Nerdy History Rant.

[Hovercar Madness]

Wait, late medieval absolute monarchs? That's wrong, man, there were no absolute monarchs in the late Middle Ages. "Absolutism" is a relatively new concept that barely came to surface in some countries (like England or Holland (one absolute king, William I, from 1815 to, uhm, 1846?), it's not a widespread midieval thing. Fuedalism, man, fuedalism.

Sorry 'bout that, you're quite right.

Catholicism isn't the only Christianity around. Luther and his cohorts are some of the most powerful men that the history of democracy knows

I've heard about protestantism referred to as the origin of capitalism, but democracy is pretty new to me. Besides the lacking of the whole pope thing, I fail to see any forebodes in lutheran doctrine of democracy. The reason Northern German monarchs widely accepted lutheranism was as a method of strengthening their own positions and having a tighter grip on the clergy. Let's not forget Luther aligned himself with the monarchs when peasants demanded more rights and subsequently helped in their bloody oppression. Let's not even start about Calvin.


I'm afraid I was wholly off with the universal suffrage thing, thanks for correcting that. Although the revolutions forced several concessions (in our own country we established the constitutional monarchy with democratic representation in 1848), universal suffrage was indeed introduced later. Sorry again, though it could be argued that 1848 got the reform ball rolling so to say.

Your theory about the bourgeouisie is also only partially defendable. The bourgeouisie grew and were accepted as a force to be reckoned with. They joined ranks with the nobility and church over time, replacing the nobility if you will. There's no need for democracy just for that.

But there is, as I said earlier the bourgeois class was not hereditary, and therefor a statesman elected by those of wealth would be far more representative and useful for the new ruling class. When the land is no longer in the hands of the nobility, the nobility no longer gets to say what happens in the land. Oligarchy would also be an alternative.