Divine Law In Protestant Countries

It was widely believed that kings had the power to enforce God's works and messages in the country that he ruled. As expressed by King James the First of England,"...kings are...God's lieutenants on earth..."(Document B). Kings are meant to act as God's second in command on earth and enforce God's mission on the people that he rules. According to Bishop Jaques Bousset's Political Treatise,"... the king is sacred, and that to attack him in any way is sacrilege"(Document F). Kings were believed to be sent by God to rule and, therefore, should not be questioned. This belief allowed absolute monarchies to take hold in countries throughout Europe. The rule of these powerful governments allowed prosperity to take hold in

The 16th and 17th centuries brought up the proposition of an absolute monarch, this is a ruler with total power over a country or territory. The idea of kings being chosen by God, or the divine right of kings, lead to absolutism, which was seen throughout Europe. Monarchs could be tyrants, they could take away the rights of their citizens. Monarchs could also be prosperous, improving their country economically, military, or gaining foreign alliances. Europe's absolute monarchs left the 16th and 17th centuries prosperous due to the fewer conflicts, the morals of monarchs, and everybody had an equal chance at upward-mobility.

Therefore, the king/queen only had to answer to God, not the people. Since the ruler was chosen by God it was considered axiomatic that the monarch has absolute power, after all God has great power so His earthly representative does as well (Document 7, James I of England 1609). Furthermore, because God chose the sovereign, disobeying the king was considered the same as disobeying God (Document 4, The Ideal State 1697 by Jean Domat). Of course, because the monarchs had such great power and were God’s chosen people they had to govern per God’s will, which was absolute justice. (Document 5, On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy by Jean Domat). As important this concept was in maintaining absolute monarchs, the reason that the Divine Right to Rule was so effective is because absolute monarchies primarily occurred in Catholic countries, where the monarch could gain the partnership of the Roman Catholic Church and thus win power over the

The King began to gain power then eventually he had ultimate power. People began calling Kings, Gods so they became the highest people known to mankind. “Kings are justly called Gods” (Source 4, James I. King of England). Gods were the highest people in the world but eventually Kings started to get the name of a God. Kings started doing whatever they wanted and making new pointless rules because of their new title. Which made the people upset because they were more restricted with more rules. As a result, the Kings were called Gods as an effect of absolutism which gave them more power and made the people

This was the idea that “....by means of the Scriptures that monarchical government comes from God….He chose hereditary monarchy as the most natural and most durable form….excluding the sex born to obey [women] from the sovereign power was only natural….”(Doc 2). One of the reasons given to explain why kings were supported by God and had supreme authority was “....the royal throne is not the throne of a man, but the throne of God himself.” (Doc 2). Because of this supposed condition, the king was essentially chosen by god to rule.

The divine right of kings is the belief that kings and queens are directly chosen by God. This belief was most popular in 476-1500. Kings and queens often abused their power and exercised absolute power, which means power without limit. However, from the 1600s to the mid-1800s, the time known as the Age of Revolution, the divine right of kings was destroyed. There is not one reason for the decline, but multiple, which are the ideas of John Locke and Charles Louis-Montesquieu, and these ideas led to documents such as the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights.

Since Protestantism was not only a religion but a way of life, and since priests and other clergy members were no longer as necessary in religion, in many countries the state and the church began to fuse, and formed a single, all powerful rule. As a result, many Protestant

Many English monarchs believed in the divine right to rule. This right was given to them by God, therefore they believed that no one could take their crown or it would destroy the rightful line of succession. However, this was not always the case and some kings such as Richard II had their crown forced from them. If a king believed in the divine right he often had a close relationship with God. In William Shakespeare’s comedies, the divine right to rule a kingdom is present in the ways in which Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V are come to rule England. Both Richard II and Henry V were powerful rulers, whose ruling was heavily dictated by their divine right to rule and their relationship with God. Through exploring the King’s relationship to God in Shakespeare’s tragedies Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, and Henry V, one can see that Henry V is the ideal Christian King.

Religiously, rulers justified their actions by persuading the public that they were working in the name of God. Many english rulers used the excuse of divine right to justify their actions. The rulers announcement of their power given to them by God, made their actions justified. This was because, people would not stand up against any harsh actions in risk of going to hell. Due to the importance of religion in this time allowed rulers to use religion to their advantage when justifying their power.

     According to Jacques-Benigne Bousset, a preacher and tutor to Louis the fourteenth’s son, there were four characteristics to royal authority. The first of being, royal authority is sacred. Second, royal authority is paternal. Third, it is absolute. Fourth, All power comes from God. (Text 596) To summarize Bousset he believes that, like God, a king is a father figure. To be idolized, respected and loved. So if God is the father of earth then his sons are the fathers of people, or kings. This makes a king both divine and undisputable, as a descendant of God. “Royal authority is absolute…The prince need account to no one for what he ordains…without this absolute authority, he can do no good nor suppress evil…” (Text 596).

Divine Right was the 16th-18th century belief that God directly gave an absolute monarch the authority to rule. Since the king received his authority to rule directly from God, this meant that the king had the right to rule completely and totally without approval from the people. This also means that the king is God’s representative on earth and as such, only God can judge the king. James I of England is quoted to have said, “A Deo Rex, A Rege Lex,” or “The king is from God, and law is from the king.”

King James I, Machiavelli, and Thomas Hobbes strongly believed in the idea of Absolute government. They believed that King's were "God's Lieutenant's" and they were in power simply because God sent them there. These men believed in divine power upon earth, and that "God hath power to create or destroy, make or unmake at his pleasure, to give life or sent death, to judge all and to be judged nor accountable to none, to raise low things, and to make high things low at his pleasure…and the like power have Kings…" as quoted from doc. 2 of King James I. Being how King James I was a King, it is a conventional belief that Kings had divine rights. In one of Machiavelli's works "The Prince" Machiavelli writes "Men have less hesitation in offending a man who is loved than one who is feared."(Doc.1) Consequently Machiavelli believes in having a fear in your ruler, because if you fear your ruler, you will not hesitate to obey him, for you are afraid of the punishment. Where as, if you love your ruler, you are more lenient to challenge your ruler's authority.

Prior to the Enlightenment, the rules, laws, and social structures were set in stone, relying on the Kings and Queens to make all decisions and declare rights for them, even if they were completely unfair. People of this time argued that, "Royal power is sacred, and nothing is more firmly grounded in the Word of God than the obedience due, as a matter of faith and conscience, to lawful authority...the prince [is] one to whom obedience [is] due without exception."(Bossuet Doc. 4). They believed that God wishes for the King to rule over the people, and only those people could rule, making all decisions about the civilization on their own, and no person should give anything but

People faced the rise and the fall of the Catholic Church during the medieval time. The Popes used to hold the final authority for the church and over the state. Pope Gregory VII asserted the Pope had granted the divine power from God because Saint Peter was the first of getting this

The protestant reformation happened at the moment that it did because the Catholic Church was very a powerful force in Europe. It controlled people lives both spiritually and temporally. The church had so much power that it maintained political control over a large portion of Italy. The fact that the church held so much control over countries and governments became a point of contention among European countries such as the Holy Roman Empire, Italian city-states outside of Rome, England, France and Spain. The power of the rulers of these areas had greatly increased in the 14th century and they were eager to take the chances offered by a Reformation to weaken the grip of the Catholic Church in Europe and also to develop their own powers across the European continent. For quite some time the Catholic Church had been an institution rampant with internal struggles. Such as the Avignon Papacy from 1309 to 1377 when seven popes opted to live in Avignon, France and not reside in Rome which was and is the traditional home of the Papacy. The Pope and other high ranking church officials often lived opulent lifestyles rather than a more austere lifestyle that should befit a spiritual leader. Many church leaders and Popes maintained political powers. They led armies, waged wars and made many political decisions. Church offices were sold, and many Popes and bishops practiced nepotism to fill church offices. With all of these worldly issues for the Pope