|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
divine right of kings
|
|
The theory that a king or queen governs by divine authority, without human restraints, as God's anointed ruler. Reaching a later peak in the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV in France, divine right was taken for granted early in the 17C in England by James I and Charles I (and above all by *Laud on the royal behalf). The tendency of Charles I to rule in a correspondingly absolute manner was an underlying cause of the *English Civil War. During the following half century the concept was replaced in Britain by *constitutional monarchy.
|
|
|
|