What were the limits on the power of the English monarchs? Enlightnment.?

Answer 1

First about the En glish Enlightment:
The Enlightenment in England

Meanwhile Great Britain had developed its own Enlightenment, fostered by thinkers like the English thinker John Locke, the Scot David Hume, and many others. England had anticipated the rest of Europe by deposing and decapitating its king back in the 17th century. Although the monarchy had eventually been restored, this experience created a certain openness toward change in many places that could not be entirely extinguished. English Protestantism struggled to express itself in ways that widened the limits of freedom of speech and press. Radical Quakers and Unitarians broke open old dogmas in ways that Voltaire was to find highly congenial when he found himself there in exile. The English and French Enlightenments exchanged influences through many channels, Voltaire not least among them.


Because England had gotten its revolution out of the way early, it was able to proceed more smoothly and gradually down the road to democracy; but English liberty was dynamite when transported to France, where resistance by church and state was fierce to the last possible moment. The result was ironically that while Britain remained saturated with class privilege and relatively pious, France was to become after its own revolution the most egalitarian and anticlerical state in Europe--at least in its ideals. The power of religion and the aristocracy diminished gradually in England; in France they were violently uprooted.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html

and the monarchy
The Glorious Revolution
The reestablished monarchy had clear limits placed on its absolute power, however, as was made clear in the bloodless Glorious Revolution of 1688, in which the English people overthrew a king they deemed unacceptable and basically chose their next rulers. The revolution occurred because Charles II’s son, James II, was an overt Catholic, which did not sit well with the predominantly Protestant public. The English people rallied behind James II’s Protestant daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange, who led a nonviolent coup that dethroned James II and sent him to France. When William and Mary ascended the throne, they effectively ended the Catholic monarchy and the idea of divine right. In the years that followed, an English Bill of Rights was drafted, boosting parliamentary power and personal liberties. In this freer environment, science, the arts, and philosophy flourished.
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenment/section2.rhtml

Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Joseph is correct in most respects, but is slightly off in what he says about the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688. That didn't give the English the right to 'choose' their monarch. By the later Act of Settlement the English crown was settled upon Sophie, Duchess of Hannover, and her descendants, provided they were/are Protestant. No Catholic may succeed to the throne of Great Britain. This Act effectively showed that Parliament was master of England, although the sovereign remains the titular head of state. The Hanoverians tried to retain some control over Parliament, but gradually this was whittled away.

Answer 3

When the landowners, dukes,earls etc got together and demanded the King sign the "Magna Carta" or Grand Charter it severely limited the "divine rights" of English kings and queens.
Most importantly, the monarch no longer had life or death to control the subjects and make them submissive. For a listing Google up summary Magna Carta or the like.