• Gentili, the Poets, and the Laws of War

    Author(s):
    Christopher Warren (see profile)
    Date:
    2011
    Group(s):
    LLC 16th-Century English, TC Law and the Humanities
    Subject(s):
    Classical literature
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    npm17, Early modern studies
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6WS4N
    Abstract:
    This chapter illuminates a different sense in which Gentili's work was influenced by humanist sensibilities. Differentiating between legal humanism (the mos Gallicus) on one hand and rhetorical humanism on the other, it argues that Gentili did not subscribe to the rigid historical approach to legal sources as practised by the French humanist proponents of the mos Gallicus. Nor is the core significance of humanism in Gentili's writings directly related to his substantive stance on questions of the law of war, such as the issue of the legitimacy of pre-emptive warfare. It relates instead to the importance of the studia humanitatis and of the participation in the revival of classical learning, especially literature and poetry. Exploring the relationship in Gentili's writings between poets, especially Vergil, and the substance of his laws of war, the chapter acknowledges that poetry could not strictly serve as a source of law, yet emphasizes the importance of Vergil and other poets for Gentili's laws of war. In showing that poetry for Gentili went far beyond mere ornament, the chapter significantly enlarges standard international law-oriented understandings of Gentili's use of textual sources.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199599875.003.0008
    Publisher:
    Oxford University Press (OUP)
    Pub. Date:
    2011-5-11
    Book Title:
    The Roman Foundations of the Law of Nations: Alberico Gentili and the Justice of Empire
    Author/Editor:
    Benedict Kingsbury and Benjamin Straumann
    Page Range:
    146 - 162
    ISBN:
    9780199599875
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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