Jean Bodin: biography of this French philosopher and politician

Sixteenth-century France was a pretty turbulent place. It was a time marked by the war of religion in which lifelong Catholics and Calvinist reformers fought a war that even shook the monarchy French.

Jean Bodin was born just in that century and witnessed the turbulent political situation in his country. This man, who cultivated diverse knowledge in life, was a lawyer and also a clergyman, with which 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 power of an absolute monarchy, Bodin's thought greatly influenced Europe Renaissance. Let's discover his history, works and thoughts of him, through a biography of Jean Bodin.

• Related article: "Erasmus of Rotterdam: biography of this Dutch philosopher"

Short 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 was spent in 16th century France, a country that was bleeding and weakening economically and politically as a result of the wars of religion between Calvinists and Catholics. The social situation of his country motivated him to write about sovereignty, economy and, naturally, religion since he was ordained as a Carmelite friar.

His childhood

The day of his birth is not known with certainty, but various sources indicate that was born one July between the years 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 known only that she must have died before the year 1561.

Young Jean was the youngest of the seven children of the Bodin and received training in the cloisters of the Carmelites of Angershim, joining the brotherhood to end up being a friar, however he would end up renouncing the vows a few years later.

University education

Bodin studied at the University of Paris and at the Collège de France, both institutions located in the French capital. In Paris he would be steeped in medieval scholasticism and Renaissance humanism, this time coinciding with the fact that he freed himself 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 also remain as a professor until 1561. After a decade teaching in Toulouse, Bodin decided the time had come to give up 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 Parliament of Paris.

His return to the capital of France coincides with the beginning of a turbulent period in the country and throughout Europe, beginning the wars of religion (1562-1598). Bodin could not be oblivious to this historical event, especially considering the fact that he was a Carmelite friar. He was drawn to the rabbinical teachings as well as the Reformed stream of John Calvin. and he was taking a position in favor of religious tolerance.

Years as a prolific writer and last days

In addition to working as a lawyer, Bodin he published in 1566 his first important work: "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 began 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 repercussion, Jean Bodin was able to carry out work of true relevance for his time. He was appointed commissioner for forest tenure reform in Normandy in 1570 and, in 1587 he began to act as attorney general of the city of Laon. A little later, in 1596 he published "Universae naturae theatrum" (The theater of nature).

His last years were spent in Laon as soon as he was appointed as city attorney general. He would remain in that city, located in northern France, until his death in 1596, of which the exact date is not known. What is known is that he died of a plague epidemic while he was still serving as attorney. He was dismissed with a Catholic burial at Laon Franciscan Church.

Thought and theoretical contributions of this thinker

Jean Bodin's thinking is, in some respects, surprisingly advanced, while in other matters he sins of being what he was, a man of the sixteenth century. His conception of economics was well ahead of his time, and so was his apparently religious tolerance, although it could not be considered a person of progressive character since he was a faithful defender of the absolutist monarchy and his opinion on atheism and witchcraft was for nothing 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 in which institution sovereignty is concentrated:

• Democracy: the people have sovereign power.
• Aristocracy: sovereignty is owned by a small group within the town.
• Monarchy: sovereignty is concentrated in a single person.

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 against other powers, such as those of the papacy and the Holy Empire, at that time the two antagonistic forces in European international political dynamics.

Bodin affirmed that the origin of authority is in the pact that several families that make up the elite of a society or country agree to. These powerful families must agree on which person or institution should exercise authority and, therefore, govern. The person who governs must hold all power and everyone must obey it. That is, he presented a classic interpretation of absolute power, a power that should be exercised by a monarch without the subjects being able to put limits on it.

Bodin 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 such as monarchical absolutism, well represented in later reigns such as that of Louis XIV, the King Sun.

• You may be interested in: "Blaise Pascal: biography of this mathematician and thinker"

Economic Thought: Mercantilism and International Trade

"The six books of the Republic" constitute the most outstanding contribution of Jean Bodin in the field of philosophy politics, being published in 1576 and whose repercussion was such that they were translated into several languages ​​while still alive the author. In this work he talks about different themes, his response to the political crisis caused by the religious wars in France between 1562 and 1598 being especially important.

The sixth book of the collection is noteworthy, since Bodin exposes several of his mercantilist economic principles, advocating the establishment of limitations on the output of raw materials and the importation 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 speak of Jean Bodin's economic thought without mentioning his “Paradoxes de M. de Malestroit touchant le fait des monnaies et l'enrichissement de toutes choses ”(Response to the paradoxes of Malestroit, 1568). It is a text in which he responds to Monsieur de Malestroit who had tried to deny the long-term rise in prices. Instead, Bodin He argues that prices can rise due to different reasons, including increased quantities of gold and silver, as well as the influence of monopolies..

His reply to Malestroit had much repercussion in 16th century Europe and there are not a few who consider this text to be the first exposition of a quantity theory of money. However, it seems that this might not be the case, since texts written by thinkers of the School of Salamanca have been found, especially Martín de Azpilcueta, who had already described the inflationary effects of the massive import of metals and materials cousins. Most likely, Bodin knew the economic theses of these thinkers and shaped 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 France in which he played. to live. He addressed the issue of what was the true religion (vera religio) and ended up defending religious tolerance, as long as they believed in Christianity.

The war between Huguenots and Catholics made him embrace a third party, that of the "politicians", which proposed tolerance religious and the reinforcement of the authority of the state as arbiter that would guarantee peace between believers of different creeds. 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 for those who were branded as witches and sorcerers, along with atheists, was conspicuous by his absence. In his work "De la demonomanie des sorciers" (In the demonic mania of witches, 1580), Jean Bodin affirmed that "demonism" and atheism was treason to God and should be penalized with all possible means. This work was very popular in his 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 the "witches" during the years after his publication.

Bodin was not only a prolific writer, but also a creative sadist. He offered countless ideas on how to torture would-be witches and wizards., some so extremely bloody and inhumane that even his own colleagues in the Paris parliament gave him a touch to moderate himself. He firmly believed that if the Holy Inquisition applied these methods, it would not unfairly judge anyone, even the truly innocent.

Bibliographic references:

• Blair, A. (1997). The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Franklin, J. H. (1963). Jean Bodin and the 16th Century Revolution in the Methodology of Law and History, New York: Columbia University Press.
• Franklin, J. H. (1973). Jean Bodin and the Rise of Absolutist Theory, Cambridge: University Press.
• Saillot, J (1985). “Jean Bodin, sa famille, originates from him”, dans Jean Bodin. Actes du colloque interdisciplinaire d'Angers, Angers, Presses de l'université d'Angers, p. 111-118.