Des princes cruels ? La place de la brutalité dans les modes de gouvernement à la fin du Moyen Âge (France, Angleterre, Pays-Bas bourguignons)
(2023)
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- At the end of the Middle Ages, while the royal function and the art of government are theorized with political and didactic literature, the power is gradually centralized around the person of the prince. Being the holder of authority, the latter gathers and guarantees the maintenance of a society structured around the ideals of peace and public order, conforming his acts to a strong Christian morality. But government, at the dawn of the establishment of the so-called modern state (and before the rise of absolutism), is evolving. The medieval prince who has to display his natural and lawful authority (especially by his exemplariness), also has to work on the preservation of his power. In the name of his duty, he happens to accomplish -and justify- certain actions, some of which could transgress the rules. If the Reason of State is only named in the 16th century, its principle could already lie in the princes' motivation for action at the end of the Middle Ages in the building of sovereignty. Between necessity and rationality, the prince willing to dominate could invoke a superior reason (a foreshadowing of the modern State?) and, in its name, use the force out of the common rules. The examination of some specific violent episodes of the late fifteenth century, comparing the cases of constituted and unfinished kingdoms (England, France, and the principality of Burgundy), is interesting to observe the contexts of these extraordinary demonstrations of force, and especially the way they are justified. Beyond the set-up speech of the sources, the necessity of such acts is in question. So is the cruelty displayed by the prince. Does the exploitation of fear strengthen the prince's authority? Does it participate in a new mode of government by serving as support for the Reason of State?
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Méresse, M.-H. (2023). Des princes cruels ? La place de la brutalité dans les modes de gouvernement à la fin du Moyen Âge (France, Angleterre, Pays-Bas bourguignons). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/235708