See also:MONARCHY (Fr. monarchic, from See also:Lat. monarchia, Gr. uovapXia, See also:rule of one, µbvos, alone, apXi7, rule)
, strictly, the undivided See also:sovereignty or See also:rule of a single See also:person, Hence the See also:term is applied to states in which the supreme authority is vested in a single person, the monarch, who in his own right is the permanent See also:head of the See also:state
.
The See also:character of true See also:monarchy is well defined in the well-known lines of See also:Cowper (Verses supposed to be written by See also:Alexander See also:Selkirk):
" I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute."
The word " monarchy " has, however, outlived this See also:original meaning, and is now used, when used at all, somewhat loosely of states ruled over by hereditary sovereigns, as distinct from republics with elected presidents; or for the " monarchical principle," as opposed to the republican, involved in this distinction
.
The old See also:idea of monarchy, viz. that of the See also:prince as representing within the limits of his dominions the monarchy of See also:God over all things, culminated in the 17th See also:century in the See also:doctrine of the divine right of See also:kings, and was defined in the famous dictum of See also:- LOUIS
- LOUIS (804–876)
- LOUIS (893–911)
- LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
- LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian
Louis XIV.: L'etat c'est moil The conception of monarchy was derived through See also:Christianity from the theocracies of the See also:East; it was the underlying principle of the See also:medieval See also:empire and also of the medieval papacy, the rule of the popes during the See also:period of its greatest development being sometimes called " the papal monarchy." The monarchical principle was shaken to its See also:foundations by the See also:English revolution of 1688; it was shattered by the wrench revolution of 1789; and though it survives as a See also:political force, more or less strongly, in most See also:European countries, " monarchists," in the strict sense of the word, are everywhere a small and dwindling minority
.
To See also:express the See also:change phrases were invented which have come into See also:general use, though involving a certain See also:contradiction in terms, viz
.
" limited " or
" constitutional monarchy," as opposed to See also:absolute " or " autocratic monarchy."
Finally, a distinction is See also:drawn between " elective " and " hereditary " monarchies
.
Of the former class the most conspicuous was the See also:Holy See also:Roman Empire; but in See also:Europe all monarchies were, within certain limits, originally elective; and, after the introduction of Christianity, the essential See also:condition of the See also:assumption of See also:sovereign See also:power was not so much kinship with the reigning See also:family as the " sacring " by the divine authority of the See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
Church
.
The purely hereditary principle was of comparatively See also:late growth, the outcome of obvious convenience, exalted under the See also:influence of various forces into a religious or quasi-religious See also:dogma
.
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