Metadata of the chapter that will be visualized online Book Title Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy Copyright Year 2010 Copyright Holder Springer-Verlag Chapter Title Mirrors for Princes Author Family Name Lambertini Particle Given Name Roberto Suffix Division Dipartimento di scienze storiche, documentarie, artistiche e del territorio Organization Università di Macerata Address Macerata (MC), 62100, Italy Email Comp. by: PG2686DRajalakshmi Stage: Galleys ChapterID: 0001136893MedPhilosophy978-1-4020- 9728-7 Date:25/2/10 Time:13:14:38 M The use of the expression ‘‘Mirrors for Princes’’ to desig- Mirrors for Princes nate a literary genre goes back to German scholarship that refers with the term Fu¨rstenspiegel to writings dealing with ROBERTO LAMBERTINI the virtues of the ideal ruler, with his duties and his Dipartimento di scienze storiche, documentarie, artistiche behavior in general. The counterparts of Fu¨rstenspiegel in e del territorio other European languages, such as Miroir de princes, Universita` di Macerata Specchio dei principi (and the Latin specula principum, 62100 Macerata (MC) although it is attested much later than the first examples Italy of the genre) have also established themselves in present day scholarship. These terms can be used in a rather loose sense, referring to a very wide range of sources, even Abstract narrative or iconographic ones, or parts thereof, carrying ‘‘Mirrors for Princes’’ designates a literary genre in which notions concerning rulership, or in a stricter sense, limited political ideas are expressed in the form of advice to to independent works explicitly aiming at instructing a ruler. This genre has its roots in Antiquity and especially kings and lesser rulers about the virtues they should cul- in Late Antiquity. The first medieval flourishing of works tivate, their lifestyle, their duties, the philosophical and of this kind dates back to the so-called Carolingian Renais- theological meaning of their office. Mirrors for Princes can sance, when the image of the ideal ruler is strongly therefore be used as a source for many purposes, from the influenced by the monastic background of most authors reception of classical literary texts to the history of men- writing on this topic. After a long decline, John of tality. They usually follow standard conventions so that Salisbury gave a renewed impulse to the genre, exerting their teachings about royal justice, princely virtues, and a long-lasting influence with his Policraticus. In the cul- the like tend to give the impression of a continuous rep- tural context of the twelfth century, Mirrors for Princes etition of commonplaces. This notwithstanding the genre opened not only to the patristic heritage, but also to undergoes interesting changes during the Middle Ages. classical authors. Many mirrors date back to the second This article will focus on the aspects that can be brought half of the twelfth and to the first half of the thirteenth to bear on the history of ethics and political philosophy. century, when they mostly took the form of compilations. In the following period, great thinkers such as Aquinas Roots in Late Antiquity and in the Earliest and Giles of Rome tried to insert the newly rediscovered Mediaeval Centuries Aristotelian ethical and political language into the mirrors It is well beyond doubt that the genre is indebted to tradition. Giles’s De regimine principum was the most classical works and to patristic literature as well, although successful and influential result of such effort. The rise of there is still lively discussion among specialists about the De potestate papae treatises in the first half of the four- extent and relevance of such influence. Seneca and Cicero teenth century reduced the role of Mirrors for Princes as played a very important role, but also Ambrose (De divinis carriers of political ideas but could not completely super- officiis) and Augustine, whose chap. 24 in Book V of his sede them. On the contrary, when the heyday of De City of God have been regarded as examples of Christian potestate papae was over, mirrors regained at least in part Mirror for Princes, obviously in a very loose sense of the their function. The present article does not cover the expression. Martin of Braga’s Formula vitae honestae, Quattrocento: it is well known, however, that the tradition (570–579), mediated a virtue ethics strongly influenced of the Mirrors continued in the Renaissance and in the by Cicero and Seneca, and in the Middle Ages was often following centuries. referred to as a work of the latter. The discussion about De duodecim abusivis (or abusionibus) saeculi, falsely attrib- uted to Cyprian, but now dated to the seventh century, is H. Lagerlund (ed.), Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4, # Springer Science+Business Media B.V., 2010 Comp. by: PG2686DRajalakshmi Stage: Galleys ChapterID: 0001136893MedPhilosophy978-1-4020- 9728-7 Date:25/2/10 Time:13:14:38 2 M Mirrors for Princes still open among scholars. It seems ascertained beyond recourse to church goods, but on the other hand, he doubt, however, that this work of Irish origin influenced, should submit to the judgment of the bishop when he especially with its treatment of the sixth abusio (dominus fails to fulfill his duties. sine virtute) and of the ninth (rex iniquus), later Carolin- gian Mirrors for Princes. Twelfth Century Between 1148 and 1153, Bernard of Clairvaux wrote Carolingian Mirrors for Princes a treatise addressed to Pope Eugenius III, the De Although some writings by Alcuin during the reign of consideratione, enlightening him not only about the duties Charles the Great already bear some essential features of and perils of the most important office in Christianity, but the Mirrors for Princes, the first flourishing of the genre is also about his view of the role of the pope in the church. usually dated to the ninth century, in the context of Car- Many scholars emphasize the similarities of this work to olingian courts. Scholars have rightly pointed out that the Mirrors for Princes, describing it as a speculum some authors of this century draw on previous works, paparum (mirror for popes). Bernard in fact devotes such as the already mentioned De duodecim abusivis seculi. large sections of his treatise to the virtues of a good pope Nevertheless, Smaragd of Saint Mihiel’s Via regia (813), (the four cardinal virtues that are according to him nec- Jonas of Orle´ans’ De institutione regia (831), Sedulius essarily connected), to the vices he should avoid in himself Scottus’ De rectoribus christianis (855–859), together and correct in the faithful, and to the advisers he should with some works by Hincmar of Reims’ (806–882) build choose, on the governance of the papal household. In up the first noteworthy body of texts explicitly devoted to addressing his advice to the pope, Bernard also expresses the moral instruction of the ruler. A common feature of his ecclesiological views: on one hand, he stresses the such treatises is the focus on the personal Christian virtues fullness of power of the supreme pontiff, on the other, he of the sovereign. They represent therefore an important claims that the exercise of this power should result in source for the history of virtue ethics in the early Middle a service (ministerium) to the church and not in Ages, since authors such as Smaragd are persuaded that a dominion over it. In particular, the pope is morally the ruler should possess the same virtues as other Chris- bound to respect the rights of the local churches. tians, obviously at the highest level. A striking feature of Written by a cleric who had attended the French Smaragd’s mirror, is that it overlaps in part the Diadema schools at the eve of the age of universities and had monachorum (a sort of manual for monks) of the same personal experience of life at lay and ecclesiastical courts author. From this point of view, Carolingian Mirrors for alike, John of Salisbury’s Policraticus, even though it is not Princes can be regarded as a source for the ethical doc- only a speculum principis in the strict sense, gave a renewed trines of the period, which are in turn heavily influenced impulse to the genre, as Wilhelm Berges noted in his by the monastic background of their authors. ground breaking survey, which accordingly begins its From the point of view of the history of political detailed analysis with this work. Deeply indebted to the thought, such ‘‘mirrors’’ share the implicit assumption interest in the classical heritage that is peculiar to the so- that the well-being of the kingdom depends almost exclu- called twelfth century Renaissance, John draws not only on sively on the moral righteousness of the ruler. As far as the biblical texts, such as Deut. 17 (which was to become an relationship between the secular rulers and religious almost topical reference for this literary genre) but also on authority is concerned, the authors of such ‘‘mirrors’’ authors from Antiquity. The Institutio Traiani that John consider the king or the emperor as the highest authority attributes to Plutarch and inserts in his Policraticus is of a community that is temporal and spiritual at the same a fake, but it adds a distinct classical flavor to John’s time. Sacerdotium and regnum are conceived of as integral political organicism, which conceived of the realm as parts of a whole. Sedulius Scottus (De rectoribus a body. The hierarchical functionalism that is implicit in christianis) defines the temporal ruler as God’s vicar in the detailed parallelism between limbs of the body and the his church. Notwithstanding this, as Ju¨rgen Miethke has parts of the regnum was also to exert a long lasting influ- pointed out, authors such as Jonas of Orle´ans, writing in ence on later specula.