The Six Books of the Commonwealth  

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The Six Books of the Commonwealth (Les Six livres de la République, 1576) is a book by Jean Bodin. It is his most famous work. The ideas on the importance of climate in the shaping of a people's character were also influential, finding a prominent place in the work of contemporary Italian thinker Giovanni Botero (1544–1617) and later in the French philosopher Baron de Montesquieu's (1689–1755) climatic determinism.

The discussion regarding the best form of government which took place in those years around the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572) gave the inspiration; Bodin attempted to embark on a middle path. Machiavelli would have granted the sovereign the right to act for the benefit of his state without moral consideration, and Protestant theorists advocated a popular government, or at least an elective monarchy. Bodin's classical definition of sovereignty is: "Template:Lang" (the absolute and perpetual power of a Republic). His main ideas about sovereignty are found in chapter VIII and X of Book I, including his statement "The sovereign Prince is accountable only to God".

The Six livres were an immediate success and were frequently reprinted. A revised and expanded Latin translation by the author appeared in 1586. With this work, Bodin became one of the founders of the pragmatic inter-confessional group known as the politiques, who ultimately succeeded in ending the Wars of Religion under King Henry IV, with the Edict of Nantes (1598). Against the monarchomachs who were assailing kingship in his time, such as Theodore Beza and François Hotman Bodin succeeded in writing a fundamental and influential treatise of social and political theory. In its reasoning against all types of mixed constitution and resistance theory, it was an effective counter-attack against the monarchomach position invoking "popular sovereignty".

The structure of the earlier books has been described as Ramist in structure. Book VI contains astrological and numerological reasoning. Bodin invoked Pythagoras in discussing justice and in Book IV used ideas related to the Utopia of Thomas More The use of language derived from or replacing Niccolò Machiavelli's città (Latin civitas) as political unit (French cité or ville) is thoughtful; Bodin introduced republic (French république, Latin respublica) as a term for matters of public law (the contemporary English rendering was commonweal(th)). Bodin, although he referenced Tacitus, was not writing here in the tradition of classical republicanism. The Ottoman Empire is analysed as a "seigneurial monarchy". The Republic of Venice is not accepted in the terms of Gasparo Contarini: it is called an aristocratic constitution, not a mixed one, with a concentric structure, and its apparent stability was not attributable to the form of government.

The ideas in the Six livres on the importance of climate in the shaping of a people's character were also influential, finding a prominent place in the work of Giovanni Botero (1544–1617) and later in Baron de Montesquieu's (1689–1755) climatic determinism. Based on the assumption that a country's climate shapes the character of its population, and hence to a large extent the most suitable form of government, Bodin postulated that a hereditary monarchy would be the ideal regime for a temperate nation such as France. This power should be "sovereign", i.e., not be subject to any other branch, though to some extent limited by institutions like the high courts (Parlement) and representative assemblies (États). Above all, the monarch is "responsible only to God", that is, must stand above confessional factions.

The work soon became widely known. Gaspar de Anastro made a Spanish translation in 1590. Richard Knolles put together an English translation (1606); this was based on the 1586 Latin version, but in places follows other versions. It appeared under the title The Six Bookes of a Common-weale.




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