The royal authority, otherwise the ruling power over a country, can decide how to rule the country. During the period between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, historians label this period as the "Age of Absolutism" in the Discovering the Western Past on page 38. Absolutism is defined as by www.dictionary.com as "A political theory holding that all power should be vested in one ruler or other authority". That means that one person, as in the King, has all or absolute power over something and in this application, it applies to the 17th century European countries. Absolutism is based from the ideas of religious beliefs and the absolute power invested in a prince/king. As long as the rules of God are not broken, political powers have the right to do anything under the name of God.
At first, there were problems with the idea of Absolutism. First, the nobles that had previously had power in the government didn't want to give that up. Nobles controlled the military armies and served as the judges of the great law courts as said in the Discovering the Western Past on page 39. Another problem was the Protestant minority with their own pesky army. Also, if the country were to be ruled under one absolute ruler, a problem would be that the country is spilt up into many provinces with different customs and dialects.
In The Six Books of the Republic, Jean Bodin's theoretical basis for absolute royal authority is given. Jean believes that power is decided by who gives laws to whom. Jean says that "If the consent of superiors is required, then the prince is clearly a subject; if he must have the consent of equals, then others share his authority; if the consent of inferiors-the people or the senate-is necessary, then he lacks supreme authority" on page 46 in Discovering the Western Past. Laws are the way a certain person is determined to have more power than the next. "It comes forth in one moment at the order of him who has the power to command, and often in opposition to the desire and approval of those whom it governs.
