[Sca-cooks] Divine Right of Wheatabix Eaters
Lonnie D. Harvel
ldh at ece.gatech.edu
Thu Dec 2 18:07:04 PST 2004
True,the intellectual theory of the Divine Right of Kings was not
formulated until the 17th century, but it was formulated to sustain the
medieval view (well, sorta). Bossuet's theory should have been called
the "Divine Right of Dictators". I know that the period coronation
masses and rites make reference to "divine selection" and
"accountability to God alone". There are even some period references
(which I should try and dig up) to the "brotherhood of kings" as a
divinely ordained body.
Anyway, below from the Washington State University online course in
World Civilizations. The author is Dr. Hooker, the site is
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ , and I did not get permission before swiping
this...
Since SCA kings are constrained by Corpora, to some extent by the
Peerages, and by the elected body of the Board, it sort of fits. Two a
year by "Right of Arms" (always assuming the worthy warrior is not
left-handed) is obviously fabricated, but it gives us more opportunities
for Coronation Feasts!
Aoghann
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
>
> Actually, I understood that the term "Royalist" applies to a
> reactionary position in support of an arguably threatened Crown during
> the English Civil War. The first European king to genuinely resemble
> the definition most often used by SCAdians (all that "divine right"
> stuff) is probably Louis XIV. I suppose if everyone really does want
> to play this game the out-of-period way, that's okay, I guess, but...
> <shrug>...
>
There were, essentially, two responses to the political chaos of the
seventeenth century, as many of the aspects of the Reformation began to
be translated into political terms (see the discussion on John Milton).
On the one hand, a group of thinkers led initially by Hugo Grotius
(1583-1645), believed that natural laws governed states and their
relations. Drawing on the thought of Greek and Roman Stoicism, where the
idea of "natural law" originates, Grotius and others believed that there
were constant and immutable rational laws which should be applied to all
governments. In many ways, this concept is very similar to the Roman
concept of the Law of Nations, which is also derived from Stoic
principles. On the other hand, Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704)
reinforced medieval notions of kingship in his theory of the *Divine
Right of Kings*, a theory which argued that certain kings ruled because
they were chosen by God to do so and that these kings were accountable
to no person except God.
The origin of this concept extends as far back into European, Middle
Eastern, and Northern African history as the practice of monarchy does;
as a legitimation of authority, the idea that monarchs are divinely
chosen—often carried much further than the assertion that the monarch
/is / divine which leaves little room for argument. The problem for
Europe, however, is the fundamentally anti-political nature of early
Christianity, this anti-political aspect of foundational Christianity
threw the institution of emperorship and kingship into question. If
Christ rejects all political actions and institutions, how can one
justify having a monarch? Saint Augustine in /The City of God / set out
the theoretical framework for the institution of Christian monarchy in
his concept of the Two Cities, the City of God, that is, the body of
believers, and the City of Man, that is, the secular world. Although
these two cities are in spiritual conflict, the City of Man was
instituted by God, according to Augustine, in order to secure the safety
and security of the members of the City of God. Therefore, monarchs are
placed on their thrones by God for a specific purpose. Although they may
be ungodly, to question their authority is in essence to question God's
purpose for both the City of Man and the City of God. This, or some form
of this, made up the foundation of medieval and Renaissance theories of
monarchy.
Bossuet, however, was reacting to an extreme situation and carried this
argument to its farthest extent in his doctrine of the Divine Right of
Kings. Not only did God bestow power on certain monarchs (and he argued
that his king, Louis XIV of France, was one such monarch), but the
bestowal of this power legitimated autocracy (rule by one person). The
king ruled by virtue of God's authority; therefore he should be obeyed
in all things. No group, whether they be nobles, or a parliament, or the
people in the street, have a right to participate in this rule; to
question or oppose the monarch was to rebel against God's purpose. This
doctrine of absolutism would follow a tortured course through the
eighteenth century culminating in the French Revolution of 1789-1792 and
the beheading of Louis XVI, the king of France.
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list