Enlightened absolutism

Enlightened absolutism, also known as enlightened despotism and benevolent absolutism, is a form of absolute monarchy or despotism inspired by the Enlightenment. Enlightened monarchs embrace rationality. Most enlightened monarchs fostered education and allowed religious tolerance, freedom of speech, and the right to hold private property.

History

Enlightened absolutism is the theme of an essay by Frederick the Great, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786, defending this system of government.[1][2]

Frederick the Great was an enthusiast of French ideas which ridiculed German culture, unaware of the remarkable advances it was undergoing. Frederick explained: "My principal occupation is to combat ignorance and prejudice ... to enlighten minds, cultivate morality, and to make people as happy as it suits human nature, and as the means at my disposal permit."[3]

When the prominent French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire fell out of favor in France he eagerly accepted Frederick's invitation to live at his palace. He believed that enlightened monarchy was the only real way for society to advance.

Enlightened absolutists held that royal power emanated not from divine right but from a social contract whereby a despot was entrusted with the power to govern through a social contract in lieu of any other governments.

In effect, the monarchs of enlightened absolutism strengthened their authority by improving the lives of their subjects. This philosophy implied that the sovereign knew the interests of his or her subjects better than they themselves did. The monarch taking responsibility for the subjects precluded their political participation.

The difference between an absolutist and an enlightened absolutist is based on a broad analysis of the degree to which they embraced the Age of Enlightenment. For example, although Empress Catherine II of Russia entirely rejected the concept of the social contract, she embraced many ideas of the Enlightenment, being one of the great patrons of the arts in Imperial Russia and incorporating many ideas of Enlightenment philosophers, especially Montesquieu, in her Nakaz, which was intended to revise Russian law.

However, historians debate the actual implementation of enlightened absolutism. They distinguish between the "enlightenment" of the ruler personally, versus that of his or her regime. For example, Frederick the Great was tutored in the ideas of the French Enlightenment in his youth, and maintained those ideas in his private life as an adult, but in many ways was unable or unwilling to effect enlightened reforms in practice.[4]

Other rulers such as the Marquis of Pombal, prime minister of Portugal, used the ideas and practices of the Enlightenment not only to achieve reforms but also to enhance autocracy, crush opposition, suppress criticism, advance colonial economic exploitation, and consolidate personal control and profit.

The concept of enlightened absolutism was formally described by the German historian Wilhelm Roscher in 1847[5] and remains controversial among scholars.[6]

Political Reforms

The most important political reforms these monarchs instituted in their kingdoms included:

Major nations

Governmental responses to the Age of Enlightenment varied widely. In several nations with powerful rulers, called "enlightened despots" by historians, leaders of the Enlightenment were welcomed at Court and helped design laws and programs to reform the system, typically to build stronger national states.[7]

In France, the government's posture was one of hostility and philosophers fought government censorship. The British government generally ignored the Enlightenment's leaders.

Charles III, King of Spain from 1759 to 1788, sought to rescue his empire from decay through ambitious reforms such as weakening the Church and its monasteries, promoting science and university research, facilitating trade and commerce, modernizing agriculture, and avoiding war. Spain relapsed into former patterns after his death.[8]

Empress Catherine the Great, who ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796, had an enthusiastic response toward Enlightenment ideas.

Emperor Joseph II, ruler of Austria from 1780 to 1790, was over-enthusiastic, announcing so many reforms with so little support that revolts broke out and his regime reverted to a comedy of errors.[9]

Senior ministers, such as the Marquis of Pombal, who was Joseph I of Portugal's prime minister, and Struensee in Denmark, did govern amicably with Enlightenment ideals.

Associated rulers

See also

References

  1. ↑ Reprinted in Isaac Kramnick, ed. The Portable Enlightenment Reader (1995) part;y online
  2. ↑ Reprinted in Isaac Kramnick (1995). The Portable Enlightenment Reader. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-024566-0. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  3. ↑ Giles MacDonogh, Frederick the Great: A Life in Deed and Letters (2001) p 341
  4. ↑ H.M. Scott, ed., Enlightened Absolutism: Reform and Reformers in Later Eighteenth-Century Europe, (University of Michigan Press, 1990)
  5. ↑ A. Lentin (ed.), Enlightened Absolutism (1760-1790), Aveiro, 1985, p. ix.
  6. ↑ Charles Ingrao, "The Problem of 'Enlightened Absolutism and the German States," Journal of Modern History Vol. 58, Supplement: Politics and Society in the Holy Roman Empire, 1500-1806 (Dec., 1986), pp. S161-S180 in JSTOR
  7. ↑ Stephen J. Lee, Aspects of European history, 1494–1789 (1990) pp. 258-66
  8. ↑ Nicholas Henderson, "Charles III of Spain: An Enlightened Despot," History Today, Nov 1968, Vol. 18 Issue 10, p673–682 and Issue 11, pp 760–768
  9. ↑ Nicholas Henderson, "Joseph II", History Today (March 1991) 41:21–27
  10. ↑ McKay, "A History of Western Society", Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006, p.616-619
    • Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman R K. Massie, "Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman", Random House, 2012
  11. 1 2 3 4 H.M. Scott, 1990, p. 1.
  12. ↑ H.M. Scott, 1990, p. 265ff
  13. 1 2 H. Arnold Barton, Scandinavia in the Revolutionary Era 1760-1815, University of Minnesota Press, 1986, p.142ff. ISBN 0-8166-1392-3.
  14. ↑ Bearne, Catherine Mary (1907). A Sister of Marie Antoinette: The Life-Story of Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples. T. Fisher Unwin: London, p 142.

Further reading

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