Dr. John Rao explains how Regalism claimed control over many aspects of religious life in the 16th and 17th centuries. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed a further growth in the power of centralized monarchies claiming a legal right to guide all of society redolent of Roman imperial authority. Insistence upon this power by kings is what is referred to historically as "regalism." Dr. John Rao shows how Regalism claimed control over many aspects of religious life in an era where Tridentine reformers were seeking to transform the State as well as every other aspect of civilized order. This could not help but create tensions of Church and State. Taken from: Regalism, Revolution, the Reign of Terror and the Assault on Catholicism (1648-1799) - 1998 VonHildebrand Institute