Divine Right of Kings vs. Individual Rights

About this Collection

Does the legitimacy of government depend on the divinely instituted right of the monarch to rule or upon the natural rights of man and the consent of the governed? Debate on this issue spurred the English Civil War and continued long after the Restoration of 1660.

Western Europe 17th Century World History

Key People

Sir Robert Filmer

Titles & Essays

Group by Category

Discourses Concerning Government

Algernon Sidney (author)

Written in response to Sir Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha (1680), the Discourses Concerning Government is a classic defense of republicanism and popular government. Sidney rejected Filmer’s theories of royal absolutism and divine right…

Patriarcha non monarcha. The Patriarch unmonarch’d

James Tyrrell (author)

Tyrrell was a friend and supporter of John Locke who also joined in the battle against the ideas in support of the divine right of kings expressed in the work of Sir Robert Filmer. There is much in this book about the power of the…

Patriarcha, or the Natural Power of Kings

Sir Robert Filmer (author)

In the aftermath of the English Revolution which saw the execution of a king and the creation of a Commonwealth and the restoration of the monarchy, Filmer wrote a solid defense of the divine right of kings which in turn prompted…

The Two Treatises of Civil Government (Hollis ed.)

Thomas Hollis (editor)

Locke’s most famous work of political philosophy began as a reply to Filmer’s defense of the idea of the divine right of kings and ended up becoming a defense of natural rights, especially property rights, and of government limited…

Quotes

War & Peace

The 4th Day of Christmas: Dante Alighieri on human perfectibility and peace on earth (1559)

Full Quote

Notes About This Collection

For additional information see:

the Timeline on the Debate about the Divine Right of Kings
Eric Mack’s reading list on James Tyrrell on Authority and Liberty
West’s Introduction Sidney, Filmer & Locke on Monarchical Power