A Critical Companion to the 'Mirrors for Princes' Literature

Description

Why devote a Companion to the "mirrors for princes", whose very existence is debated? These texts offer key insights into political thoughts of the past. Their ambiguous, problematic status further enhances their interest. And although recent research has fundamentally challenged established views of these texts, until now there has been no critical introduction to the genre. This volume therefore fills this important gap, while promoting a global historical perspective of different “mirrors for princes” traditions from antiquity to humanism, via Byzantium, Persia, Islam, and the medieval West. This Companion also proposes new avenues of reflection on the anchoring of these texts in their historical realities. Contents Notes on Contributors Introduction 1 A Controversial Issue 2 Towards a Global Perspective 3 Materiality and Uses 4 Time and Periodization Primary Sources Secondary Sources Part 1 Mapping the Mirrors for Princes’ Traditions 1 Ideal Models and Anti-Models of Kingship in Ancient 1 Introduction 2 Homer and Hesiod: The Proper Exercise of Kingship 3 Classical Greece of the 5th Century B.C.: Negative Exemplars of Monarchs 4 Philosophical Kings: Xenophon, Isocrates, Plato, and Aristotle 5 Roman Reception: Philodemus, Historians of Alexander, Marcus Aurelius Primary Sources Secondary Sources 2 Greek and Roman Writers on the Virtues of Good Rulers: Praise, Instruction, and Constraint 1 Ancient Greece 2 The Roman Republic 2.1 Cicero 3 The Roman Empire 3.1 Seneca’s De Clementia (On Clemency, Mercifulness) 3.2 Pliny the Younger’s Panegyricus 3.3 Other Works Primary Sources Secondary Sources 3 Carolingian Mirrors for Princes: Texts, Contents, Impact 1 Introduction 2 Sources 3 The Carolingian Mirrors for Princes 3.1 Smaragdus: Via regia 3.2 Jonas: De institutione regia 3.3 Sedulius: De rectoribus christianis 3.4 Hincmar: De regis persona et regio ministerio 4 Contents 5 Impact 6 Summary Primary Sources Secondary Sources 4 Byzantine Mirrors for Princes: An Overview 1 Mirrors for Princes in the Early Byzantine Period 2 Mirrors for Princes in the Middle Byzantine Period 3 Mirrors for Princes in the Late Byzantine Period Abbreviations Primary Sources Primary Sources Containing Mirrors for Princes. Editions and/or Translations Secondary Sources 5 The Conception of Power in Islam 1 Cultural Context 2 The Tradition of Ancient Persia 2.1 The Wisdom Books of the Sassanid Tradition 2.2 The Sassanid Conception of Royalty 3 A Few Milestones in the Tradition of Persian Mirrors for Princes 3.1 Beginnings 3.2 Major Works of the Persian Tradition (10th to 12th Centuries) 3.3 Evolution of Political Thought between the 11th and 14th Centuries 4 Summary and Conclusion Primary Sources Secondary Sources 6 Western Medieval Specula, c. 1150–c. 1450 1 Three Ancestors and a Close Family Friend 2 A Growing Family 3 Black Sheep 4 Conclusion Primary Sources Secondary Sources 7 Refutation, Parody, Annihilation: The End of the Mirror for Princes in Machiavelli 1 Political Praxis and Political Theory in the Florence of the Medici 2 The Humanistic Mirror for Princes as Counterimage 3 Anti-Mirror for Princes: Machiavelli’s the Prince 4 Serious Parodies: Francesco Vettori and the Clemency of the Prince 5 The Construction of the Principality 6 Francesco Guicciardini: The Refutation of the Mirror of Princes through History 7 Epilogue: Reason of State and the Mirror for Princes in the Confessional Age Primary Sources Secondary Sources 8 Specula Principum and the Wise Governor in the Renaissance 1 ‘Mirrors of Princes’ and the Circulation of Knowledge: A Work of Programmatic Scholarship 1.1 A Far-reaching Corpus of Authors 1.2 Some Gnomic Literature 1.3 Aesop 1.4 Juan Luis Vives 1.5 Erasmus 1.6 Encyclopedia 1.7 Plutarch 1.8 Classical Rhetoric 1.8.1 Eloquence 1.8.2 Cicero 1.8.3 Aristotle and Moral Philosophy 2 That the Prince Be Instructed to Be Wise and of Worthy Memory 2.1 Teaching Virtue 3 Mirrors as ratione studii 3.1 Historical Exampla and Military Virtue 3.2 The Wise King 3.3 What Does It Mean to Be a Good King? 4 Conclusion Primary Sources Secondary Sources Part 2 Thoughts in Motion: The Circulation and the Uses of the Mirrors for Princes 9 The Influence of Aristotle’s Thought on Arab Political-Philosophical Ideas 1 Introduction 2 Aristotle’s Political Corpus in Arabic 3 Practical Philosophy 4 Aristotle’s Influence: Moral Philosophy or Political Philosophy? 5 On Human Excellence and the Politeia 6 Downgrading Phronēsis, Highlighting Practical Intellect: Still Aristotle? 7 From the City-State to the City-World: Signs of Universalization in Aristotle’s Political Thinking 8 Conclusion Primary Sources Secondary Sources 10 The Arabic Mirrors for Princes as Witnesses to the Evolution of Political Thought 1 The Genesis and Evolution of Arabic Mirrors for Princes 2 Politics and Religion 3 Generic Identity of the Mirrors for Princes Texts 4 The Art of War in the Arabic Mirrors for Princes 5 The Politics between Art (technè) and Science (épistémè) 6 Conclusion Primary Sources Secondary Sources 11 Royal Power and Its Regulations: Narratives of Hārūn al-Rashīd in Three Mirrors for Princes 1 Al-Rashīd’s Annual Alternation of Warfare and Pilgrimage 2 Al-Rashīd’s Responsiveness to Exhortation 3 Al-Rashīd and the Fall of the Barmakids 4 Conclusion Primary Sources Secondary Sources 12 The Pseudo-Aristotelian Secret of Secrets as a Mirror of Princes: A Cautionary Tale 1 Introduction 2 The Secret of Secrets: The Nature of the Text 3 The Secret of Secrets Considered as a Mirror of Princes 4 The Secret of Secrets Considered as Something Other Than a Mirror of Princes 5 Conclusion Primary Sources Secondary Sources 13 The Castilian Versions of the Pseudo-Aristotle’s Secretum secretorum 1 Introduction 2 The Hispanic Circulation and Reception of the Pseudo-Aristotle’s Secretum secretorum (Sirr al-asrar) 3 Castilian Versions of the Epistola Aristotelis ad Alexandro de dieta seruanda 3.1 Pedro Alfonso: First Spanish Recipient of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Treatise 3.2 John of Seville’s Epistola Aristotelis ad Alexandrum de dieta seruanda 3.3 The Diffusion of Versions of the Secretum secretorum Translated for Alfonso X of Castile 3.4 Number 46, the “Old” Illuminated Manuscript in the National Library in Lisbon 3.5 The Manuscripts Escorial L.III.2, Escorial h.III.1, and University Library of Salamanca 1763: A Fusion of Poridat de las poridades and the Libro de los buenos proverbios 3.6 National Library of Spain Manuscript 6545: A Late Anthology of Alexander 4 Circulation and Reception of Giles of Rome’s De regimine principum (c. 1279) in French 5 Different French Translations of De regimine principum; Varied Strategies, Depending on the Intended Audience 5.1 Henri de Gauchi’s Version (1282) 5.2 Guillaume’s Version (1330) 5.3 The Anonymous Version Written for Charles V (1372) 5.4 Gilles Deschamps’ Version (1420) 5.5 The Version of the “Brother of the Order of the Preaching Friars” (1444) 5.6 Jean Wauquelin’s Version (1452) 5.7 The Anonymous Version (Fifteenth Century) Contained in the Hamilton 672 Manuscript of the Berlin State Library 6 Readers and Owners of the French Translations of De regimine principum 7 Conclusion Primary Sources Secondary Sources 14 The Relation between Wisdom Literature, Law, and the Mirrors of Princes: Castile and Sweden 1 Mirrored Kings in Castile and Sweden 1.1 Writing Mirrors of Princes in Castile: The Oriental Influences 1.2 Alfonso X and the Making of the Law 1.3 A Mirror Against the Law: Um styrilsi konunga ok höfthinga 2 Reflexions of Two Aristocrats: Don Juan Manuel’s and Saint Bridget’s Own Mirrors of Princes 2.1 The King is Naked 2.2 How to Treat Rebellious Kings? Primary Sources Secondary Sources 15 The Use of Mirrors of Princes 1 Doctrines of Virtue 2 Institutional Doctrines 3 Theoretical Reflections through the Reception of Aristotelian Texts 4 Politics and Pedagogy 5 Prestige and Legitimacy Primary Sources Secondary Sources 16 Conclusion: Mirrors for Princes and the Development of Reflections on the State 1 The Legacy of Antiquity 2 Mirrors for Three Worlds 3 The Modern State 3.1 Capetian Mirrors and Political Language 3.2 The Shock of Aristotelianism 4 The Consequences of the Success of De Regimine Principum 5 Decline or New Departure? Primary Sources Secondary Sources Index of Names Index of Ancient Sources