Machiavelli and Mystery of State

ISBN-13: 9780521437905 / Angielski / Miękka / 1992 / 242 str.

Peter S. Donaldson

Opis

This book studies the intersection of sacred and secular conceptions of kingship in the Renaissance. The book documents in detail six instances of the attempt to connect Machiavelli's thought to an ancient and secret tradition of political counsel, the arcana imperii, or mysteries of state. The ways in which Renaissance writers attempted such a connection varied widely. In addition to carefully analyzing these arguments, the book documents patterns in their dissemination. Through his connection with mysteries of state, Machiavelli influenced not only Renaissance political ideas, but the transmission of these ideas. Machiavellian politics was a secret art; its vehicles, frequently secret books; and its authors and readers, sharers in a mystery.

Recenzje

'This is a book on Machiavelli as Machiavellian, as advocate of the effectiveness of the use of evil in politics. The author, Peter S. Donaldson, has carefully examined the works of a number of Trans-Alpine writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and we get a clear impression of the great influence that Machiavelli had in Northern Europe.' The American Historical Review

Spis treści

Preface; 1. Machiavelli and Antichrist: prophetic typology in Reginald Pole's De Unitate and Apologia ad Carolum Quintum; 2. Bishop Gardiner, Machiavellian; 3. John Wolfe, Machiavelli, and the republican arcana in sixteenth-century England; 4. Machiavelli and the arcana imperii; 5. Gabriel Naudé: magic and Machiavelli; 6. Biblical Machiavellism: Louis Machon's Apologie pour Machiavel; Index.