La consideración del hombre: el "Libro segundo del perfecto príncipe cristiano" de Francisco de Monzón, un espejo de príncipes humanista

Abstract

Francisco de Monzon was a protégé of the Empress Elizabeth (wife of emperor Charles V), professor of Theology at the University of Coimbra and chaplain of King John III of Portugal. He is known as the author of one of the few Iberian “Mirror of Princes” written in the sixteenth century. This work, the Espejo del príncipe cristiano, was considered incomplete until an article written by Professor Maria de Lourdes Correia Fernandes in 1991 revealed the existence of its continuation (the Libro Segundo) in the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo in Lisbon.This work by Monzón enthusiastically defends the possibility of moral instruction for the prince and thus departs from the atmosphere of distrust and suspicion present in the Spanish political treatises written from the mid-sixteenth century on as a result of the influence of the Council of Trent and the burst of Machiavelli’s ideas. Despite its relevance, the second part of this treaty has received little scholarly attention until now. The Libro Segundo del espejo del perfecto príncipe cristiano, which imitates the contemporary miscellaneous repertoires of humanistic learning, deals with a variety of topics of general interest while reflecting on the figure of the prince and on the various members of the perfect republic. The article also analyzes Monzón’s vision of man.