Autorité élargie et conseil collégial sous Philippe III ? La præfatio du De rege et regis institutione (1599) de Juan de Mariana : éducation du prince et préservation de la monarchie hispanique

Abstract

The præfatio to De rege et regis institutione (1599) by Juan de Mariana introduces, in an exceptionally meticulous way, this treatise of political education of the sovereign which explains the origin, nature and evolution of royal dignity in order to define its viable characteristics, before theorizing the education of the prince and advising the monarchical government. This first study of the prologue of De rege et regis institutione dwells on the double gesture of self-historicization of the subject of writing and the highlighting of its socialization. This process affirms an even deeper authority than that already largely acquired by the Jesuit Father, theologian and renowned humanist. The convening of a dialogue, reported within the præfatio itself, on the very skills of the author and on the composition options of the De rege, underlines the collective nature of the composition of this treatise resulting from an official commission. It thus appears as the product of prolonged reflection of Juan de Mariana as well as of critical scrutiny and cross-checking by exceptional and disinterested minds (Calderón and Suasola). The very humility and otium of these prestigious figures, shared in an authentic locus amœnus ˗a humble and central rural place in the Iberian Peninsula˗, secures the ambition of the sponsors, García de Loaysa, the Archbishop of Toledo, and Gómez Dávila y Toledo, the second Marquess of Velada, two confidants of Philip II concerned about the future of the Hispanic monarchy at the dawn of a new reign.

Keywords

• education
• political thought
• favorite
• historicization
• socialization
• collegiality