La genealogia della sovranità nel trattato “Insegnamenti di Neagoe Basarab a suo figlio Teodosio” (1521) / A Genealogy of Sovereignty in the TreatiseThe Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to His Son Theodosie (1521)

Abstract

Genealogy dominates in an implicit way the paraenetic medieval and Renaissance literature. The parenesis is completely different from the chronicle, because it does not seek to identify either the origin of a community or the purpose of its actions, but tries to capitalize on the disruption, the hazard, and the apophatic in order to create a mosaic of vices and virtues and thus to support in the more specific way the exercise of power. The portrait of the prince is not the mirror reflection of his consanguineous ancestors either. It is a rather exact and pragmatic reflection of the general conjunction between teachings and reality. This is why the method of genealogy may critically work in both such a text and such a portrait. Unanimously recognized as the most important parenesis of the postByzantine Orthodox world, the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to His Son Theodosie (1521) constitute the point of articulation of a hermeneutical approach and the method of genealogy in the mirrors of princes. This is why I will map the genealogy of sovereignty with the help of an archeology of political presence in this exemplary paraenetic attributed to Neagoe Basarab, prince of the post-Byzantine Romanian Renaissance.

Keywords

• genealogy of sovereignty
• genealogy as a critical method
• teachings of neagoe basarab to his son theodosie (1521)
• mirrors of princes
• paraenetic literature