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The Divine Right Of Kings Essay

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In the early modern ages, the world has seen many changes. One of the most momentous acts of the early modern ages, was the protestant reformation. Prior to the reformation, the monarchy had near complete control of its people, and had tricked them into believing that the king had his powers derived from God. One vivid evidence of this was The Divine Right of Kings by King James I. The Divine Right provides insight into the world of the monarchy, and shows the reader what the monarchy had convinced its people to believe. On the other side of things, a German monk named Martin Luther had written Christian Freedom to bring attention to how controlling the monarchy was. The Divine Right of Kings and Christian Freedom differ remarkably, showing …show more content…
This is evident by the King stating that his powers had derived from a higher power, God. One example of this comes from King James I’s The Divine Right of Kings when he states, “He is their heritable overlord, and so by birth”. By declaring this, King James I reveals to his audience that he has earned his power through God, by simply being born, but this wasn’t enough for him. He still felt the desire to protect his title, and to threaten his people. In order to do this, he asserted that rebellion would be the world political crime. This is evident from when he states, “Any pretence of wickedness or rigour on his part be just excuse for his children to put hand into him”. Despite King James I’s convincing his people that his powers were thrust unto him by God, he truly did believe this was true. The Divine Right of Kings was based on his understanding of the bible. In The Divine Right, James I stated that “The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth, for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called gods.” Surely, this was his irreversible belief, though a German monk, Martin Luther, had state of

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