Absolutismo

Key Points

• The podcast episode discusses absolutism as a political movement that centralized power in monarchs, marking the transition from the decentralized feudal system of the Middle Ages to the modern state.
• Absolutism arose from an alliance between weakened monarchs and the emerging bourgeoisie, facilitated by events like the Crusades, which revived trade and urban centers (burgos).
• Key theorists like Machiavelli, Bodin, Bossuet, and Hobbes provided ideological justifications for absolute royal power, using secular, familial, divine right, or social contract arguments.
• The shift to absolutism was part of broader modernizing changes, including the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and mercantilism, which collectively reduced the supreme power of the Catholic Church.
• The episode is sponsored by Literatur, a book subscription club, and includes promotional offers for listeners.

Summary

This podcast episode, hosted by history professor Peter Soares, explores the rise of absolutism in Europe as a defining political shift from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era. Absolutism is presented as a centralizing movement that restored power to monarchs after the fall of the Roman Empire and the subsequent feudal period, characterized by political decentralization under local lords. The decline of feudalism was driven by factors like the Crusades, which exposed Europeans to new goods and trade networks, revitalizing commerce and leading to the growth of urban centers known as *burgos* and the rise of the bourgeoisie.

The core dynamic of absolutism was a strategic alliance between kings, who had been weakened, and the merchant bourgeoisie, who sought uniform currencies, laws, and measures to facilitate trade. This alliance undermined the local power of feudal lords and the supreme authority of the Catholic Church. The transition was part of a broader transformation including the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and the economic shift to mercantilism.

The episode highlights that absolutism unfolded at different paces across Europe, with early unification in Portugal, Spain, France, and England, while countries like Italy and Germany unified much later. The new "modern states" were distinct for their king-bourgeoisie foundation. However, this alliance was temporary, eventually leading to conflict, as seen in the 17th-century English Revolutions.

To legitimize this new centralized power, political theorists provided various justifications. Machiavelli, in *The Prince*, advocated for statecraft based on rationality over morality. Jean Bodin compared the state to a family with the king as its head. Jacques Bossuet championed the divine right of kings, arguing that to question the monarch was to question God. Thomas Hobbes, in *Leviathan*, presented the state as a necessary social contract to control humanity's inherently brutish nature.

The summary also notes that the episode is promotional, celebrating its 50th installment and featuring a sponsorship by Literatur, a used-book subscription service, for which listeners are offered a discount and a giveaway.