rose and set. Like the sun,

life in France revolved around the king.

The tsars or absoluterulers of Russia also

were absolute monarchs.Peter the Great forcibly

westernized and modernized Russia. Catherine the Great

continued to modernize Russia.

Russian nobleswere forced

to cut off their beards!

Absolutism

Definition:

Thomas Hobbes:

Louis XIV:

Peterthe

Great:

DivineRight: