European and English Divergence in Political Thought

To provide some definitions, let it be given that an absolutist form of government is one in which the ruler has no limits whatsoever on his power aside from, perhaps, his own conscience. A constitution in a governmental sense is a set of rules, written or unwritten, but agreed to by all parties, by which they must abide. In other words, the supreme ruler in a constitutional form of government does not have absolute authority to do as he or she likes; rather, the supreme ruler must also abide by the rules, and so his or her power is limited to some extent.

In the fifteenth century, the authority of the various monarchs of Europe ranged from absolute to quite limited. The clearest contrast was between England and France, and the roots of this difference already went back many centuries. In France, the collapse of the Carolingian Empire proceeded to a state of almost total chaos. Charlemagne had divided his domain into three parts for his three sons: the western third developed into France, the eastern third into Germany, and between them they squeezed the middle third almost into nonexistence. At the nadir of his powe

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Some common words found in the essay are:
, Magna Carta, Carolingian Empire, English Parliament, House Commons, England Parliament, Charles II, Middle Ages, Roman Catholics, England Plantagenets, form government, supreme ruler, magna carta, england france, common people,
Approximate Word count = 844
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)

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