Absolute rulers who voluntarily resigned their power
Upvote:0
i know this link is old, but this is a timeless question. How about a king that TRIED to give up power and become a monk? However he was pressured to stay as King for the good of his people. That should count. King Louis IX...AKA Saint Louis
Upvote:1
My contributions to the list of dictators who voluntarily abdicated (not already included in your list), arranged chronologically:
Moses
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Flavius Iustinus Iunior Augustus
John VI Cantacuzenus
Murad II Kodja
Cosimo Medici
Oliver Cromwell
Kristina Augusta
Franz Joseph Karl von Habsburg
Napolean III
Antonio LΓ³pez de Santa Anna
Tokugawa Yoshinobu
Nicholas Romanov
Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert
Omar Ali Saifuddien III
Upvote:3
Cincinnatus is sort of the prototypical example. He was elected dictator of Rome in 458 BC to deal with a military emergency, and again the following year to deal with a plot against the republic. Both times he gave up dicatatorial powers as soon as the crisis had been dealt with, and went back to his farm.
This had a great influence on the founding fathers of the USA. The post of President was designed to be able to carry out a simliar role in an emergency. The post is designated as supreme commander of all US armed forces, and is allowed in times of military crisis to suspend Habeus Corpus. George Washington was often referred to as "Cincinnatus", and the city of Cincinnati, Ohio was named after him.
During the US Civil War, there was open debate about whether a similar dictator might be required. However, the powers given the President in the Constitution proved to be sufficient without taking such an overt step.
Upvote:3
Maybe not a case that you will consider but,
Pope Benedict IX (Pope between October 1032 and July 1048) abdicated, although you can argue that Popes around that time didn't have absolute power:
The low point of the papacy was 867β1049[...] The papacy came under the control of vying political factions
Nevertheless he is the first undisputed case of a Pope resigning.
He was forced out a total of three times, but in between the second and third time he sold his papacy. Shortly after selling it, he regretted his act and retook his papacy by force. He remained Pope for another year after that.
I don't know if you will consider him an absolute ruler but he did voluntarily give up a (theoretically) very powerful position for money.
Upvote:6
Ivan IV the Terrible of Russia had put another man, Simeon Bekbulatovich to the throne and retired to a monastery. But a year later he abandoned the idea and returned :-) Simeon Bekbulatovich resigned the Moscow throne to become the Grand Prince of Tver.
Do not know if this counts either for Ivan or for Simeon.
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