Power vacuums need to be filled, and the one left behind after Napoleon’s defeat was no exception. In a twist that is unsurprising from the vantage of our current position in history, the “ancien-regime” of the pre-revolution days in France was ushered back in as the “new regime” and Europe took the opportunity to reassert monarchy and the woefully inadequate perspective of the “divine right” of kings.
Hugo titles this chapter “Revival of divine right” and that feels like a very accurate description of what he details happening after the defeat of Napoleon. This passage is particularly relevant:
The kings took it upon themselves to fill this vacuum, and Europe used it for it’s own reshaping. The Belle Alliance before Waterloo became the Holy Alliance.
The pattern of “might makes right” regimes looking to baptize their actions by claiming to be God ordained and approved is not new, it’s a tale told over and over again throughout history and one that is still actively at work around the globe today. My inner anarchist wants to respond with a strong “no gods, no masters” response, but upon further reflection I think that might lack some needed nuance.
Though the “might makes right” people may try and claim God and use God as a token to legitimize their awful intentions, they in no way have a complete corner on the divine market. There is a counter view that runs throughout history and shows up in almost every expression of religion. This perspective tends toward seeing the divine family as extending to all humanity or all of creation, and as such completely obliterates nationalistic claims to represent god as atrocities are carried out in support of the aims of powerful tyrants.
This view of the divine should not be easily dismissed. It isn’t just kings who get to claim god. Revolutions everywhere have taken inspiration from frameworks that see “divine right” as something kings are violating, something that says all of creation deserves to live in harmony and flourish. This perspective is one I have grown to lean on more and more - the best forms of religious expression are the ones that cut across all boundaries and set a “table” where all are welcome to eat, drink and be merry. Religion as an expansive force for liberation over and against religion as a command and control tool that contracts and minimizes the rights of the many in favor of the power of the few who just so happen to be “god ordained”.