Absolutism means that the ruler is above human laws and representative institutions but bound by the laws of God and nature. The background of absolutism is the military revolution which made warfare so much more expensive and confronted the states with ever growing demands of manpower, mony and administrative muscle. Even if an absolute monarch like the Danish king 1660-1848 in principle possessed all imaginable political power he still had partners in politics (the bureaucrats) and needed political legitimacy. The last mentioned can be studied in court culture whose pomp and circumstance must be interpreted as political propaganda and a point of contact between the ruler and the social elites.