Divine Right of Kings

Divine Right of Kings, ancient doctrine that sovereigns are representatives of God and derive their right to rule directly from God. The concept was formulated from the theocracies of the East. Before the Reformation, the monarch was considered God's representative in all secular matters. Following the Reformation, in Protestant countries, the ruler filled this function in religious matters also. According to the doctrine, a ruler's power is not subject to secular limitation; the ruler is responsible only to God. In the 17th century the doctrine was supported by the English Royalists against the Parliamentarians, who maintained that the exercise of political power springs from the will of the people.

English opponents of divine right included the poet and prose writer John Milton, the republican leader Algernon Sidney, and the political theorist James Harrington. The chief supporters of the doctrine were the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the French classical scholar Claudius Salmasius, and the English political writer Sir Robert Filmer, whose Patriarcha, or The Natural Power of Kings Asserted (pub. posthumously 1680) contains a complete exposition of the theory. The controversy terminated in 1689, following the Glorious Revolution when William III and Mary II were jointly crowned after agreeing to accept the Act of Toleration and the Declaration of Rights (English Bill of Rights). See Bill of Rights.

The doctrine of divine right, epitomized by King Louis XIV of France, was one of the elements that led to the French Revolution.