... the people.' and, in 18th century France, this was indeed the case. The 'Divine Right of Kings' was heralded from the pulpits, and the people believed it. However, in the middle of the 18th century, a movement called 'The Enlightenment' hit France. People began to question this 'Divine Right of Kings'. Writers like Voltaire and Montesquieu began to question - much to the rage and horror of the Catholic church - the credibility of the bible and the traditional dogma's of the church. They questioned whether the monarch was really 'ordained by God', and therefore were a threat to the power of the monarchy. A revolutionary spirit was being stirred up in France. Although Louis was what we call an 'absolute monarch', he was not a despotic ruler - there were some checks on his power. The first was the parlement or French law courts, the most important being the parlement of ...

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