Vindiciae contra tyrannos

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Vindiciae contra tyrannos (title page of the 1579 edition, supposedly published in Edinburgh)

Vindiciae contra tyrannos ( Latin ; about: Against the tyrants ), with the full title: Vindiciae contra tyrannos sive de principis in populum populique in principem legitima potestate (" Judgment against the tyrants or the legitimate power of the prince over the people and the people over the Fürsten ”) is a treatise written around 1575 and 1579 in Basel (with the indication“ Edinburgh ”) in Latin and published under the pseudonym Stephanus Iunius Brutus Celta (Stephano Junio ​​Bruto Celta), which deals with the law of the defense of the Freedom goes against tyrannical rule. It advocated the right of resistance more resolutely than other writings by the Calvinist group of monarchists .

background

Walter Theimer considers it “the most important work of Huguenot literature”, but claims that it actually “only defends the old feudal freedoms”. It is considered an important step in the Protestant vision of civil disobedience . It is attributed to French Huguenots - the writer and politician Philippe de Mornay (1549–1623) and the diplomat and writer Hubert Languet (1518–1581) (diplomat in the service of the Elector of Saxony ) - possibly written by both together. Even Theodore Beza (1519-1605), the successor to Calvin in Geneva, it was attributed.

The tract Vindiciae contra tyrannos is the last of a series of pamphlets published after the events of the St. Bartholomew's Night (French Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy ) in 1572, including Franco-Gallia by François Hotman (1524–1590), the anonymous Discours politiques de diverses puissances , the Réveille-Matin des François et de leurs voisins , the treatise Du droit des magistrats sur leurs sujets by Théodore de Bèze and the Résolution claire et facile by Odet de La Noue.

Briefly, in its four parts, the book examines the following questions:

  • Should subjects obey God rather than a ruler in a dispute?
  • Are you allowed to resist a ruler, and in what way?
  • Can you oppose a ruler who violates the law?
  • In such cases, do neighboring rulers have the right to assist a ruler?

In the original:

  • I. An subditi teneantur, aut debeant principibus obedire, si quid contra legem Dei imperent.
  • II. An liceat resistere principi, legem Dei abrogare volenti, Ecclesiamve vastanti, item, quibus, quomodo, & quaetenus.
  • III. An, & quatenus principi Rempublicam aut opprimenti, aut perdenti, resistere liceat. Item, quibus id quomodo, & quo jure, permissum sic.
  • IIII. An jure possint, aut debeant vicini principes auxilium ferre aliorum principum subditis, religionis purae causa afflictis, aut manifesta tyrannide oppressis.

The effect of the treatise can be gauged from the times and places at which it was translated or reprinted (London, 1648 and 1689, Paris, 1789, Leipzig, 1846).

The chosen pseudonym "Stephanus Junius Brutus" reminds of some people of antiquity:

Stephen , one of the first seven deacons and the first martyr of Christianity;
Lucius Junius Brutus , the legendary founder of the Roman Republic ;
Marcus junius Brutus , adopted son and murderer of Julius Caesar .

The writing was on the Index librorum prohibitorum .

Editions and translations

  • De la puissance legitime du prince sur le peuple et du peuple sur le prince / Estienne Junius Brutus. 1581 digitized
  • Vindiciae contra tyrannos: a defense of liberty against tyrants, or, of the lawful power of the prince over the people, and of the people over the prince. London 1689 digitized
  • George Garnett (ed. And transl.): Vindiciae contra tyrannos: or, Concerning the legitimate power of a prince over the people, and of the people over a prince / Stephanus Junius Brutus, the Celt. Ed. and transl. by George Garnett. Cambridge [u. a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994 ( partial online view )

literature

  • Étienne Junius Brutus, Vindiciae contra tyrannos , éd. critique par H. Weber et al. (coll. "  Classiques de la pensée politique  "), Genève, Droz.
  • Paul-Alexis Mellet: Les Traités monarchomaques. Confusion des temps, résistance armée et monarchie parfaite (1560–1600) (= Travaux d'Humanisme et Renaissance; No. CDXXXIV), Genève: Droz 2007, 568 p., ISBN 978-2-600-01139-6 ( book trade link )
  • Brutus, Stephanus Junius. 1968. Criminal court against the tyrants or: The legitimate power of the prince over the people and the people over the prince. In Beza, Brutus, Hotman. Calvinist monarchists. Trans. V. Hans Klingelhöfer, ed. by Jürgen Dennert, 61 - 202. Cologne, Opladen. ( Classic of politics )
  • Richard Treitschke: Hubert Languet ’s Vindiciae contra Tyrannos. About the legal power of the prince over the people and the people over the princes. After the edition of 1580 with a historical introduction about the life and times of the author, edited by Richard Treitschke. Barth, Leipzig 1846 ( digitized from Google Books).
  • Lossen, Max: The Vindiciae contra tyrannos of the alleged Stephanus Junius Brutus. A critical investigation. Academic printing house v. F. Straub Munich., 1887 (meeting reports of the philos.-philol.u.hist. Class of the k.bayer.Akademie d.Wiss. Sprach)
  • Anema, Anne. Vindiciae "en interventie. Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1939 (Mededeelingen of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeling Letterkunde. Nieuwe Reeks, deel 2, No. 7)
  • Elkan, Albert: The journalism of the Bartholomäusnacht and Mornays "Vindiciae contra Tyrannos". Heidelberg Treatises on Middle and Modern History. Ed. v. Karl Hampe, Erich Marcks and Dietrich Schäfer. Heidelberg: Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1905 ( table of contents )
  • Hundeshagen, Carl Bernhard / Languet, Hubert (eds.): Calvinism and civil liberty against the tyrants. Zollikon-Zurich, Evangelischer Verlag, 1946

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Jürgen Dennert (1968)
  2. ^ Walter Theimer : History of Political Ideas. 2nd Edition. Bern and Munich 1959 ( Dalp Collection 56)
  3. ↑ On authorship, cf. George Garnett (1994), LV ff. ( Partial online view )
  4. ↑ All titles here in French reproduction.
  5. ↑ cf. SUB GÖ
Vindiciae contra tyrannos (alternative names of the lemma)
Vindiciae contra tyrannos; De la puissance legitimate du prince sur le peuple et du peuple sur le prince; Against the tyrants; Defense of freedom against the tyrants; Criminal court against the tyrants; A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants