Erasmo Castellani Della potestà de’ prencipi: An Unfinished Project in Conversation with Modern European Political Thinkers Introduction The name Paolo Sarpi immediately brings to mind his defense of Venice during the papal Interdict in 1606 and the history of the Council of Trent. However, these are only the tips of the iceberg of his literary production, both private and official, in which he discussed religion, politics, philosophy, and logic. From the moment he was appointed official canonist and theological adviser by Doge Leonardo Donà (one of the most prominent patricians of the giovani faction, whose political view share several points with that of Protestant countries), Sarpi made available his erudition to the Venetian Republic. Sarpi was probably one of the most radical souls among the Venetian reformers, very much eager not only to abate the papal influence in Venice’s business, but also deeply involved in the contemporary developments of the concept of State, coming in particular from the Protestant environment. His major reforming project, doomed to fail, was probably the reconfiguration of the benefices in the territories of the Republic, in order to reorganize Venice politically and ecclesiastically. Yet Sarpi did not abandoned completely his program: despite not being able to carry on his reforming plan in the public space, and kept extremely busy by his official duties, he continued developing it in the personal sphere, as it emerges significantly in his private correspondence. 1 The text that I will analyze is an example of Sarpi’s “private” production. As we will see, this writing is controversial and not easy to position organically in his work; moreover, the lack of historical information around these few, long forgotten pages, makes it almost impossible to define the genesis of this work and to whom it was addressed. Most likely, it was the draft of the first three chapters of a larger project whose aim was to define the rights of a sovereign State and the limitations of the Church within it. Fulgenzio Micanzio, in the biography of Sarpi, wrote: “Si sono ancora vedute le rubriche di 206 capitoli d’un’opera, che si vede ch’egli aveva nell’idea, Della potestà dei prencipi,... e se ne può far argomento dell’estesa ch’egli ha fatta de’ tre primi capitoli solamente.”1 Hence, even the title is ambiguous, since it was “invented” by Sarpi’s biographer, possibly in contrast with Bellarmine’s De potestate summi pontificis. However, the titles of the sections and the development of the first three allow us to put this work in a broader context, that is to say in a precise historical moment, and in conversation with other contemporary political theorists, especially in Italy, France, Germany, England and the Netherlands. It represents part of the ideological political agenda of Sarpi, free from the constraints of the legal framework that bound him in his official consulti. It finally exemplifies the modernity of Sarpi in the discourse of sovereignty and State, with many features in common with Protestant theorists, yet heavily grounding his thoughts on the Scriptures and their exegesis. I. The titles of the sections show clearly the main goal of Sarpi’s work: in civil life, there is no room for two equal and independent powers (ecclesiastic and secular) within the territories 1 Micanzio, Vita, p. 1333. 2 of one State. This was not a new argument for the author, who had expressed the same point in several other works, from the writings over the Interdict to the consulti on the jurisdiction on Ceneda, and in his private correspondence, especially to the Gallican jurist Jacques Gillot.2 Actually, since many titles are easily deductible from Sarpi’s previous works, it would not be surprising that that list was in fact drafted by Micanzio or others familiar with Sarpi and his thought. Nonetheless, and possibly for this very reason, it can be used to analyze Sarpi’s ideas on the relationship between a sovereign State and the Church of Rome. What is particularly problematic here is dating both the titles of sections and the first three drafts of these titles. Corrado Pin in his essay posits as terminus post quem for the production of the sections the two-year period 1609-10, since at that time Sarpi, among other things, was discussing with Gillot and Agostino Dolce – a Venetian in the court of the viceroy of Naples – the idea of writing a book on the topic mentioned above, discussing of theology, law and politics.3 Another reason to consider that period as the one in which Sarpi started to lay down ideas for this work is the publishing of Bellarmine’s Tractatus de potestate summi pontificis in rebus temporalibus, adversus Gulielmum Barclaium in 1610, which, as suggested before, probably inspired the title given by Micanzio to the unfinished work of his master, in open contrast with the writing of Bellarmine. However, that period was a very busy one for Sarpi, who was starting several projects, working on the translation of Sir Edwin Sandys’s Relation of the State of Religion, completing his Historia dell’Interdetto, outlining the left undone Trattato delle materie beneficiarie and, of course, issuing several consulti for the Venetian government; among them, worth of notice for their 2 Pin, Progetti e abbozzi sarpiani sul governo dello stato, pp. 103-104. 3 Ibid, pp. 101-2. 3 resonance with the analyzed work, Della potestà coattiva and Difesa delle scritture, in which Sarpi on the one hand accused the misinterpretations of the Scriptures made by Church of Rome, and on the other praised the religious and political virtues of Venice.4 Also, in one consulto on Ceneda, Sarpi stressed two general points that emerge very clearly in Della potestà de’ Prencipi: first, the fact that the State must be aware of its rights and its duties, its sovereignty and those who threaten it; second, that one of the main duty of a government is to guarantee the public order and calm.5 We cannot go any further with conjecture about the dating of the work, nor is the identification of its audience an easy task too. But we can try to close in on the possible readers by analyzing the text. At first glance, Della potestà de’ prencipi appears to be a politico- juridical work: it addresses questions already elaborated in other consulti, it aims to propose a different organization of the State, and accuses the Papacy, the most significant rival of Venice at that time, of being the mother of all problems that a sovereign State can have. Even the tone – at times authoritative, at times ironic – recalls that of his other writings. However, there are as well several aspects that suggest that the Venetian ruling class was not the ideal reader of this work. In fact, the consulti are usually very pragmatic, straight to the point of the controversy; their language is rarely academic while this text is clearly not suited for men who have learnt about politics by dealing first-hand with administrative and judicial problems. Micanzio, presenting Della potestà de’ principi in the passage mentioned above , wrote: “… sendosi mandate quelle rubriche in diversi paesi dove si trovano uomini celebri in 4 Sarpi, Consulti, Vol. I, book II, pp. 623-628, 677-695. 5 Ibid, pp. 855-862. 4 dottrina et erudizione.”6 Again, it is necessary to be cautious with the words of Micanzio, but it is meaningful that he stressed the fact that, ideally, Sarpi’s work was meant to be read, discussed and debated among European intellectuals. Once more, despite the truthfulness of this claim, we can see that the text was intended, or at least had the potential, to be in conversation with the intellectual debates about the meaning of State, and was not limited to simply address the controversy between the Church and the Serenissima. Pin, on this regard, attempts to locate more precisely Sarpi’s work in the intellectual debate: he proposes that this work could have been thought to participate to the lively debate between Gallicans and Huguenots against Bellarmine’s De potestate summi ponteficis and in general Jesuit’s politics. However, he is aware that this is a conjecture supported only by pieces of evidences in the text and Sarpi’s close relationship with many French leading thinkers, since there are no documents that can support this thesis.7 Another point I want to stress to underline the European inclination of this work is precisely its main topic. As we have seen, the title Della potestà de’ prencipi was not given by Sarpi himself; rather, it was assigned by Micanzio, who read in the sections – which clearly address the problem of the interference of the Church in the administration of a State – a more general vocation towards the essence of sovereignty. We have also seen before that Paolo Sarpi believed that one of the main goals of the prince, if not the most important, is to maintain the public order and to guarantee peace and tranquility. Sarpi called his time “troubled.” And in fact he lived in the aftermath of the Reformation and the Council of Trent, read and heard about the difficult situations in England between Anglicans and the 6 Micanzio, Vita, p. 1338. My Italic. 7 Pin, Progetti e abbozzi sarpiani sul governo dello stato, p. 111. 5 Puritans, followed with attention the religious wars in France and the fragile situation within the Holy Roman Empire. He then fought in the front line during the Interdict Crisis, and witnessed the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War. All these “troubles” were caused by the difficult relationship between States, the unclear powers of the sovereign and the interference of the Church of Rome in State’s business.