Dio, sovrano, stato in Francia tra la fine del Cinquecento e la prima metà del Seicento

Abstract

This essay proposes to show a change of sensibility in French political awareness between the end of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century. This change occurs inside the concept of royalty itself. The author compares the attitudes of the Navarre King, later Henry IV, King of France, and the ones of many contemporary catholic authors. This analysis succeds in showing that through the exaltation of the sacred and divine role of the King, a claim is also made — later more explicitly — on the goodness of the state, opposed till now by both catholics and protestants.