According to the form of government, states are divided into two groups: republics and monarchies. It is on this factor that the way the supreme power in the country is organized depends. This type of government, when all power belongs to a single person, is called a monarchy.
Power of the King
Monarchies are different:
- patriarchal;
- sacred;
- absolute and theocratic;
- constitutional and class-representative;
- dualistic;
- despotic.
In all these ways of governing the state, there is one thing in common: the power is in the hands of one person - the king. In sacred and patriarchal states, the sacrifice of the ruler is characteristic. Traditionally, the monarch was considered and perceived as the father of his people, his subjects. It was here that the principles of the sacredness of not only the royal person, but also the royal blood were formed.
An example of a theocratic type of government is the Vatican. Power in this state belongs to the Pope for life, who is elected by the College of Cardinals.
A kind of dualistic,limited, monarchy is a constitutional form of government. The legislature is the parliament. Funds for the maintenance of the monarch and his family are regulated in accordance with the civil list. The powers of the king are representative functions, in addition, with his signature, he seals the most important state documents.
Main characteristics of absolute roy alty
This type of monarchy can be distinguished by the following features:
- the presence of a lifelong ruler who is the bearer of sole supreme power;
- complete, absolute impunity of the royal person;
- hereditary order of transfer of power according to the customs or laws of the state;
- ex altation and deification of royal persons.
The concept of unlimited power implies the establishment of complete control in all spheres of life of the people and society. In a country with this form of government, all democratic principles and any framework for the desires, whims and whims of the ruler, whether it be fun or the creation of laws, are denied. The power of the king is sole: he issues laws, through the officials and ministers appointed by him, he manages the state. All subjects, by default, have only those rights that the sovereign gives them, and obey, serve him unquestioningly. The monarch is the personification of the inseparable unity of the highest judicial, legislative and executive leadership. However, the main signs of absolute royal power indicate that the freedoms and rights of theirThe king can violate the subjects of the king only in exceptional cases necessary to save the country.
Why do states need kings
Strengthening the sole unquestioning power during the collapse of the feudal system was necessary for the territorial unification of lands, the formation of a single nation. The clergy and nobility needed to strengthen the power of the king in order to maintain their positions and possessions in the conditions of the emergence of the bourgeoisie and industrialization. Only the ruling monarch had the right to single-handedly dispose of the treasury of the state. The main signs of absolute royal power are a pyramid of an extensive bureaucratic apparatus, a permanent police force and an army subordinate to the reigning monarch and headed by him. All the possibilities of the legislative, executive and judicial systems were concentrated in the hands of the supreme hereditary ruler. It was believed that the unlimited personal power of the king is given to him by God's grace, thus, the ruling person belongs to the state and works for the good of the Fatherland.
Crown, scepter, orb
Gold as a symbol of absolute royal power, regalia and other distinctive signs have been known since ancient times. All of these features have some similarities in most developed countries:
- crown on head and mantle on shoulders;
- scepter in left hand and orb in right hand;
- epee or sword;
- throne and throne.
Other symbols include banners and stamps, signs and seals, helmets and masks, names and images, palacesand shields. The radiance and divine origin of the ruler are embodied in gold and precious stones, which are used in the decoration of royal headdresses and clothes. The crown, as an emblem of absolute royal power, symbolizes the solar sky, and the four ribbons rising upwards symbolize power that extends to all directions of the world.
The orb in its shape resembles a round globe, and the scepter is an attribute of the ancient Greek gods. Both of these symbols are signs of royal dignity.
Only a ruler who has all the regalia is worthy of the complete submission of his loyal subjects. These basic signs of absolute roy alty make him the best of the best, the main military leader and legislator.
About the coronation
According to researchers, the prototype of the royal diadem was the Roman laurel crown. The emblem of absolute roy alty (crown) was originally made in the form of a gold hoop with teeth resembling sunbeams. In the future, the best jewelers worked on the creation of royal tiaras and the largest and most valuable precious stones were used.
The ritual of putting this headdress on the head of the future ruler is called coronation. It is this ceremony that signifies the legitimacy of the monarch's access to power with all its attributes. In addition, the entire coronation procedure is an important religious rite for the people, during which the chrismation takes place and the new monarch is admitted to the traditional hereditary continuation of the chain.rulers. The whole ritual is permeated with a special meaning of Divine blessing.
Can all kings
Having considered the main signs of absolute royal power, we can conclude that in order to use his abilities, the monarch had to defeat the feudal opposition and the resistance of the Church. The sovereign government of the state was impossible without a permanent police and army, without the creation of a centralized administrative apparatus.
The development of the bourgeois system led to the gradual restriction of the power of the king, the emergence of a dualistic monarchy, under which a parliament was created with legislative power.
