"enlightenment" of the ruler personally, versus that of his regime. For example, Frederick the Great was tutored in the ideas of the French Enlightenment in his youth, and maintained those ideas in his private life as an adult, but in many ways was unable or unwilling to effect enlightened reforms in practice.

The concept of enlightened absolutism was formally described by the German historian Wilhelm Roscher in 1847 and remains controversial among scholars.

Centralized

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