Claude de Seyssel

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Claude de Seyssel (* 1450 in Aix-les-Bains , Savoy ; † May 30, 1520 in Turin , Italy) was a French humanist , lawyer, philologist , editor of ancient works, author of historical-political works, bishop and theologian among many others Areas of scholarship. He was a well-known diplomat and politician who combined extensive knowledge with linguistic versatility and political skill.

Life

Seyssel was an illegitimate son of the Marshal of Savoy of the same name. He studied law and theology in Chambéry , Turin and Pavia . In 1485 he received his doctorate and was given a chair at the University of Turin . In 1499 he became Minister of the French King Louis XII. , Chancellor of France and Ambassador to Italy and England. Seyssel praised the king in his Histoire singuliere de Louis XII. (1508) and in Les louanges de Louis XII. (1509). In addition to his work as a translator, Seyssel continued to work as a diplomat and politician; he got into the rifts between Louis XII. and Pope Julius II , withdrew from politics for a short time, but was welcomed to Rome by the new Pope Leo X in 1513. This was the high point of his diplomatic career. After the death of Louis XII. In 1515 Seyssel withdrew from active politics. In the same year he received the episcopal dignity of Marseille .

Act

His best-known book, which he wrote during his retirement at the request of Ludwig's successor Franz I , was Le grant monarchie de France (1518). It is considered to be one of the finest examples of French political thought in the early 16th century. Seyssel had a very favorable opinion of the French monarchy and state constitution. He saw control and equilibrium in the French state structure and claimed that the king's power was restricted by religion, existing laws and customs. His ideas had a great influence in the 16th century. French political thinkers later commented on it and expanded it.

Works

Speculum feudorum , 1566
  • Translation and publication of ancient authors ( Xenophon , Diodor , Plutarch , Justinus , Eusebius , Appian and others)
  • Speculum feudorum , Milan 1508.
  • Histoire singulate de Louis XII. (1508)
  • Les louanges de Louis XII. (1509)
  • Victoire du Roi contre les Vénetiens. (1510)
  • Monarchy de France. (1515)
  • De Divina Providentia. (1520)

literature

  • Wera Rahel Lewin: Claude de Seyssel. A contribution to the political history of ideas of the 16th century (= Heidelberg Treatises on Middle and Modern History. Vol. 65). Winter, Heidelberg 1933.
  • David Alexander: Claude de Seyssel's La monarchie de France. A sixteenth century theory of politics and the state. 1963.
  • Hélène St-Denis: Image de Louis XII et propagande dans trois textes de Claude de Seyssel. 1993.
  • Rebecca Ard Boone: Claude de Seyssel's Translations of Ancient Historians. 2000.
  • Rebecca Ard Boone: War, Domination, and the “Monarchy of France”. Claude de Seyssel and the Language of Politics in the Renaissance. Brill, Leiden 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-16214-3 .
  • Micheline Tripet: Seyssel, Claude de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 19, 2011 .

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