The Monarchomachs () were originally French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

theorists A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

who opposed

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

at the end of the 16th century, known in particular for having theoretically justified

tyrannicide Tyrannicide is the killing or assassination of a tyrant or unjust ruler, purportedly for the common good, and usually by one of the tyrant's subjects. Tyrannicide was legally permitted and encouraged in Classical Athens. Often, the term "tyrant ...

. The term was originally a pejorative word coined in 1600 by the Scottish royalist and Catholic William Barclay (1548–1608) from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

μόναρχος (''monarchos'' "monarch, sole ruler") and μάχομαι ("makhomai" the verb meaning "to fight"), meaning "those who fight against monarchs" or " anti-monarchists". Born out of the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...

, they were most active between 1573, a year after the

St. Bartholomew's Day massacre The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre () in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed ...

, and 1584. The Monarchomachs pleaded in favour of a form of "

popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the leaders of a state and its government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associativ ...

". Arguing for a sort of contract between the sovereign and the people, they have been considered as the precursors of

social contract In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is an idea, theory, or model that usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Conceptualized in the Age of Enlightenment, it ...

theories.Les Monarchomaques
'' Gallica''

Theory of tyrannicide

The Monarchomachs included jurists such as the Calvinists

François Hotman François Hotman (23 August 1524 – 12 February 1590) was a French lawyer and writer, associated with the legal humanists and with the monarchomaques, who struggled against absolute monarchy. His first name is often written 'Francis' in Engli ...

(1524–1590),

Théodore de Bèze Théodore is the French version of the masculine given name Theodore. Given name * Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny (1798–1871), French landscape painter and engraver * Théodore Anne (1892–1917), French playwright, librettist, and novelist * Théo ...

(1519–1605), Simon Goulart (1543–1628),

Nicolas Barnaud Nicolas Barnaud (1538–1604) was a French Protestant writer, physician and alchemist, from Crest, in Dauphiné, from which he took the name Delphinas (or Delphinus). He was a member of the Monarchomaques. Barnaud is associated with a number of ...

(1538–1604), Hubert Languet (1518–1581),

Philippe de Mornay Philippe de Mornay (5 November 1549 – 11 November 1623), seigneur du Plessis Marly, usually known as Du-Plessis-Mornay or Mornay Du Plessis, was a French Protestant writer and member of the anti-monarchist '' Monarchomaques''. Biography H ...

(1549–1623) and

George Buchanan George Buchanan (; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth-century Scotland produced." His ideology of re ...

(1506–1582), as well as Catholic writers such as

Juan de Mariana Juan de Mariana (2 April 1536 – 17 February 1624), was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Scholastic, historian, and member of the Monarchomachs. Life Juan de Mariana was born in Talavera, Kingdom of Toledo. He studied at the Complutense University ...

(1536–1624). They had a special influence in the so-called Dutch revolt and contributed to the Netherlands' Act of Abjuration. Through the means of libels and theoretical tracts, they revived the doctrine of the

. It had been opposed during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

by the "legists" (jurists who theorized the royal power) who attempted to reserve the title of

tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

to those who tried to overturn the ruling monarch. Legists thus ended up legitimizing, under the name of "tyrannicide", the assassinations of political opponents ordered by the monarch. The Dutch Constitutional Law professor A.M. Donner on page 16 of his state law manual calls Johannus Althusius "the last of the monarchomachs". Typically

Johannes Althusius Johannes Althusius (1563 – August 12, 1638). was a German–French jurist and Calvinist political philosopher. He is best known for his 1603 work ''"Politica Methodice Digesta, Atque Exemplis Sacris et Profanis Illustrata"'' which revised edit ...

in his ''Politica'' opposes

Jean Bodin Jean Bodin (; ; – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. Bodin lived during the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation and wrote against the background of reli ...

. Monarchomachs considered that the end of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

was prosperity of the whole social group, as the true sovereign, granting effective practice of power to the king, whose authority remained of divine right. Exercise of popular sovereignty was to be delegated to the magistrates and the officers of the crown. They considered that the people were a collective body, possessed of a specific wisdom, which allowed them to understand better than the king the common good, distinct from the interest of each of its parties. Assimilated to the medieval '' universitas'', the people was thus considered as a legal subject, whose interests were represented by the General Estates. This conception of the magistrates and the association of wise people as best representants of the people separated them from modern conception of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, as they restricted effective power to a minority.

Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...

considered them in his lecture ''

Politics as a Vocation "Politics as a Vocation" () is an essay by German economist and sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920). It originated in the second lecture of a series (the first was '' Science as a Vocation'') he gave in Munich to the "Free (i.e. Non- incorporated ...

'' as participants of the movement of

rationalization Rationalization may refer to: * Rationalization (economics), an attempt to change an ''ad hoc'' workflow into one based on published rules; also, jargon for a reduction in staff * Rationalisation (mathematics), the process of removing a square roo ...

of law in Europe. The Monarchomachs also claimed that if the sovereign persecuted true religion, he would violate the contract concluded between God and the people, who were thus granted a

right of rebellion In political philosophy, the right of revolution or right of rebellion is the right or duty of a people to "alter or abolish" a government that acts against their common interests or threatens the safety of the people without justifiable cause. S ...

. They were inspired by

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

, and the

School of Salamanca The School of Salamanca () was an intellectual movement of 16th-century and 17th-century Iberian Scholasticism, Scholastic theology, theologians rooted in the intellectual and pedagogical work of Francisco de Vitoria. From the beginning of the ...

on the killing of "bad kings". This legitimization of tyrannicide may have inspired as much the friar Clément, who assassinated Henry III in 1589, as Ravaillac, who assassinated Henry IV in 1610.Jacques Clément avant Ravaillac
''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', 30 November 2006 Rebellion against tyranny was considered not only as necessary, but as a divine right.

Monarchomach theory in the 16th century

The term ''Monarchomachs'' was coined by William Barclay

Quentin Skinner Quentin Robert Duthie Skinner (born 26 November 1940) is a British intellectual historian. He is regarded as one of the founders of the Cambridge School of the history of political thought. He has won numerous prizes for his work, including ...

, ''The Foundations of Modern Political Thought'', Cambridge University Press, 1978, p. 301. in his book ''De Regno et Regali Potestate'' (”About the Powers of Authority and Royalty”), published in 1600. Barclay's theory was that the Huguenots had lost their struggle with the Catholic Church and were turning their battle towards the government to undermine the king's support of the Catholics. Eventually, the term was used to classify anyone who was opposed to the king's rule. At first a Protestant doctrine, the notion of tyrannicide was reappropriated by the Catholics when Protestants came to be kings. It was then used in

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

discourses during the debates concerning the execution of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

, while the right of rebellion was included in the 1789

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human and civil rights document from the French Revolution; the French title can be translated in the modern era as "Decl ...

. Influenced by the Huguenots, some British thinkers also embraced the Monarchomaque movement.

References

Sources

*Original works: **

. ''Francogallia. - Francofurti, apud heredes'' A. Wecheli, 1856. **

and Joseph de Paris, capucin. ''Dessein perpétuel des Espagnols à la monarchie universelle, avec les preuves d'iceluy''. - S.l., s.n., 1624. **

. '' Du droit des magistrats sur leurs subjets, traité très nécessaire en ce temps, pour advertir de leur devoir, tant les magistrats que les subjets.'' - S. l., s. n., 1575.. **Stephanus Junius Brutus (pseudonym attributed to Hubert Languet and

). ''De la puissance légitime du prince sur le peuple, et du peuple sur le Prince, traité très-utile et digne de lecture en ce temps escrit en Latin par Estienne Iunius Brutus, et nouvellement traduit en françois''. - S.l., s.n., 1581. **Anonym. ''Le Réveille matin des François. Touchant les troubles & mouvements de ce temps.'' - S.l., s.n., 1622. **

. ''Le Réveille-matin des françois et de leurs voisins, composé par Eusebe Philadelphe cosmopolite''. - Edimbourg, Impr. de Jaques James, 1574. **Anonym. ''Le caractère de la royauté et de la tyrannie, faisant voir par un discours politique : 1. Les Qualitez nécessaires à un Prince pour bien gouverner ses sujects. 2. Les Maux qui arrivent aux peuples lorsque les souverains sont incapables de les gouverner.'' - Paris, 1652. ** William Allen. ''A treatise made in defence of the lauful power and authoritie of priesthod to remitte sinnes : of the peoples duetie for confession of their sinnes to Gods ministers : And of the churches meaning concerning indulgences, commonly called the Popes Pardos...''- 1567, Ioannem Foulerum. **

. ''Joannis Marianae, ... de Rege et regis Institutione libri III...'' - Tolède, Rodericus, 1599. *Articles and commentary: **Paul-Alexis Mellet (dir.), ''Et de sa bouche sortait un glaive. Les Monarchomaques au XVIème siècle'', Genève, Droz, 2006.

External links

The Political Theory of French Protestant Monarchomach(1572-1584)
{{Authority control Philosophy of law Political terminology Huguenot history in France

Theory of tyrannicide

Monarchomach theory in the 16th century

See also

References

Sources

External links