Contents

9.1 From Territorial to Absolute Monarchy................................................................................... 212

9.1.1 The Modern Age and the Triumph of Royal Absolutism...........................................

9.1.2 From Christian Universalism to Independent Monarchies......................................... 212

9.1.3 Searching for a New Legitimacy: The Prevention of Anarchy as a Justification

for Power...................................................................................................................... 216

9.2 The Abandonment of Medieval Pact-Based Rule.................................................................... 220

9.2.1 Cities’ Loss of Political and Legal Autonomy............................................................ 220

9.2.2 The Subjugation of the Nobility.................................................................................. 223

9.2.3 The Decline of the Assemblies of the Estates............................................................. 224

9.3 The State of the Prince.............................................................................................................. 229

9.3.1 The Expansion of Royal Jurisdiction.......................................................................... 230

9.3.2 A King Above the Law?............................................................................................. 231

9.4 Absolutism Versus Autocracy: The Legal Limits of Royal Absolutism.................................. 234

9.4.1 Absolute Kings, Constrained by Divine and Natural Law...................................... 235

9.4.2 The Limits of “Fundamental Laws”............................................................................ 236

9.4.3 Respect for Traditional Customs................................................................................. 237

9.4.4 The Relative Autonomy of the Ancien Regime’s Judges............................................ 238

9.5 Absolute Monarchy and the Increasing Power of the European States.......................................... 240

9.5.1 The Technical Advantages of Absolutism.................................................................. 241

9.5.2 The Administrative Expansion of Absolute Monarchies........................................... 242

9.5.3 Towards a Europe of “National” Monarchies............................................................. 244

References........................................................................................................................................... 249

9.1