Monarchomachs
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The Monarchomachs (French: Monarchomaques) were originally French Huguenots theorists who opposed absolute monarchy at the end of the 16th century, known in particular for having theorized tyrannicide. The term, originally a pejorative word coined in 1600 by the Scottish royalist and Catholic William Barclay (1548-1608) [1] from the Greek words μονάρχης ("monarchis") and μάχομαι ("makhomai"), etymologically meant "those in war against the monarch" [2] or the "killers of monarchs," [1]. Monarchomachs refers both to the persons and/or to their writings.
Born out of the context of the Religion Wars, they were most active between 1573, a year after the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, and 1584, and pleaded in favour of a sort of "popular sovereignty." Arguing for a sort of contract between the sovereign and the people, they have been considered as the precursors of social contract theories [2].
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[edit] The Monarchomachs and the theory of tyrannicide
The Monarchomachs included jurists such as the Calvinists François Hotman (1524-1590), Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605), Simon Goulart (1543-1628), Philippe du Plessay [1], Nicolas Barnaud (1538-1604) or Philippe de Mornay (1549-1623). Through the means of libels and theoretical treaties, they revived the doctrine of the tyrannicide which had been opposed during the Middle Ages by the "legists" (jurists who theorized the royal power) who attempted to reverse it by reserving the title of tyran 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.
Monarchomachs considered that the end of the state was prosperity of the whole social group, who was the true sovereign, granting effective practice of power to the king, whose authority remained of divine right [2]. Exercice of popular sovereignty was to be delegated to the magistrates and the officers of the crown. They considered that the people was a collective corpse, doted of a specific wisdom, which allowed him better than the king to understand the common good, discrete 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 [3][4]. This conception of the magistrates and the association of wise people as best representants of the people separated them from modern conception of democracy, as they restricted effective power to a minority. Max Weber has considered them in his lecture Politics as a Vocation as participants of the movement of rationalization 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. They inspired themselves of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and the School of Salamanca on the killing of "bad kings." This legimitization of tyrannicide may have inspired as much the friar Clément, who assassinated Henri III in 1589, as Ravaillac, who assassinated Henri IV in 1610 [5]. Rebellion against necessary was considered not only as necessary, but as a divine right.
[edit] Monarchomach theory in the 16th century
The term Monarchomachs itself was coined by William Barclay 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.
The tyrannicide theory was popular during the 16th century in the context of the Wars of Religion. At first a Protestant doctrine, it was reappropriated by the Catholics when Protestants came to be kings. Tyrannicide theory was then used in revolutionary discourses during the debates concerning the execution of Louis XVI, while the right of rebellion was included in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
Influenced by the Huguenots, some British thinkers also embraced the Monarchomaque movement.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Catherine Colliot-Thélène, note p.148 of her French translation of Max Weber, Le savant et le politique, La Découverte, 2003. She quotes Quentin Skinner, The Foundation of Modern Political Thought, French transl., Paris, 2001, p.759 sq.
- ^ a b c Les Monarchomaques, Gallica (French)
- ^ Memo.fr (French)
- ^ Un pouvoir constituant... pour libres professeurs ? (on the book of Jean Fabien Spitz, John Locke et les fondements de la liberté moderne), by François Matheron, Multitudes, June 2002 (French)
- ^ Jacques Clément avant Ravaillac, Le Figaro, 30 November 2006 (French)
[edit] Bibliography
- Original works:
- François Hotman. Francogallia. - Francofurti, apud heredes A. Wecheli, 1856.
- François Hotman and Joseph de Paris, capucin. Dessein perpétuel des Espagnols à la monarchie universelle, avec les preuves d'iceluy. - S.l., s.n., 1624.
- Théodore de Bèze. 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 Linguet and Philippe de Plessy-Mornay). 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.
- Nicolas Barnaud. 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.
- Juan de Mariana. 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.
