Introduction

The 16th century may have been the first time that anyone in European intellectual history started to take this idea seriously. The concept of popular sovereignty was embraced above all by Protestant thinkers, especially the Huguenots in France. A relatively constitutionalist position was taken in a work entitled The Monarchy of France,. published in 1519 by Claude de Césaire. He argued that unchallenged, single, personal rule needed to restrain dissension amongst the people.