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AP ® HISTORIANS’ VOICES

Early Modern Rulers

The following two voices provide recent descriptions legacy as “world conquerors.” Mughal court ritual —
of how early modern rulers defined and displayed their especially Akbar’s daily appearance on an elevated
authority and power. In Voice 4.1, Charles Parker compares platform — emphasized the padshah’s [an elevated
Emperor Kangxi of China and Louis XIV of France and Persian royal title referring to the monarch] supreme
finds them “cut from the same cloth.” In Voice 4.2, John authority over even the greatest and wealthiest of his
Darwin examines the many cultural influences that shaped subjects. The court was the centre of lavish literary
the royal government of the Mughal emperor Akbar. patronage. It promoted the study of the Muslim “ratio-
nal sciences” and the writing of poetry, the main literary
VOICE 4.1 medium of the Islamic world. But Mughal court culture
looked to Persian or Central Asian models for its art
Charles Parker on Emperor Kangxi of China and and literature. Persian was the language of intellectual
Louis XIV of France | 2010
life as well as of government. The life and landscape
For Europe’s most powerful monarch [Louis XIV], the of Iran (not that of India) inspired the Mughal poets,
Qing dynasty under Kangxi emperor (r. 1661–1722) who evoked a world far away “from the polluting influ-
represented an ideal political order. The emperor ences of the subject peoples.” . . . Akbar’s regime was
wielded absolute power and enjoyed divine blessing; cosmopolitan and eclectic, a tribute to Central Asia’s
he employed an army of civil servants to govern his influence as a great cultural entrepôt. It is even pos-
dominions; he possessed authority over a vast domain sible that his abortive attempt to impose a more cen-
stretching from the eastern coastline to Outer Mongolia tralized government in the 1570s and ’80s (which led
and Tibet; and he resided in a magnificent palace that to the great revolt of 1580–82) was remotely inspired
exuded majestic order and power. In many respects by the Chinese system of meritocratic bureaucracy. . . .
Louis’s reign (1643–1715) also embodied these char- Famously, Akbar rejected the classic Islamic distinction
acteristics, though on a less grand scale. Casting him- between the Muslim faithful (the umma) and the unbe-
self in the image of Apollo (the Greek god of light and lievers. He abolished the jizya (poll-tax on non-Muslims)
sun), Louis promoted himself as the Sun King and he in 1579, and flirted with propagating a new religious
professed to rule by divine right; he dominated Europe synthesis of Islam and Hinduism.
and pushed France’s borders to the farthest point;
and he too presided over an elaborate court life at Source: John Darwin, After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global
Versailles that reflected his prestige and authority. The Empires 1400–2000 (London: Bloomsbury, 2008), 85–86.
Kangxi emperor and the Sun King, on opposite ends of
®
Eurasia, were cut from the same cloth. AP Analyzing Secondary Sources

1. According to Parker, what attributes of a powerful
Source: Charles H. Parker, Global Interactions in the Early Modern Age, ruler did Kangxi and Louis XIV share?
1400–1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 13–14.
2. According to Darwin, what cultural and political
traditions did Akbar draw upon to rule over the
VOICE 4.2
Mughal Empire? Which did he reject, abandon, or
John Darwin on Emperor Akbar’s Public modify?
Image | 2008
3. Integrating Primary and Secondary Sources:
Akbar projected himself not as a Muslim warrior-king, What elements of kingship described by Parker and
but as the absolute monarch of a diverse subject popu- Darwin are evident in the documents preceding this
lation. His official genealogy laid claim to descent from feature? To what extent are these elements specific
both Tamerlane and Genghis Khan, and thus to their to certain rulers or states?
Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample. 255
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