Monarchy

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Louis XIV, the longest reigning monarch in history. Also ancestor of Weird Al.

"I would rather obey a fine lion, much stronger than myself, than two hundred rats of my own species."

– Voltaire

"Intelligence has always under a monarchical government a much better chance against its irreconcilable and ever-present foe, stupidity."

– Arthur Schopenhauer

Technically speaking a Monarchy is a system of government in which someone holds the formal title of Head of State until their death or abdication as a Monarch. Typically the title of Monarch is passed down in a family from parent to child, though there are exceptions. Related to Monarchy is Monarchism, the belief that Monarchy is the best form of government. Unlike other political ideologies (the various flavors of Capitalism, Communism, Democracy, Fascism, etc) Monarchism typically arises to justify an existing structure rather than propose and advocate a new one.

Monarchy has been the most common form of government for much of human history since the Bronze Age at least, though it has not been the case for all of human history. Going by our studies of hunter-gatherer peoples the way things were handled in Stone Age bands rules, matters of policy and other such collective action would be dealt with by having a meeting, talking it out and coming to a consensus. In larger tribes you'd have "Big Men" who'd win influence and some ceremonial roles through strength, ability, charisma and generosity but didn't technically have the power to actually order anyone around. But once tribes began to grow beyond a certain point and you don't know everyone, these informal set ups don't really work. Monarchy was common as it is an easy system to put up. You just need an opportunist who has the right connections and assembles a team of prominent allies to establish themselves and maintain a position of power. Once the Leader dies, the coalition of backers puts the Leader's kid on the throne so the the good times continue to role setting a precedent which future leaders will follow even if the dynasty falls from power, dies out or is destroyed.

Monarchy has been in general been on the decline since the Age of Enlightenment and especially after The Great War. In short, from the French Revolution onward there's been an active push against Kings and Queens towards Federations, Republics, Corrupt Republics and various flavors of Dictatorship in which our Glorious Leader does not bother with a crown or leaving things to his son. There are some some exceptions of course, with hereditary dictatorships like Syria and North Korea.

Types of Monarchy

Please note that there is often crossover between these categories.

• Divine Monarchy: The Monarch 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. IRL examples: Ancient Egypt and 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.
• 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 to be divine themselves, the system and their position in it is justified by established religious power and authority. IRL examples: pre-modern India, the Vatican.
• 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 peasants 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 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. IRL examples: basically every monarchy in the Middle Ages through the Renaissance.
• Elected Monarchy: There are a bunch of Aristocrats which vote one of themselves to sit on the throne. Tends to be unstable and mired in the red tape of inter-dynastic bickering. Tended to work a lot better at the city-state scale (Venice). For some countries such as Medieval Scotland, in practice it’s 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, Poland before Austria, Russia and Prussia carved it up.
• Absolute Monarchy: "I Am The State." 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, 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.
• Parliamentary Monarchy: A Monarch's powers are outlined in a formal Constitution and much of the functioning of state is handled by representative democracy; in practice, the monarch typically ends up being little more than a figurehead. IRL Examples: Modern Britain, Nordic states.
• Semi-Constitutional Monarchy: A Monarch and democratically elected government share power, kinda like semi-presidential republics. 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).

Terminology and stuff associated with monarchy

• Line of Succession: All those individuals who could legally inherit the throne in a hereditary monarchy. The person who's first in line is the Heir Apparent. Having a clear line of succession is important, otherwise, you tend to end up with a lot of fratricidal civil wars for the throne (see the Ottoman Empire and harems). There are several types of succession:
  • Primogeniture: Eldest child will be the next monarch. By far the most widespread type, with its semi-Salic subtype (sons have precedence over daughters, who can only succeed if there are no males left in the dynasty) being an absolute norm in Medieval Europe. Nowadays, however, most European monarchies excluding Spain (where ironically King has no male heir) switched to absolute primogeniture, where the eldest child of any gender can succeed.
  • Partible inheritance: King divides his lands among all his children (once again, mostly male). A much older succession form was present in the Early Middle Ages.
  • Rota: A very weird Kievan Rus' and early Russian succession type, where the throne passes from the monarch to his eldest brother, and then, no matter if he has children or not, to his older nephew. Was very problematic and basically caused a lot of minor conflicts and wars, which noticeably weakened the country to Mongol invasion.
• Abdication: Willingly giving up the throne of the monarchy, usually in order for a more able, (usually the child of the monarch) to lead. Subject to various legal interpretations by nations with a parliament or elected monarchy especially if the abdication wasn't official or no heir was declared.
• Consort: The spouse of a Reigning Monarch, be it a Queen Consort for a wife or typically Prince Consort for a husband (yes King Consort makes more sense, the rules were made by a bunch of sexist old guys a long time ago). Consorts don't have much in the line of formal power, but they do have influence.
  • Dowager: A Consort who outlives the Sovereign they are married to.
• Sovereign: another name for a monarch, used to specify that the monarch in question is the ruler, specifically when it might not be clear otherwise. For example, most Queens are Queen Consorts; they are queens by marriage to the King but they do not have the authority of the King themselves. However, if the line of succession results in a Queen inheriting the throne, then she is known as the Queen Sovereign, and her husband becomes the consort. Sovereign is also used to mark the monarch in countries where for whatever reason, the monarch is not called "King," such as the Grand Duke of a Grand Duchy, the Grand Prince of a Principality, etc. By contrast, if we're talking about an Empire composed of several vassal kingdoms, then the Emperor is Sovereign as they rule over the lesser Kings.
• Court: The various hangers-on to a monarch, treasurers, archivists, philosophers, artists, representatives of the church/synagogue/mosque, or just people who managed to make a good impression and get in good graces. Members of this group are known as Courtiers.
• Pomp and Ceremony: Monarchy loves to make a big freaking show of things and become so ingrained they become ritual.
• Regalia: A bunch of objects which have significance as symbols of monarchy, most famously Crowns and Thrones. Along with Orbs that may or not be grenades.
• Ladies-in-Waiting: Daughters of less important nobles, unmarried spinsters, and widows waiting to be married off again, the clique of friends and mutuals that the princess keeps around to not feel totally lonely and start bathing in the blood of young women.
• Pretender: Someone who claims to be unrightfully kept from their position as head of the monarchy via convoluted rules of succession and various claims of decent and parentship.
• Retinue: Made up of "Retainers" (Bodyguards, personal servants, close friends, physicians) that follow the monarch around EVERYWHERE. If you heard this word here before, it's because it's used to describe a Inquisitor's close circle of confidants and followers as well.
• Regent: the de facto ruler for when the de jure monarch is alive, but cannot rule for whatever reason; typically this is because the heir apparent is too young to rule on their own. In this case, the Regent in question is most commonly the Queen Regent, the heir’s mother and wife of the recently deceased king. The Queen Regent will rule until the heir reaches adulthood. A regent may also come about if the current monarch is too senile or mentally ill to rule, and so the heir apparent becomes the Prince Regent and becomes King once the previous king either abdicates or dies.
• Dynastic Politics: When your kid is going to inherit the Throne and that Throne has a lot of power, who you have that kid with is Serious Business. When a Prince comes into manhood, all the Dukes and Earls will try to set him up with their daughters, as will neighboring kingdoms which seek to establish or strengthen an alliance. This often involves a lot of diplomacy and dealings, with love playing a side role at best. Success in managing said politics and lines of succession (not counting economic, foreign, and environmental factors) ensures the continuation if a dynasty (typically held within a blood-related house or clan). Failures to do so can end a dynasty in the form of succession wars and interregnum periods where central authority is all but evaporated.
• Dowry: Older than monarchy as a concept by a far margin but has appeared in monarchist societies as well, basically a dowry is a payment a family receives for having their son married to another family's daughter. This was done as a way to pay for the daughter's living and needs as well as her potential children. As classes of nobility and commoner became stratified, larger and more lavish dowries became more common, consisting of things from full sets of valuable porcelain finery, priceless jewels, and artifacts to WHOLE ENTIRE FUCKING CITIES.
• Petitioner: aka the Peasants doth complain too much, petitioners were individuals who came to the monarch on days when they held court in order to speak their piece about an issue they hoped that the monarch would be able to solve. These people ranged from peasants who needed their local lord taught a lesson or issues between villages resolved, to knights wishing to be granted titles and or favors for their service. petitioners even included members of the monarch's own family, usually in order to resolve tension or make peace with each other. Some petitions were made in person but most were in the form of written letters that were read aloud before the monarch and court.

Monarchy in Fiction

Monarchy tends to be represented a lot in speculative fiction. Largely because it's an easier thing to write about. People can more easily relate to a King or Queen or whatever who tries to grapple with issues than with a Parliament with hundreds of members each with their own constituents, party alignments, agendas, various degrees of hardness and softness on certain issues and the internal Horse Trading as they work out a version of a bill which at least half of them can give at least begrudging approval to.

Monarchy in Fantasy

Monarchy is the norm in Fantasy. So much so that people have argued that a lot of Fantasy can come off as Monarchist Propaganda. The truth is probably closer to the fact that most fantasy writers have no idea about medieval republics like Italian states, German free cities or Novgorod. Still, some fantasy series were indeed written by monarchists (like Tolkien or C. S. Lewis). There is also the fact that the old legends and stories that fantasy draws upon often has a rather blunt monarchist bent: see the whole Arthurian mythos for this at it's most overt. But also the fact that if you live in a situation where you live in a monarchy and monarchy is the default form of government monarchism tends to worm its way in.

Monarchies in fantasy tend to be extremely barebones, the sovereign seemingly usually running an entire country by themselves with nobles being basically anyone who hangs about their court sipping wine. The monarch seems to handle everything going on in the country, from settling minor peasant squabbles to directing the building of roads and bridges. If an adventuring party enters a country they'll usually try to get in direct line with the king, despite the fact they'll most likely deal with the Local Lord first before even seeing a whiff of the sovereign. Largely this is because there is only so much time you can put into a story and unless the story has court affairs front and center a writer has to economize.

Monarchy in Science Fiction

While not as prominent as it is in fantasy, Monarchy shows up in Science Fiction quite a bit. From alien Princesses to a future in which Crowned Leaders have come back into fashion for humanity, like in Dune and Battletech. As for reasons why monarchies might have made a come-back, you might have planets colonized by monarchists or there might have been some major social disruption in which strong men establish dynasties.

Since this is a Sci-Fi setting we are talking about, the crowned leader gets to stay in power even longer than those in real life with the power of SCIENCE. Compared to the ancient monarchies in real life, the monarchies enhanced by scientific knowledge has a better understanding and were able to utilize medical (to help them live longer), security (to find traitors and prevent assassinations), and advanced weaponry (to put down rebellion) to prevent their ruling subjects from dethroning them. Still, the possibilities of usurpers still remain if there are nobles or high-ranking officials having more power than their rulers, and the ruler can still be easily dethroned if they are but a hedonist idiot who wants nothing but experience pleasures and often made stupid decisions that gave away their powers. In summary, despite having the power of science, the crowned ruler still needs to rely on themselves if they wish to stay in power.

See Also

• Emperor
• Noble