Editing Monarchy (section)

== Types of Monarchy ==
Please note that there is often crossover between these categories.

===Absolute Monarchy===
{{topquote|L'État, c'est moi. (I Am the State.)|Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre}}
The Monarch has no formal limits on their power. There are practical limits to their power of course: orders people will not obey, the need to balance the budget (or at the very least pay the bills), etc. Even so there is nothing which can formally challenge or over-ride a monarch's authority or action within the system. Naturally, they tend to be very centralized. Nobles may exist, but they’re nowhere near as autonomous as in a feudal monarchy, and much of the monarch’s power is instead distributed through bureaucracy (which nobles may participate in but only by appointment).

:'''''IRL Examples:''' The Russian Empire before First Russian Revolution (excluding Finland), Pre-Revolutionary France (except for a short 1789-1792 period), most dynasties of Imperial China, Saudi-Arabia, Oman, and Brunei.''

===Divine Monarchy===
The Monarch [[Ecclesiarchy|is seen as being a God]], at least a little bit. Usually the mythology includes the ruling dynasty being of divine descent, but other links to the divine have been contrived. Often Divine Monarchies double down on making their Monarchs removed and unapproachable by the unwashed masses.

:'''''IRL examples:''' Ancient Egypt, the Inca Empire, Ancient Hawaii pre-kingdom, and Japan pre-1945 technically counts as this as well, though the Emperor didn’t always have actual control over the nation and for long stretches of time the de facto government was a Feudal monarchy/dictatorship ruled by the Shogunate.''

===Elected Monarchy===

Formed where a bunch of Aristocrats or other powerful groups which vote one of themselves to sit on the throne, said council also typically has a collective say in the running of a country and could sometimes remove the monarch. They generally arose when several smaller monarchies joined through non violent means such as a political marriage or confederation and no party was strong enough to totally dominant the other or where a group started becoming too powerful to totally control so were integrated into the power structure. Because of this they tended to be unstable and mired in the red tape of inter-dynastic bickering but could work a lot better at the city-state scale such as in Venice where it stopped any one family totally dominating. 

Most countries were historically 'elected monarchies' but the monarch was only elected from and by the royal family and this was simplified to hereditary succession. In turn countries usually retained elements of this or adopted elements of them over time, for example in countries such as Medieval Scotland in practice were still a hereditary monarchy but the nobles had a right to name a new king if the heir was an insane, incompetent, tyrannical buffoon.

:'''''IRL examples:''' The Holy Roman Empire, the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth before Austria, Russia and Prussia carved it up (various constitiants were also elective), Ancient Rome at various times, the Holy See, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia (in both these later cases the monarchs are elected from their heads of the constituent states and are monarchs in their own right over the states they have responsibility for. Further while the UAE monarchs have power and elect each other to roles like Prime Minister, Malaysian monarchs are purely ceremonial and elected from one of the 9 state royal families, some of which are themselves elected monarchies).''

===Feudal Monarchy===
Monarchy, pyramid scheme style. Generally works as a function of increasing scales to manage land. In Europe the lowest landholding class were knights, who typically held 1-2 thousand acres (~3-4 square miles) of land, which might be worked by several dozen families' worth of [[peasant]]s who paid rent or labor service in exchange for being allowed to cultivate and live on said land. Above them were Barons/Lords, who might keep several to a dozen knights and hold control over a few dozen square miles of land, a Barony being roughly analogous to an American township and producing enough surplus food to sustain a small professional class (blacksmith, baker, brewer, etc).  Above them were Counts/Earls, from which comes the modern word of County (a count's land); it was at this level that the Normans instituted [[Adeptus Arbites|Shire Reeves]] (Sheriffs) loyal to the Crown to enforce taxation and law independent of the meddling of lower aristocracy.  Above this level (Dukes, etc.) you're really dealing with true nobility, the extended family of the monarch or rival families with competing claims, and their focus is more on politicking for control rather than administration. 

Feudalism is heavily associated with Europe and Japan at roughly the same time; though other monarchies throughout history featured nobles ruling under a king, what sets Feudalism apart is how rigid and codified it is, with an explicit set of duties and responsibilities that each tier owed to the tiers above and below each other. Offices and titles are also almost entirely hereditary; special offices may exist by appointment of the king, but they’re the exception and not the norm. Anyone who’s ever played [[Crusader Kings]] can tell you that while Feudalism isn’t the most efficient form of governance as nobles might rebel against you more easily, it’s really difficult to rule a large mass of land directly without a very centralized and efficient bureaucracy in place.

Feudalism started to fall out of fashion in the 1500s for a number of reasons:
*The Black Death produced a major labor shortage, and the peasants suddenly could make a lot of demands that were previously unthinkable, like having actual wages. This was further exacerbated when peasants and even some serfs began moving off of the manorial estates and into the cities in search of better opportunities, further depriving the feudal lords of their subjects. 
*The development of trade guilds led to the rise of the nascent merchant classes and bourgeoisie, which would directly compete with the rent-seeking landed aristocracy for both power and wealth and were better suited to functioning in urban economies. 
*Military systems were restructured to favor armies composed primarily of professional fighters functioning as a standing army rather than relying on the system of vassalage that justified the power of the nobility, undermining their claims to rulership.
* Feudalism led to extremely messy political situations such as the Hundred Years War, where through a combination of marriage, alliances, and inheritance, England owned more of France than France itself did - even though the English king was supposedly a vassal of the French king. In order to create a country with an actual, stable border, centralization of the state had to take place, and that meant no more letting nobles do whatever they wanted with acquiring new lands.

That being said, remnants of feudalism typically persisted even after the formal feudal relationships became meaningless and stayed around well into the 1800s in some cases (e.g. Russia). 

:'''''IRL Examples:''' Virtually all of Europe in the Middle Ages.''

===Military Monarchy===

{{topquote|The government here is entirely in the hands of the army. The Ottoman Sultan, with all his absolute power, is as much a slave as any of his subjects, and trembles at a Janissary's frown.|Lady Mary Wortley Montagu writing during her travels of the Ottoman Empire}}

Similar to a Stratocracy, where the military has all power in government, the Monarch is as much a war-leader as a civilian politician. Unlike the other types listed, this is more of a matter of emphasis and degree as even in a peace-loving hippy dippy kingdom the Monarch is still the supreme commander of their armed forces and will be involved in the regrettable business of national defense if some un-groovy barbarians attack.

Because of this in a Military Monarchy the role is front and center, glorified and much of their legitimacy comes from military authority. Military monarchs will usually lead from the front and a monarch or heir apparent who does not have some victory under their belt is seen as being a lame duck. The same principle typically applies to the subordinate nobility and at times the nobility will be near exclusively drawn from the military class. The disadvantage of this is that military and civilian leadership do not correlate one to one. In particular being able to lead an army in the field may win you battles, but to keep them fed and clothed you need a functioning economy. A combination of bad economic policies and a runaway military budget can be disastrous.  Often a Kingdom will start out as a militarized monarchy as it is united by the sword, with the military aspect gradually fading away as time goes by or inversely it will be strengthened as the monarch draws more and more power from the military until the military aspect dominates. Usually in response to repeated threats be they external or internal.

Further differentiated from other types of monarchy where the monarch is simply the head of the military, often the monarch will maintain a standing army of sorts (rare until modern times) and be in a constant state of war with either a long term opposing kingdom or wars of expansion. Sometimes this standing army will become central to their powerbase and end up controlling the Kingdom, such as with the Praetorian Guard in Rome or the Janissary Corps of the Ottoman Empire. This usually has disastrous results for the monarch as the military gains more power and ends up controlling the entire apparatus of state with the monarch left as a figurehead.

:'''''IRL examples:''' Sparta, many Medieval Kingdoms, Ottoman Empire, Tokugawa Shogunate (ironically it was at peace for most of it's reign), Kingdom of Prussia in the 18th and 19th century, and the First French Empire.''

===Parliamentary Monarchy===
{{topquote|The Emperor shall perform only such acts in matters of state as are provided for in this Constitution ...|Article 4 of the Constitution of Japan}}

Also known as Constitutional Monarchies, the first modern Parliament developed in England, where a large group of lesser lords managed to strongarm the King into conceding to them the power to enact or refuse taxation in exchange for their support. Gradually over time power would go from the nobility to the wealthy bourgeoisie and eventually to the masses as the system became increasingly democratic. Once such an assembly gains control of the royal revenues, it will inevitably amass more power unto itself until the Monarchy is merely a figurehead, a formality retained for its gravitas but hamstrung by centuries of concessions to constitutionalism. By this time, while the monarchy exists in a merely ceremonial respect and holds no real power in the day-to-day running of the country, the job can still be demanding in the sense that the monarch's new position is to serve as the embodiment of their nation's history, tradition and ideals - ideals that most world leaders rarely live up to even on a good day. The British royal family, for example, is heavily involved in beneficence, using their position to give official support and recognition to individuals and organizations that are doing good for the country as a whole. And its only by continuing to serve in this capacity that such a dynasty could maintain its existence; otherwise the public wouldn't be too keen on spending tax money on mansions and castles for a family that they don't have to answer to and do not admire. Commonly known as constitutional monarchies since the monarch's powers are defined by a constitution. 

:'''''IRL Examples:''' Modern European monarchies like Britain, Nordic states, Belgium, along with Japan and Thailand.''

===Semi-Constitutional Monarchy===
A Monarch and democratically elected government share power, kinda like semi-presidential republics. The Monarch (who is likely hereditary) may have to share executive powers with the Prime Minister from the legislative. Compared to a purely constitutional monarchy where the monarch is often given limited powers and a ceremonial role like parliamentary republics with ceremonial presidents, the monarch actually has some teeth to take action such as dissolving a gridlocked parliament or executive acts of government that bypass the legislative and judiciary if things are too dysfunctional (at the risk of abuse of powers).

:'''''IRL Examples:''' German Empire (parliament is democratically elected, but Chancellor is appointed by Kaiser), Russian Empire in 1905-1917 (while the elections were not the shining example of democracy, the existence of European-style parliament is enough to get it there), Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, and Morocco.''

===Theocratic Monarchy===
Related to Divine Monarchy, the Monarch is the Highest Priest in the nation's official Religious organization. Often this is also applied to the aristocracy which hold posts that are both religious and civic in nature. Though they don't claim divinity themselves, the system and their position in it is justified by established religious power and authority. This is distinct from a Monarchy in which the Monarch has ties with an established official religious hierarchy which validates the regime.

:'''''IRL examples:''' pre-modern India, the Meso-American Empires, the Vatican and ancient Egypt.