Giovanni Botero

Giovanni Botero (* 1544 in Piedmont, † 1617 in Turin ) was an Italian political writer, priest, poet and diplomat during the Renaissance.

Life

He was born in Piedmont, educated by the Jesuits and later taught himself in colleges, although he never was member of the Order. In 1579 he was released as he had criticized the temporal power of the pope in a sermon. However, he found the support of the Archbishop Carlo Borromeo, whose secretary he was 1582. 1598 Botero became a teacher of the son of the Duke of Savoy, and traveled with him to Spain. His major work, " Della ragione di stato " appeared 1589th He pointed in Niccolò Machiavelli's views on political morality back and stood for a state which should be based on Christian principles. However, he also held the " reason of state " for a purpose that justifies the means. " Relationi universalized " ( 1596) contains descriptions of historical and interesting facts about the population. "Cause della città della grandezza e magnificenza " ( 1589 ) dealt with the causes of the growth of cities.