Pierre Grégoire (also Pedro Gregoire, Petrus Gregorius Tholosanus) (c.1540–1597) was a French jurist and philosopher Grégoire, Pierre – Praeludia, 1583 – BEIC 13715256

Grégoire, Pierre – Praeludia, 1583 – BEIC 13715256

Career and key ideas

Grégoire was born to a poor Catholic family in Toulouse. He studied the law and made a career for himself as an influential and at times controversial Catholic jurist. He taught law at Cahors and Toulouse from 1566 until 1582 when his patron, Charles III of Lorraine, procured a professorship in civil and canon law for him at the university of Pont à Mousson. Here Grégoire found himself colleague to the Scottish jurist William Barclay, best known for his invention of the term ‘monarchomach’ and his political treatise ''De Regno et Regali Potestate'' (1600). Barclay and Grégoire jointly entered into a dispute with the Jesuit masters of the university, and Grégoire famously threatened to abandon Pont à Mousson altogether in protest at their governance. He was reintegrated into the law faculty in 1587 and remained there until his death. Grégoire's patron, Lorraine, had close ties to the Guise family and supported the cause of the Catholic League, to which Grégoire (as a consequence) had some affiliation. However, he later distanced himself from the movement. Grégoire's ''De Republica'' (1596–1597; 1609; 1642) is a detailed analysis of the function and purposes of a Christian commonwealth within a complex legal framework, and is often compared to

Jean Bodin Jean Bodin (; c. 1530 – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is known for his theory of sovereignty. He was also an influential writer on demonology. Bodin l ...

's ''République'' (1576). Grégoire considers the political community to be natural, and governed by a single person in its best form, stating his preference for monarchy as the ‘best’ of the constitutions described by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

in his ''Politics''. Using the organic metaphor of the body politic, he argued that a single head governed the ‘body’ of the people, thereby tapping into a common theme in theories of monarchy in this period that rule by many heads would be ‘monstrous.’ Grégoire takes an anti-Machiavellian line in the work, arguing specifically against his idea that religion could be used as a prop to political power. Echoing

Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

’ concept that ‘grace perfects nature’, Grégoire claimed that living under a monarchy was the most natural form of political life, and it enabled subjects to attain eternal life more easily than under other constitutions. Grégoire's theory of monarchy balances the idea that power originated with the people with the notion that, once transferred, it resides absolutely in the monarch. In tackling this dialectic, Grégoire produced a complex political philosophy whereby the monarch is prevented from corrupting the just, virtuous and pious nature of his office and destroying social and civil life by acting contrary to the fundamentals of human association. Grégoire's ''De Republica'' was a deeply influential work of political philosophy, and was Johannes Althusius’ most cited source in his ''Politica'' (1603).

Works

His ''Syntaxes artis mirabilis'' (1578) was an encyclopedic work on the sciences where

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

and

demonology Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or pseudoscience. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons. Demons may b ...

were included with

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...

and mathematics. Grégoire is considered to be in the tradition of

Raymond Lull Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca. He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art'', conceived as a type of universal logic to p ...

. The work was placed on the ''

Index of Forbidden Books The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden ...

''. In his ''De Republica'' he expresses political views in favour of

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

, and uses the analogy of family and state. His faculty was dominated by

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s, and Grégoire turned away from the policies of the Catholic League. A critic of Machiavelli and not a conventional Gallican, he drew on both

and

François Hotman François Hotman (23 August 1524 – 12 February 1590) was a French Protestant lawyer and writer, associated with the legal humanists and with the monarchomaques, who struggled against absolute monarchy. His first name is often written 'Francis' ...

, for an eclectic moderate Catholic position supporting the

papal deposing power The papal deposing power was the most powerful tool of the political authority claimed by and on behalf of the Roman Pontiff, in medieval and early modern thought, amounting to the assertion of the Pope's power to declare a Christian monarch he ...

restricted to the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

, and the publication in France of the

Tridentine decrees The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described as ...

. * ''Réponse au conseil donné par Charles du Moulin sur la dissuasion de la juridiction du concile de Trente en France'', Lyon, 1584. * ''Syntaxes artis mirabilis, in libros septem digestae. Per quas de omni re proposita,... disputari aut tractari, omniumque summaria cognitio haberi potest'', Lyon, Antoine Gryphe, 1575–1576, in three parts, the first two in a single volume : I) ''Syntaxes artis mirabilis'' 8 ff. + 190 p. II) ''Commentaria in prolegomena syntaxeon mirabilis artis'' 1 f, 304 p., III) ''Syntaxeon artis mirabilis'', 8 ff., 1055, 125 p. Later edition: ''Commentaria in syntaxes artis mirabilis per quas de omnibus disputatur habeturque cognitio autore Petro Gregorio Tholosano impressum Lugduni per Antonium Grifium 1585''. Later edition at Cologne, Lazarus Zetner 1610
Google Books
* ''Syntagma juris universi'' (1582). t.

t. I

* * ''De republica libri sex et viginti'', Lyon et Pont-à-Mousson, 1596. New edition 1597. Lyon 1609. * ''Institutiones breves et novae rei beneficiariae ecclesisticae'' (1602)http://documents.univ-toulouse.fr/150BIN/PPN042891825.pdf * ''Opera Omnia''. Geneva 1622

External links

*
Artis mirabilis

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregoire, Pierre 1540 births 1597 deaths Writers from Toulouse 16th-century French lawyers 16th-century French writers 16th-century male writers French encyclopedists French male non-fiction writers

Career and key ideas

Works

Further reading

External links

Notes