By Harald E. Braun

The Jesuit Juan de Mariana (1535-1624) is likely one of the so much misunderstood authors within the heritage of political idea. His treatise "De rege et regis institutione libri tres" (1599) is devoted to Philip III of Spain. It used to be to provide the foundations of statecraft wherein the younger king was once to abide. but quickly after its book, Catholic and Calvinist politiques in France begun branding Mariana a regicide. "De rege" used to be stated to empower the non-public person to kill a sound king. Its 'pernicious doctrines' have been blamed for the homicide of Henry IV in 1610, and it used to be burned on the order of the parliament of Paris. smooth historians have tended to construct in this interpretation and look at "De rege" a stepping stone in the direction of glossy pluralist and democratic notion. not anything might be farther from the reality. The idea of Mariana as an uncompromising theorist of resistance is actually in line with the distorted interpreting of some pick out sentences from the 1st ebook of the treatise. This learn bargains a thorough departure from the previous view of Mariana as an early glossy constitutionalist philosopher and suggest of regicide. Thorough research of the textual content as an entire finds him to be a sensible and inventive operator of political language in addition to a champion of the church and bishops of Castile. The argument as an entire is knowledgeable by way of a Catholic-Augustinian view of human nature. Mariana's bleak, now and then downright cynical view of guy imparts concentration and coherence to a textual content that demanding situations good validated terminological limitations and political discourses. within the first example, his deeply pessimistic appraisal of human advantage justifies his omit of confident legislations. he's hence capable of mildew diversified components extracted from Roman and canon legislations, scholastic theology and humanist literature right into a intentionally equivocal discourse of cause of nation. ultimately, this secular interpretation of the realm of politics is cleverly yoked to a completely clerical schedule of reform. in truth, cause of nation is made to propagate an episcopal monarchy. "De rege" is phenomenal in that it strings jointly a curious scholastic idea of the origins of society, a conservative ideology of absolute monarchy and a breathtakingly radical imaginative and prescient of theocratic renewal of Spanish executive and society. "Juan de Mariana and Early glossy Political concept" elucidates the differentiated nature of political debate in Habsburg Spain. It confirms the complexity of Spanish political lifestyles within the later 16th- and early 17th century. Complementing fresh paintings on Catholic political notion, the eu reception of Machiavelli, and Spanish Habsburg executive, this examine deals a extra whole and holistic photo of early smooth Spanish political tradition.