Download the app
educalingo
Search
We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.
Harold MacMillan

Meaning of "divine right of kings" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

divine right of kings play
facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsapp

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Divine right of kings is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS MEAN IN ENGLISH?

divine right of kings

Divine right of kings

The divine right of kings, or divine-right theory of kingship, is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving the right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm, including the Church. According to this doctrine, only God can judge an unjust king. The doctrine implies that any attempt to depose the king or to restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act. It is often expressed in the phrase "by the Grace of God", attached to the titles of a reigning monarch. The remote origins of the theory are rooted in the medieval idea that God had bestowed earthly power on the king, just as God had given spiritual power and authority to the church, centering on the pope. The immediate author of the theory was Jean Bodin, who based it on the interpretation of Roman law. With the rise of nation-states and the Protestant Reformation, the theory of divine right justified the king's absolute authority in both political and spiritual matters.

Definition of divine right of kings in the English dictionary

The definition of divine right of kings in the dictionary is the concept that the right to rule derives from God and that kings are answerable for their actions to God alone.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

divinable
divination
divinator
divinatorial
divinatory
divine
Divine Liturgy
divine office
divine service
divinely
divineness
diviner
divineress
diving
diving beetle
diving bell
diving board
diving dress
diving duck
diving suit

WORDS THAT END LIKE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

dynamic markings
elastic stockings
fishnet stockings
king of kings
Kings
lane markings
last knockings
makings
mesh stockings
micromesh stockings
philosopher kings
pickings
rankings
ratings
savings
Springs
support stockings
takings
thankings
workings

Synonyms and antonyms of divine right of kings in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «divine right of kings» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

Find out the translation of divine right of kings to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of divine right of kings from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «divine right of kings» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

君权神授
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

derecho divino de los reyes
570 millions of speakers

English

divine right of kings
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

राजाओं के दैवी अधिकार
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الحق الإلهي للملوك
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

божественное право королей
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

direito divino dos reis
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

রাজাদের ঐশ্বরিক অধিকার
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

droit divin des rois
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Hak ilahi raja-raja
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

göttlichen Recht der Könige
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

神授王権
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

왕 의 신성한 권리
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Tengen raja
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

quyền thiêng liêng của các vị vua
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

ராஜாக்களின் தெய்வீக உரிமை
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

राजे दैवी अधिकार
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Kralların ilahi hakkı
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

diritto divino dei re
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

Boskie prawo królów
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

божественне право королів
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

dreptul divin al regilor
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

θεϊκό δικαίωμα των βασιλιάδων
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

goddelike reg van konings
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

Guds nåde
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

guddommelige rett konger
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of divine right of kings

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS»

The term «divine right of kings» is normally little used and occupies the 111.063 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Little used
48
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «divine right of kings» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of divine right of kings
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «divine right of kings».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «divine right of kings» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «divine right of kings» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about divine right of kings

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word divine right of kings.
1
Harold MacMillan
We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS»

Discover the use of divine right of kings in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to divine right of kings and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The Theory of the Divine Right of Kings
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.
John Neville Figgis, 2012
2
Sovereignty: The Evolution of an Idea
Faced with that problem in a world that continued to be under the sway of religious ideas, the new sovereigns of Europe came up with the doctrine of the divine right of kings. It asserts that monarchical governments are legitimate and lawful in ...
Robert Jackson, 2007
3
Privacy as a Constitutional Right: Sex, Drugs, and the Right ...
In doing so he not only annihilated the idea of the divine right of kings but he also set the stage for a new world view. Filmer said that Adam was given power over all the world and that princes ruled as his descendants; he also said that God ...
Darien Auburn McWhirter, Jon D. Bible, 1992
4
Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity
33 The emphasis on the Divine Right of kings was not new in France. The French kings for centuries, from the thirteenth century on systematically, substituted the direct bond with God to that with His Church in order to escape the limitations on  ...
Liah Greenfeld, 1992
5
Understanding Macbeth: A Student Casebook to Issues, ...
As kingship gained power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the idea of the two bodies developed into a strong claim for the divine right of kings governing as miniature gods in the commonwealth and accountable for their actions not ...
Faith Nostbakken, William Shakespeare, 1997
6
Philosophical Foundations Leadership (Clt)
The Divine Right of Kings "Naturally, every man has right to every thing." — Thomas Hobbes Throughout the history of Western civilization, never, perhaps, has there been a period more rich and illuminating than the middle centuries of the ...
David Cawthon
7
Understanding King Lear: A Student Casebook to Issues, ...
KING JAMES ON KINGSHIP The following three documents are from books written by or speeches given by King James I, and all three illustrate his own views of kingship and the divine right of kings. The first two, The True Law of Free  ...
Donna Woodford, 2004
8
Threads in the tapestry: A commentary on modern life
The doctrine of the divine right of kings, which held that their authority and mandate came from God, was widely accepted, so that rebellion against the king, or even dissent from his decrees, was generally regarded equivalent to heresy.
Joe Landsberg
9
Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture
He also suggests that it is an age of unreason, as "the divine right of the masses is about to replace the divine right of kings."" The inevitability of this transformation was the insight that Le Bon gave to twentieth-century leaders and  ...
P. David Marshall, 1997
10
Absolute Monarchy and the Stuart Constitution
In this ambitious reinterpretation of the early Stuart period in England, Glenn Burgess contends that the common understanding of seventeenth-century English politics is oversimplified and inaccurate.
Glenn Burgess, 1996

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term divine right of kings is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Israeli and American Founding Declarations are God-guided
... which is recorded in the Old Testament, is the best refutation that can be given to the divine right of kings, and the strongest argument that ... «Jerusalem Post Israel News, Jul 15»
2
Charting a socialist future for Scotland
She supports extending democracy and equality yet supports the monarchy with its divine right of kings and inherited privilege. The list goes on and on. «Morning Star Online, Jul 15»
3
Why San Jose Is Barely in the Black Despite the Tech Boom
“He was city manager when it was the Divine Right of Kings-era of city managers,” says Tom McEnery, mayor through much of the 1980s and ... «KQED, Jul 15»
4
AMERICAN DREAM DEAD ON ARRIVAL
That reminisces back to the times of “Divine Right of Kings” and the aristocracy entrenched societies in Europe. That's what President Thomas ... «NewsWithViews.com, Jul 15»
5
America needs a citizens' revolution, and time is growing short
James Madison wrote, "The romantic idea of 'people power' is as delusional as the idea of the 'divine right of kings.'" Even Thomas Jefferson ... «AL.com, Jul 15»
6
A Stone's Throw: First steps to liberty
It was the point in history when the Divine Right of kings was transferred to the God-given rights of the individual, as is also expressed in the ... «The Commercial Dispatch, Jul 15»
7
Our view: Hear ye! Hear ye! Independence declared!
We now and forever more disown the divine right of kings. Instead, Jefferson's document spells out a very different notion — that governments ... «Roanoke Times, Jul 15»
8
Exceptionalism: The DNA of America
This fundamental transformation away from the notion of the divine right of Kings to the subjugation of government to the people was based ... «American Clarion, Jul 15»
9
Our view: Remember our rambunctious, revolutionary start
Under the Divine Right of Kings, the monarch was appointed by God and was not subject to any earthly authority such as a parliament, which ... «Herald Times Reporter, Jul 15»
10
800 years, and a happy birthday
... this document is a relic, yet it established a new order for the English Empire and was the first notion of removing the divine right of kings. «San Mateo Daily Journal, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Divine right of kings [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/divine-right-of-kings>. May 2024 ».
Download the educalingo app
en
English dictionary
Discover all that is hidden in the words on
index
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z