Already at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the literary genre of the Mirrors for Princes begins losing ground as a carrier of political theories, in favor of other genres, such as the depotestatepapae treatises, especially in the first half of the century, or the somnia literature, toward the end of the same century. This does not imply, however, that the production of specula principum ceases abruptly. On the contrary, political authors continued to recur to this genre to express their views during the Renaissance and well into modern times, even after Machiavelli and often against him. An overview of such development would exceed the scope of an article devoted to medieval Mirrors. It seems reasonable to conclude with some examples from the fourteenth century, before the influence of Humanism introduces a new shift in the Quattrocento.
For example, at the beginning of the 1330s, William of Pagula uses the literary form of the speculum, to protest against the institution of royal purveyance in the English kingdom. He does not limit himself to a moral complaint but argues in defense of a sort of ‘‘basic economic rights’’ that the king himself is not allowed to infringe. Interestingly, William supports his claim by arguing that the English realm is a fief of the pope, so that the sovereign does not possess the same fullness of power that an emperor or a pope can legitimately claim.
Some years later, Guido Vernani of Rimini dedicates to the Malatesta, most probably Malatesta and Galeotto, a Liber de virtutibus, that is an abridged version of Aristotelian virtue ethics mediated through Aquinas’ doctrine of happiness attainable in the present life. Guido had criticized Dante’s Monarchia and supported a hierocratic theory of power. Here he develops his own ethics for an Italian signore whose territory is inscribed in the boundaries of the ‘‘state’’ claimed by the Roman church.
In 1340-1344, the Portuguese Franciscan friar Alvaro Pais dedicated to Alfonso XI of Castiglia a Speculum Regum that not only puts a strong emphasis on princely virtues but also defends the superiority of monarchy over other constitutions and supports the supremacy of the spiritual over the temporal. His account of the origins of power is, as usual in many Franciscan authors, especially after John Duns Scotus, clearly not Aristotelian. He prefers tracing back the origins of subordination among men to pride and other vices. However corrupted the intention of the first rulers could have been, they still played a role in preserving social order. For this reason, God tolerates such a state of affairs, although it does not correspond to his original plan for mankind.
Wilhelm Berges numbered Francesc Eiximenis’ Regiment de la cosa publica (1383) among Mirrors for Princes. More recent studies have emphasized that the scope of this work exceeds the traditional limits of a mirror, developing an overall theory of monarchy. His views about monarchy are not only inspired by the principle that Christian faith must be the unifying element of every political community but are also guided by the peculiar experience of the kingdom of Aragon, where this Catalan Franciscan friar spent most of his life. As a result, Eiximenis supports the idea of a monarchy that is bound by covenants to its subjects and shares its power with parliamentary institutions.
See also: > Bernard of Clairvaux > Carolingian Renaissance > Giles of Rome, Political Thought > John of Salisbury > Thomas Aquinas, Political Thought
World History
