Absolutism in the 17th Century

It is said that Louis XIV proclaimed "I am the state!" Whether or not he really said it is debatable, but the meaning of such a statement is clear. Through the course of the 17th Century various regimes across Europe began to model their states of off the very theme of "I am the state,"; that is, the monarch personified and had absolute control over his nation. Prior to the 17th Century such absolute control precluded this absolutism. By the time of the 17th Century, however, the conditions were in place for monarchs to take absolute control to shape their nations. The conditions and forces that made absolutism a desirable form of government were the necessity of centralized control, the political instability of the time, and the rise of single sovereignty over a country.…