Western Civilization II / Unit 1 WC2 0002 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Absolutism: From First Among Equals to a King Above the Nobles
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The idea
Absolutism is a historians' word; no seventeenth-century king used it. It names a change: a monarch holding all political power, acting in the name of his subjects' rights, standing above the greatest noble.
In practice
Non-noble bureaucracies, larger armies, heavier taxes, money to the center.
Where people slip
The medieval king led nobles with armies of their own. France's Wars of Religion showed where that led.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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