Age of Absolutism Timeline

(c. 1600–1789)

The Age of Absolutism was a period in European history when monarchs strengthened centralized authority, built standing armies, expanded bureaucracies, and claimed extensive control over government and society. More Less

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European Absolutist Monarchies

Prussia becomes a Hohenzollern feudal monarchy

1525 - 1701

The House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia as a feudal monarchy from 1525 until 1701, before the state’s transformation into a kingdom and eventually an absolute monarchy.

Image source: Duchy of Prussia

Jean Domat defends absolute monarchy

1600 - 1696

In the 17th century, French legal theorist Jean Domat defended absolute monarchy in works including On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy, arguing that it preserved the natural order intended by God.

Image source: Jean Domat

Charles I dissolves the English Parliament

1629 - 1640

Charles I ruled without the Parliament of England for 11 years beginning in 1629. His attempt to govern along absolutist European lines intensified political and religious opposition.

The Covenanters rebel against Charles I

1637 - 1638

Charles I’s attempt to impose episcopal polity on the Church of Scotland provoked resistance from the Covenanters. Their rebellion helped produce the Bishops’ Wars.

Image source: Bishops' Wars

The Bishops' Wars begin

1639 - 1640

The Bishops’ Wars pitted Charles I’s government against Scottish Covenanters and exposed the political and religious dangers of the king’s effort to impose centralized authority.

The English Civil War begins

1642 - 1651

Fear that Charles I sought to establish absolutist government along European lines became a major cause of the English Civil War, which challenged royal authority and reshaped the English constitution.

Image source: English Civil War

Louis XIV becomes king of France

1643 - 1715

Louis XIV, who reigned from 1643 to 1715, became the emblematic ruler of French absolutism. His long reign concentrated political power around the monarchy.

Image source: Louis XIV

Louis XIV is associated with royal absolutism

1650 - 1715

Louis XIV is traditionally associated with the declaration L’état, c’est moi!, meaning “I am the State!” The phrase expresses the absolutist ideal of sovereignty embodied in the monarch.

Absolute monarchy continues in Denmark

1660 - 1848

Absolute monarchy lasted in Denmark until 1848, when political change associated with the Revolutions of 1848 brought the absolutist era to a close.

Image source: History of Denmark

Absolute monarchy continues in Norway

1660 - 1814

Absolute monarchy lasted in Norway until 1814. Its end marked the disappearance of one of Europe’s long-standing absolutist systems.

Image source: History of Norway

Denmark–Norway adopts the Kongeloven

1665

The 1665 Kongeloven, or King’s Law, underpinned absolutism with a written constitution for the first time in Europe. It declared the monarch superior to all human law and accountable only to God.

Image source: House of Glücksburg

Denmark–Norway establishes written absolutism

1665

The Kongeloven formally defined the Danish–Norwegian monarch as the most perfect and supreme person on Earth in relation to his subjects, providing a legal foundation for absolute rule.

The House of Habsburg rules Spain until Charles II

1665 - 1700

Charles II of Spain, the last Habsburg monarch of Spain, ruled from 1665 until his death in 1700. His childlessness brought the Spanish male line of the Habsburg dynasty to an end.

Image source: Charles II of Spain

Prussia becomes an absolute monarchy

1701 - 1848

From 1701 to 1848, Prussia was ruled as an absolute monarchy under the House of Hohenzollern. This period established Prussia as one of Europe’s major centralized states.

Image source: Kingdom of Prussia

Frederick I becomes king in Prussia

Jan 18, 1701

Frederick I became the first King in Prussia on 18 January 1701, marking the transition of the Hohenzollern state from a duchy and feudal monarchy into a kingdom.

Image source: Frederick I of Prussia

Frederick the Great practices enlightened absolutism

1740 - 1786

Frederick the Great practiced enlightened absolutism during his reign, combining centralized monarchical authority with reforms influenced by Enlightenment ideas, until his death in 1786.

Frederick the Great adopts the title King of Prussia

1772

Frederick the Great adopted the title King of Prussia in 1772, the same year he annexed most of Royal Prussia during the First Partition of Poland.

Image source: Frederick the Great

Joseph II grants legal freedom to serfs

1781

Joseph II extended full legal freedom to serfs in 1781. The reform exemplified enlightened absolutism by using centralized authority to modify traditional social structures.

Image source: Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Austria enters the reign of Franz Joseph I

1848 - 1916

Franz Joseph I was Emperor of Austria from 1848 until his death in 1916. His reign spanned the decline of traditional absolutism and the final decades of the Habsburg monarchy.

Image source: Franz Joseph I of Austria

Charles I succeeds Franz Joseph I

1916 - 1918

Charles I of Austria succeeded Franz Joseph I as Emperor of Austria in 1916, inheriting the Habsburg monarchy during World War I.

Image source: Charles I of Austria

Russia and the Romanovs

Russia preserves autocratic monarchy after the Time of Troubles

1613 - 1905

Following the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century, an alliance among autocratic monarchy, the church, and the aristocracy was widely viewed as essential to preserving Russian social order and statehood.

Image source: Time of Troubles

The Romanov dynasty rules Russia

1613 - 1917

The political settlement after the Time of Troubles legitimized the rule of the Romanov dynasty, which governed Russia for three centuries through an autocratic monarchy.

Image source: House of Romanov

Russian tsars govern as absolute monarchs

1613 - 1905

Until 1905, the tsars and emperors of Russia governed as absolute monarchs. Russia retained this system longer than most European states.

Image source: Tsarist autocracy

Russia becomes the last European state to abolish absolutism

1905 - 1917

Russia became the last European country, excluding Vatican City, to abolish absolutism. It was the only European state to do so as late as the 20th century.

Image source: Russian Revolution

The Bolsheviks execute the Romanov family

1918

In 1918, the Bolsheviks executed the Romanov family, ending three centuries of Romanov rule and definitively terminating Russia’s imperial dynasty.

Image source: Murder of the Romanov family

Constitutional Change

The Revolutions of 1848 spread across Europe

1848 - 1849

The Revolutions of 1848, also called the Springtime of the Peoples or Springtime of Nations, were political upheavals throughout Europe that challenged absolutist and conservative governments.

Image source: Revolutions of 1848

Prussia becomes a federal semi-constitutional monarchy

1848 - 1918

After 1848, Prussia became a federal semi-constitutional monarchy. The arrangement lasted until the monarchy was abolished during the German Revolution.

Charles I abdicates as Emperor of Austria

Nov 12, 1918

Charles I was the last Emperor of Austria. He abdicated on 12 November 1918 after Austria-Hungary’s defeat in World War I, ending the Austrian monarchy.

Nepal abolishes its monarchy

May 28, 2008

After repeated swings between constitutional and direct rule, including conflict connected with the Nepalese Civil War, Maoist insurgency, and the 2001 royal massacre, Nepal abolished its monarchy on 28 May 2008.

Image source: King of Nepal

Tonga ends the king's majority legislative control

2010

In Tonga, the king retained majority control of the Legislative Assembly until 2010, when constitutional changes reduced the monarch’s direct political dominance.

Image source: Politics of Tonga

Contemporary Absolute Monarchies

Saudi Arabia adopts its Basic Law

1992

Saudi Arabia adopted its Basic Law by royal decree in 1992. The law affirms the country’s absolute monarchy and requires the king to comply with Sharia and the Quran.

Saudi Arabia remains an absolute monarchy

1992 - 2023

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy in which the king exercises extensive political authority under the framework of the Basic Law, Sharia, and the Quran.

Image source: Politics of Saudi Arabia

Liechtenstein expands the prince's powers

2003

A 2003 referendum amended the Constitution of Liechtenstein and granted the prince vastly expanded powers. BBC News subsequently described the prince as an “absolute monarch again.”

Image source: Politics of Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein expands the prince's powers

Vatican City reports its 2023 population

2023

As of 2023, Vatican City had 764 residents regardless of citizenship. The city-state is included among contemporary monarchic systems associated with absolute papal authority.

Image source: Vatican City

Saudi Arabia ranks as the most authoritarian regime