Who refuted the doctrine of divine and absolute right?

The doctrine of divine and absolute right, which posited that monarchs derived their authority directly from God, was notably refuted by Enlightenment thinkers such as john Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Locke argued for the idea of government as a social contract, where authority is derived from the consent of the governed rather than divine decree. Rousseau further emphasized popular sovereignty, asserting that legitimate political authority comes from the collective will of the people. Their ideas laid the groundwork for modern democratic thought and challenged the traditional notion of absolute monarchy.