Is an Enlightened Autocrat Possible?

[owenjauregui]

She may have started that way but things changed after a serf revolt headed by a serf claiming to be her dead husband had to be put down. After years of trying to help the serfs, she had been burned by them for being a woman who had, in the eyes of many, unlawful usurped the throne.

[themetalfox]

Just one thing to comment…

As someone who’s studied absolutism at university, I’d like to mention that the idea of being despotic or “absolute” (if such a state is possible) was unpopular by European elites. Sure, they acted in ways we’d class as autocratic, but authoritarian rulers were classed as those who disregarded established laws and who defied God. So I doubt that Cathrine saw herself as despotic if she really believed she was Godly and generally abiding by accepted laws