One factor that strengthened the rule of the absolutist monarchs was religion. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, religion occupied a central place in the development of life in society, directly influencing politics and law. Thus, the power of men (that is, political power) was considered a direct detachment from the power of God, with which it was believed that the monarch was such as God had so arranged. This theory is known as "divine right of kings", and it was used as the main justification for the development of absolutist and tyrannical monarchies, which exercised said powers "in the name of God".
