Motley Talk about the Divine Right of Kings
And Queens! If you want to hear about really entitled people, this is the place.
“The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth. For kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called gods.” Excerpt of a speech made to Parliament by King James VI & I in 1610.
Dear Motley Crew and friends, having celebrated the jubilee of our Queen, I have been thinking about the ‘divine right of Kings’. Being a leader is a difficult job but being an absolute monarch even harder. There are very few left: Brunei, Eswatini (in southern Africa), Oman, Saudi Arabia, Vatican City, and the United Arab Emirates.
You can see the public relations benefits in having people believe that your power as a monarch comes from God. When the monarch was not accountable to any earthly authority (such as the aristocracy or a parliament), because their right to rule was derived from divine authority. This not only made the monarch’s position secure, but since they usually believed in their own publicity, it gave them an unassailable confidence in their right to rule.
The divine right of kings (and queens of course) can be seen throughout history. The Egyptians believed the king / pharaoh to be the mediator between the gods and the world of men. After his death the pharaoh passed on his sacred powers and position to the new pharaoh (usually his son), and the dead pharaoh became divine. When Pharaoh Amenhotep I died around 1504 BCE a cult grew up around the belief that he could give divine guidance. The priests would carry his statue around the town during his religious festivals, and people could ask it yes / no questions.
Apparently, the God Amenhotep’s answers were interpreted by the way the statue tilted after the question was asked. I don’t suppose the priests carrying the statue had anything to do with it.
By the middle ages the idea that God had given earthly power to the Kings was an accepted concept, at least by Kings. The most sacred part of the coronation ceremony is when the monarch is anointed with holy oil. This symbolises the monarch’s ‘right to rule when anointed by God’. As Queen Elizabeth II was anointed the following prayer was said:
Be thy Head anointed with holy Oil: as kings, priests, and prophets were anointed: And as Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, so be thou anointed, blessed, and consecrated Queen over the Peoples, whom the Lord thy God hath given thee to rule and govern, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
King Richard I (1157 to 1199) was king for ten years, but he probably spent no more than six months in England, as he was busy fighting in the Crusades. In 1192, after a shipwreck and a dangerous journey through enemy lands, Richard was captured and handed over to Henry VI, King of Germany. During Richard’s trial (he was accused of unjustly capturing Cyprus) he declared; "I am born of a rank which recognises no superior but God, to whom alone I am responsible for my actions.”
The Emperor demanded a ransom of 150,000 marks for Richard (three times the annual income for the English Crown). Prince John, Richard's brother, and King Philip of France offered 80,000 marks for Henry VI to continue to hold Richard prisoner, but Henry turned down the offer. Richard's mother, Eleanor, managed to raise taxes and therefore the ransom, which was delivered in 1194, and Richard was released.
King James was the 6th King James of Scotland and the 1st King James of England. It is interesting that the Scots have always been believers in ‘first amongst equals’, so there was no concept of the divine right of kings in Scotland. Yet James made his extraordinary statement at the beginning of this article - presumably after he was safely ensconced in England.
His English predecessor Queen Elizabeth I had a harder time. She also believed in the divine right of kings (or queens) so it became slightly tricky when she ended up accusing a fellow monarch, Mary, Queen of Scots, who supposedly had no judge but God. Perhaps it was okay since Mary was no longer a reigning monarch, as her son James VI had been made King of Scotland when his mother escaped to England and was made a prisoner.
So, I guess it was not really killing a fellow monarch when Mary was found guilty of conspiring to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. King James did not retaliate when his mother was killed, presumably because he wanted the English throne, and needed to remain on good terms with Elizabeth.
By the 16th Century there was some backlash against the idea of the divine right of kings, and the concept completely died in Britain when King Charles I had his head chopped off in 1649. For the following eleven years Britain did not have a monarchy, until King Charles II returned in 1660. But when his successor King James II started with the same absolute monarchy / divine right of kings malarkey, he was sent packing off to France. He was succeeded by William & Mary, and in true British fashion, nobody has mentioned the matter since.
Because of the direct link the monarch had with God, it was thought that the royal touch would cure diseases. Edward the Confessor (1042 to 1066) started touching sick people and afterwards they were looked after at royal expense until they recovered or died. This was expensive, so from the 15th Century patients were given a coin instead and told to go home.
The King would touch the patient and hang a gold coin around his or her neck. The coin was known as an Angel because one side showed the archangel Michael slaying a dragon. The coins were valuable, and many healthy people tried to receive one.
The French Kings touched many more people than the English Kings. It was even claimed that dead French Kings could heal. In the 16th century, King Louis IX's arm, preserved in a monastery in Catalonia, supposedly still had healing powers.
Queen Elizabeth I limited the royal touch to people who were infected with ‘the King’s Evil’, also called scrofula1 and this remained the case from then on. Her successor, James VI & I, was more fastidious, and instead of actually touching the abscesses he made stroking motions above them.
'Tis call'd the evil - A most miraculous work in this good King; Which often, since my here-remain in England, I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven, Himself best knows: but strangely-visited people, All swoll’n and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, The mere despair of surgery, he cures, Hanging a golden stamp about their necks, Put on with holy prayers: and 'tis spoken, To the succeeding royalty he leaves The healing benediction’.
Macbeth Act 4, Scene 3 by William Shakespeare.
Charles II (who reigned from1660 to 1685), was very conscientious; around 92,000 scrofulous people were touched by him during his 25-year reign, the most of any English monarch. Presumably he thought this evidence of royal power would help him keep his throne.
King William & Queen Mary (reigned 1689 to 1702) were not believers - I presume they felt they had lost the Royal Touch when they lost the Divine Right of Kings. When a man asked William for a ‘touch’, he reputedly said: "God grant you better health and better sense”. Their successor Queen Anne (who reigned from 1702 to 1714), revived the practice. But after her death none of the succeeding monarchs have given the Royal Touch.
Scrofula is now cured with antibiotics, sadly not accompanied by an angel coin.
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Scrofula causes swollen and discharging lymph glands, found in around 10% of tuberculous patients. Patients rarely died and often the sores dried up, so it seemed that the King had cured them. Perhaps it was chosen for that reason?