Absolutism (European history)

Some, such as Perry Anderson, argue that quite a few monarchs achieved levels of absolutist control over their states, while historians such as Roger Mettam dispute the very concept of absolutism.

The Renaissance historian William Bouwsma summed up this contradiction: "Nothing so clearly indicates the limits of royal power as the fact that governments were perennially in financial trouble, unable to tap the wealth of those most able to pay, and likely to stir up a costly revolt whenever they attempted to develop an adequate income.

"[3] The nationalization process, which manifested itself, among other things, in the formation of standing armies, the establishment of a bureaucratic apparatus dependent solely on the ruler, the integration of the church into the state and a mercantilist economic system, is a characteristic of "absolutism".

This type of typification began with the historian Wilhelm Roscher, who first attempted to periodize the "absolutist age" in the 19th century and to assign the enlightened epoch a separate historical position.

While the rulers claimed to have received their power by the grace of God, the original absolutism was already theoretically founded by the French jurist and professor of law Jean Bodin (1530–1596) as a response to the writings of the monarchists.

John Stuart Mill stated that despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement.