Jean Bodin: Biography Of This French Philosopher And Politician
16th century France was quite a turbulent place. It was a time marked by the war of religion in which lifelong Catholics and Calvinist reformers clashed in a war that even shook the French monarchy.
Jean Bodin was born in that century and witnessed the turbulent political situation in his country This man, who cultivated various knowledge during his life, was a lawyer and also a clergyman, so he did not refrain from writing at length about how to change the situation.
Known for his mercantilist theses, being in favor of religious tolerance and defending the power of an absolute monarchy, Bodin’s thought considerably influenced Renaissance Europe. Let’s discover his history, works and thoughts of him, through a biography of Jean Bodin
Jean Bodin, also known in Spanish as Juan Bodino, was a French lawyer, philosopher, politician, historian, economist and clergyman. His life took place in 16th century France, a country that was bleeding and weakened economically and politically due to the religious wars between Calvinists and Catholics. The social situation in his country motivated him to write about sovereignty, economics and, naturally, religion since he was ordained as a Carmelite friar.
His childhood
The day of his birth is not known with certainty, but several sources indicate that He was born in July between 1529 and 1533 in the city of Angers, west of France. His father was Guillaume Bodin, a wealthy merchant and member of the local bourgeoisie, while his mother was Catherine Dutertre, of whom it is only known that she must have died before 1561.
Young Jean was the youngest of the seven Bodin children and received training in the cloisters of the Carmelites of Angers joining the brotherhood to end up becoming a friar, however he would end up renouncing his vows a few years later.
University education
Bodin studied at the University of Paris and the Collège de France, both institutions located in the French capital. In Paris he would be imbued with medieval scholasticism and Renaissance humanism, coinciding at this time with his liberation from his monastic vows as a Carmelite friar (1549).
In the year 1551 He went to the University of Toulouse to study civil law, an institution from which he would graduate and, in addition, remain as a professor until 1561. After a decade teaching in Toulouse, Bodin decided that the time had come to abandon teaching and returned to Paris. In that city he would practice as a lawyer in the superior court of justice and as a member of the Paris Parliament.
His return to the capital of France coincides with the beginning of a turbulent period in the country and throughout Europe, beginning the religious wars (1562-1598). Bodin could not seem oblivious to this historical event, especially considering the fact that he had been a Carmelite friar. He was attracted to rabbinic teachings as well as the reformed movement of John Calvin and was taking a stance in favor of religious tolerance.
Years as a prolific writer and last days
In addition to working as a lawyer, Bodin He published his first important work in 1566: “Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem” (Method for the easy understanding of history) a pleasant achievement that was accompanied by a sad event, which was the death of his father.
After the publication of that first book of great repercussion, Jean Bodin would begin an intense literary and professional activity, publishing a decade later a set of very important works to understand his economic and political point of view: “Les six livres de la République” (The six books of the Republic, 1576)
Already having great social and philosophical impact, Jean Bodin was able to carry out work of true relevance for his time. He was appointed commissioner for the reform of forest tenure in Normandy in 1570 and, In 1587 he would begin to serve as attorney general of the city of Laon A little later, in 1596 he would publish “Universae naturae theatrum” (The Theater of Nature).
His last years were spent in Laon as soon as he was appointed as the city’s attorney general. He would remain in that city, located in northern France, until his death in 1596, the exact date of which is not known. What is known is that He died due to a plague epidemic while he was still working as a solicitor He was dismissed with a Catholic burial in the Franciscan church of Laon.
Thought and theoretical contributions of this thinker
Jean Bodin’s thought is, in some aspects, surprisingly advanced while in other matters he falls short of being what he was, a man of the 16th century. His conception of economics was quite ahead of his time, and so was his apparently religious tolerance, although he could not be considered a progressive person since he was a faithful defender of the absolutist monarchy and his opinion on atheism and witchcraft was paramount. not at all tolerant.
Political thought: concept of sovereignty and absolutism
Jean Bodin talks about the existence of various possible forms of government taking into account who or what institution sovereignty is concentrated:
Bodin’s idea of sovereignty is that of an obligation that goes beyond human law and that it was subject to only divine or natural law. Sovereignty, according to this French philosopher, is defined in terms of absolute, perpetual, indivisible and inalienable power. This sovereignty gives legitimacy to the state in the face of other powers, such as those of the papacy and the Holy Empire, at that time the two antagonistic forces in the European international political dynamic.
Bodin stated that the origin of authority is in the pact agreed upon by several families that make up the elite of a society or country. These families that hold a lot of power must agree on which person or institution should exercise authority and, therefore, govern. The person who governs must hold all the power and everyone must obey him. That is, he presented a classic interpretation of absolute power, a power that had to be exercised by a monarch without the subjects being able to set limits on it.
bodin It united the figure of the king with that of a supreme judge and legislator, a figure above any internal institution of the state The king personifies sovereignty by divine right and this doctrine of thought became known as monarchical absolutism, well represented in later reigns such as that of Louis XIV, the Sun King.
Economic thought: mercantilism and international trade
“The Six Books of the Republic” constitute Jean Bodin’s most outstanding contribution in the field of political philosophy, being published in 1576 and whose impact was such that they were translated into several languages while the author was still alive. In this work he talks about different themes, being especially important his response to the political crisis caused by the religious wars in France between 1562 and 1598.
The sixth book of the collection is notable, since Bodin exposes several of his mercantilist economic principles, advocating the establishment of limitations on the departure of raw materials and the import of non-essential manufactures, that is, the state had to protect the national economy. However, he also highlights his defense of international trade, stating that the benefit of one country is not synonymous with disadvantages for the other.
One cannot talk about Jean Bodin’s economic thought without mentioning his “Paradoxes de M. de Malestroit touchant le fait des monnaies et l’enrichissement de toutes choses” (Answer to Malestroit’s paradoxes, 1568). This is a text in which he responds to Monsieur de Malestroit who had tried to deny the rise in prices in the long term. On the other hand, Bodin maintains that prices can rise due to different reasons, including the increase in the quantities of gold and silver, in addition to the influence of monopolies
His response to Malestroit had a great impact in 16th century Europe and there are many who consider that this text is the first exposition of a quantitative theory of money However, it seems that this may not be the case, since texts have been found written by thinkers from the School of Salamanca, especially Martín de Azpilcueta, who had already described the inflationary effects of the massive import of metals and raw materials. Most likely, Bodin knew the economic theses of these thinkers and expressed his own interpretation of them.
Religious thought: religious tolerance, witchcraft and atheism
In the field of religious thought, his main contributions are his works “Démonomanie”, “colloquium heptaplomeres” and “Universae naturae theatrum”, all of them written in response to the conflictive climate of the France in which he lived. He addressed the issue of what the true religion was (vera religio) and ended up defending religious tolerance, as long as he believed in Christianity.
The war between Huguenots and Catholics made him embrace a third party, that of the “politicians”, which proposed religious tolerance and the reinforcement of the authority of the state as an arbiter that guaranteed peace between believers of different faiths. Although at first he had supported the Catholic League, he ended up recognizing the Navarrese Huguenot Henry VI as king of France who would convert to Catholicism and end the war in 1593.
However, his tolerance towards those who were branded as witches and sorcerers, along with atheists, was conspicuous by its absence. In his work “De la démonomanie des sorciers” (In the demonic mania of witches, 1580), Jean Bodin stated that “demonism” and atheism were betrayal of God and should be penalized by all possible means. This work was very popular in its time, and also had several translations, which is why there are several historians who consider that the figure of Bodin contributed to the prosecutions of “witches” during the years after its publication.
Bodin was not only a prolific writer, but also a creative sadist. He offered countless ideas on how to torture potential witches and warlocks, some so extremely bloody and inhuman that even his own colleagues in the Paris parliament gave him a call to moderate. He firmly believed that if the Holy Inquisition applied these methods, it would not unfairly judge anyone, even the truly innocent.
