The following unmasks two events in the history of both England and France when the citizens of both countries not only killed their monarchs , who historically have represented the divine right, but also their God. If the King represents God on Earth then killing the King in turn also kills God.
Killing God
The execution of kings in France and England marked a profound shift in the historical and philosophical landscape of Europe. When Charles I of England was beheaded in 1649, and Louis XVI of France met a similar fate in 1793, these events were not mere political acts; they were revolutionary acts that symbolically killed God, dethroning the divine authority that had underpinned the monarchy for centuries. The regicide of these monarchs echoed far beyond the scaffold, sending shockwaves through the social order and challenging the very foundations of traditional power.
Albert Camus, in his seminal work The Rebel, provides a lens through which we can understand these pivotal moments. Camus argues that rebellion is an inherent part of human existence, a response to the absurdity of life and the search for meaning in a seemingly indifferent universe. The rebel, according to Camus, is not simply a person who says no; rather, they are someone who, by rejecting oppression, simultaneously affirms a new set of values. In this way, the execution of Charles I and Louis XVI were not just acts of violence but acts of rebellion that rejected the divine right of kings and affirmed the sovereignty of the people.
The divine right of kings was a belief that monarchs were chosen by God, and thus, to challenge a king was to challenge the will of God himself. This belief had long sustained the power of European monarchies. However, by the 17th and 18th centuries, Enlightenment thought began to undermine these religious and monarchical foundations. The writings of philosophers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau posited that authority derived from the consent of the governed, not from divine mandate. This shift in thought created the intellectual groundwork for revolution.
The trial and execution of Charles I was an extraordinary moment in English history. For the first time, a reigning monarch was held accountable by his subjects. Charles was charged with treason against his own people, a crime that inverted the traditional relationship between the ruler and the ruled. His execution represented a dramatic rupture with the past, where the king’s person was once considered sacrosanct. In executing Charles, the English Parliament did not just kill a man; they killed the idea that the king was anointed by God and untouchable by human hands. This act of regicide was a declaration that no authority was beyond question or challenge.
Similarly, the French Revolution culminated in the execution of Louis XVI, an event that marked the end of absolute monarchy in France. Louis’s trial was a highly symbolic affair, representing the people’s judgment on the institution of monarchy itself. When the guillotine fell on Louis’s neck, it severed the last ties between the French state and the divine order that had legitimised it. The king’s death was a radical assertion that sovereignty belonged to the people, not to a ruler supposedly chosen by God.
In The Rebel, Camus discusses the concept of metaphysical rebellion—a revolt against the very conditions of existence. The executions of Charles I and Louis XVI can be viewed as acts of metaphysical rebellion. By killing their kings, the English and French rebels were not merely rejecting political tyranny; they were also rebelling against the cosmic order that had been used to justify that tyranny. In a sense, they were killing God by dismantling the divine right that had sanctified monarchical rule.
However, Camus warns of the dangers inherent in rebellion. He argues that the rebel, in rejecting the old order, risks becoming a tyrant themselves if they do not establish a new, just order in its place. The English and French revolutions both experienced this peril. In England, the execution of Charles I led to the rise of Oliver Cromwell and a brief period of puritanical dictatorship before the monarchy was restored. In France, the Reign of Terror followed Louis XVI’s death, as the revolution devoured its own in an orgy of violence that ultimately led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Camus’s reflections remind us that rebellion is a double-edged sword. While it can liberate, it can also destroy. The execution of the kings in England and France liberated those nations from the shackles of divine monarchy, but the subsequent chaos and bloodshed revealed the darker side of revolt. In killing their kings, these nations did not just dethrone earthly rulers; they also declared the death of the divine authority that had legitimised those rulers. This was a moment when, in Camus’s terms, humanity reached out to create its own destiny, free from the dictates of a higher power. Yet, as Camus would argue, in the aftermath of such rebellion, it is crucial to build a new order that avoids the tyranny of the very forces the rebellion sought to destroy.
Thus, the executions of Charles I and Louis XVI were not just historical events but acts of profound philosophical significance. They marked the death of an old order and the birth of a new one, where human beings, rather than divine forces, would shape their own destinies. But this new freedom came with a warning: without careful reflection and restraint, the rebel can become the very despot they sought to overthrow.
As such there is and has not been a right to claim a God resides in either England or France for centuries. As ever, by applying logic, we have merely endured a mass self deception.
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