You see the kings were dependent on the nobles for armed force and kings dont like to be dependent.
Yet, as long as the ruler needed nobles there were limits as to his or her power. The Nobles had their rights and the force to protect those rights.
Around 1600 things started to change;
Gunpowder and cannon began to replace the noble as the deciding factor in war. At the same time many nobles found it more convenient to pay a fee and sit the war out at home on the estate.
Little by little, the ruler found that hired men at arms were better in war and more easily controlled in peace . You only have to pay hired troops when you need them and they have NO official political rights..the ruler's word is the LAW. The hired army can also keep the kingdom in line. Kings and Queens like that.
However ...hired armies cost a lot. The money to pay the men at arms came as tax the towns paid the monarch in exchange for charters( bills of right) the spread of the printing press, the protestant revolution, and of education made the commons of the towns start to think that they commons, had or should have rights. Shocking idea for the time!!!
Yet at first the Queen or King liked that idea. The commons could be used to balance the power of the annoying nobles and being stinking commons could never it was believed, ever question the word of the monarch..But over time, the COMMON PEOPLE started to question the word of the king and the the idea of blue blood and divine right..That path leads to our concept of the Social contract.
Tomorrow: Rule not by divine right but by social contract.
Yet, as long as the ruler needed nobles there were limits as to his or her power. The Nobles had their rights and the force to protect those rights.
Around 1600 things started to change;
Gunpowder and cannon began to replace the noble as the deciding factor in war. At the same time many nobles found it more convenient to pay a fee and sit the war out at home on the estate.
Little by little, the ruler found that hired men at arms were better in war and more easily controlled in peace . You only have to pay hired troops when you need them and they have NO official political rights..the ruler's word is the LAW. The hired army can also keep the kingdom in line. Kings and Queens like that.
However ...hired armies cost a lot. The money to pay the men at arms came as tax the towns paid the monarch in exchange for charters( bills of right) the spread of the printing press, the protestant revolution, and of education made the commons of the towns start to think that they commons, had or should have rights. Shocking idea for the time!!!
Yet at first the Queen or King liked that idea. The commons could be used to balance the power of the annoying nobles and being stinking commons could never it was believed, ever question the word of the monarch..But over time, the COMMON PEOPLE started to question the word of the king and the the idea of blue blood and divine right..That path leads to our concept of the Social contract.
Tomorrow: Rule not by divine right but by social contract.
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