The Age of Absolutism was an important period in European history, spanning roughly from the 16th to the 18th century, during which monarchs claimed supreme and unchallenged power over their kingdoms. This page brings together all of History Crunch’s Age of Absolutism articles, covering the causes and background of absolute monarchy, the major absolutist rulers of France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Spain, and England, the rise of enlightened absolutism, and the eventual challenges that brought the era to an end.