Razão de Estado na Monarquia Hispânica: os debates dos agentes políticos durante a guerra civil-religiosa francesa (1580-1598)

Resumen

This thesis aims to study the connections between political practice and political thought in the Early Modern period, by foccusing on the analysis of speeches by three ambassadors of the Hispanic Monarchy in France, during the second half of the 16th century. It is based on the assumption that the conflicts between the two kingdoms, which mainly occurred due to differences on the religious matters, highlighted two opposing political models. The Christian Republic ideal, which was led both by the Hispanic Monarchy, in the temporal government, and by the Pope, met with a series of resistances in its projection on the French kingdom. The situation culminated in the Philip II's attempt to crown Infanta Isabel Clara as the queen of France. In this context, our investigation will focus on three diplomats who were appointed to present the Spanish princesss candidacy: Juan Bautista de Tassis (1530-1610), Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa, II Duke of Feria (1559-1607) and Diego de Ibarra (? - 1626). The trio was entrusted with the task of posing and sustaining the project at the assembly of the General States convened by the Catholic League. Through the analysis of the sources, we intend to investigate those agents' political ideas, emphazising the debate on the languages of the reason of State, in order to understand the bonds between this set of ideas and the political thought in a broader sense. Finally, we will seek to comprehend how theory and practice intertwined in face of the intellectual challenges imposed by the violence of the wars of religion in France, in particular, the search for a political solution that would address the problem of tolerance. It was in this tumultuous scenario that the languages of the reason of State were disseminated. Their core of thinking was the pursuit of means to promote the conservation of the State. We used the term "languages" because, in practice, the discourse of State reason had a variety of shades, being appropriated and adapted both radical or moderate Catholics, as well as by Protestants. From the point of view of the Hispanic Monarchy, the ambassadors' speeches allow us to understand the contruction and deliberation of different resolutions for the problemas of confessional struggle and political obedience. And it was precisely from this praxis, based on the Machiavellian mark, that emerged the delimitation of the words and the conceptualization of the reason of State