『마술사의 악마 숭배』와 장 보댕의 주권 개념 (De la démonomanie des sorciers and Jean Bodin’s Concept of Sovereignty)

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초록

Jean Bodin (1529/30-1596) was a leading French humanist of the 16th century who made significant contributions to the fields of law, history and philosophy. Bodin’s Les Six Livres de la République is considered an important work that laid the foundations for the concept of sovereignty and modern monarchical theory. Traditionally, scholars have associated Bodin’s sovereignty with absolutism or autocracy, interpreting the book as a justification for absolute monarchy in seventeenth-century France. More recently, however, a new trend of interpretation has emerged which argues that Bodin’s ‘absolute power’ should be interpreted as ‘power free from civil law’ rather than ‘arbitrary or despotic power’.
Bodin’s De la Démonomanie des Sorciers, on the other hand, has been seen as hostile to witches and influential in the rise of witch trials from the mid-16th century. As a consequence, this work is usually treated separately from his other major works, such as Les Six Livres de la République and the Methodus Ad Facilem Historiarum.
By situating De la Démonomanie des Sorciers within Bodin’s overall system of thought, this study departs from the conventional interpretation of this book. In particular, it is argued that the true meaning of Bodin’s ‘absolute sovereignty’ can be better understood through an examination of his metaphysical discussions.
Bodin emphasized the importance of “natural and divine law” as the universal norms of humanity. He believed that even a sovereign with “absolute power” could not violate this natural law, and this remained consistent throughout his thought. However, his changing views on the religious wars of the 16th century led to a different expression of these ideas.
Depending on the circumstances of his time, Bodin’s ideas changed. In 1566, in Methodus Ad Facilem Historiarum, he argued that the civil law was a reflection of the divine and natural law, and that monarchies limited by the law were superior. However, during the French Wars of Religion between 1566 and 1576, his views shifted to emphasize the legislative power of the sovereign. In his Les Six Livres de la Republique, published in 1576, Bodin redefined the sovereign as a “being free from the constraints of civil law” in order to give effect to “divine and natural law”. The key to his theory of sovereignty was that the sovereign must have legitimate authority and exercise it lawfully.
However, Bodin’s view that a sovereign could be the embodiment of the norms of natural and divine law in the temporal world would be frustrated by his experience at the États généraux of Blois(1576). In his view, Henri III had failed to comply with the fundamental laws of the kingdom and had failed to fulfill his obligation under divine and natural law to maintain the stability of a nation that surpassed the confessional dispute. As a result, Bodin witnessed the failure of his intellectual project to put the universal law of “divine and natural law” into practice through the legislative power of the sovereign.
Rather than continuing to explore the sovereign’s right to implement universal laws, both “divine and natural,” Bodin shifted his focus to a new topic: the problem of witches as a universal evil that plagued humanity and incurred God’s wrath. Bodin’s De la Démonomanie des Sorciers was his attempt to analyze and respond to what he perceived as a social threat, approaching it from philosophical, legal, and theological perspectives.
Bodin viewed the punishment of witches as crucial for maintaining state stability and order. To this end, he proposed an ‘exceptional procedure’ that would allow the sovereign to deviate from established judicial procedures laid down by ‘civil law’, whether created by the current sovereign or predecessors.
In Bodin’s conception, divine and natural law existed not merely as abstract precepts, but as practical norms requiring implementation through the sovereign’s ‘civil law’. While divine and natural law offered practical legal remedies for humanity, they did not “bind” humanity as a whole. Consequently, Bodin posited that only the sovereign, acting as the “agent of God,” could create laws binding the entire nation. That is, Bodin’s De la Démonomanie des Sorciers provided a crucial methodology enabling the sovereign to implement ‘divine law’ through ‘civil law’ ― a process he deemed essential to the sovereign’s legitimacy.

영어초록

Jean Bodin (1529/30-1596) was a leading French humanist of the 16th century who made significant contributions to the fields of law, history and philosophy. Bodin’s Les Six Livres de la République is considered an important work that laid the foundations for the concept of sovereignty and modern monarchical theory. Traditionally, scholars have associated Bodin’s sovereignty with absolutism or autocracy, interpreting the book as a justification for absolute monarchy in seventeenth-century France. More recently, however, a new trend of interpretation has emerged which argues that Bodin’s ‘absolute power’ should be interpreted as ‘power free from civil law’ rather than ‘arbitrary or despotic power’.
Bodin’s De la Démonomanie des Sorciers, on the other hand, has been seen as hostile to witches and influential in the rise of witch trials from the mid-16th century. As a consequence, this work is usually treated separately from his other major works, such as Les Six Livres de la République and the Methodus Ad Facilem Historiarum.
By situating De la Démonomanie des Sorciers within Bodin’s overall system of thought, this study departs from the conventional interpretation of this book. In particular, it is argued that the true meaning of Bodin’s ‘absolute sovereignty’ can be better understood through an examination of his metaphysical discussions.
Bodin emphasized the importance of “natural and divine law” as the universal norms of humanity. He believed that even a sovereign with “absolute power” could not violate this natural law, and this remained consistent throughout his thought. However, his changing views on the religious wars of the 16th century led to a different expression of these ideas.
Depending on the circumstances of his time, Bodin’s ideas changed. In 1566, in Methodus Ad Facilem Historiarum, he argued that the civil law was a reflection of the divine and natural law, and that monarchies limited by the law were superior. However, during the French Wars of Religion between 1566 and 1576, his views shifted to emphasize the legislative power of the sovereign. In his Les Six Livres de la Republique, published in 1576, Bodin redefined the sovereign as a “being free from the constraints of civil law” in order to give effect to “divine and natural law”. The key to his theory of sovereignty was that the sovereign must have legitimate authority and exercise it lawfully.
However, Bodin’s view that a sovereign could be the embodiment of the norms of natural and divine law in the temporal world would be frustrated by his experience at the États généraux of Blois(1576). In his view, Henri III had failed to comply with the fundamental laws of the kingdom and had failed to fulfill his obligation under divine and natural law to maintain the stability of a nation that surpassed the confessional dispute. As a result, Bodin witnessed the failure of his intellectual project to put the universal law of “divine and natural law” into practice through the legislative power of the sovereign.
Rather than continuing to explore the sovereign’s right to implement universal laws, both “divine and natural,” Bodin shifted his focus to a new topic: the problem of witches as a universal evil that plagued humanity and incurred God’s wrath. Bodin’s De la Démonomanie des Sorciers was his attempt to analyze and respond to what he perceived as a social threat, approaching it from philosophical, legal, and theological perspectives.
Bodin viewed the punishment of witches as crucial for maintaining state stability and order. To this end, he proposed an ‘exceptional procedure’ that would allow the sovereign to deviate from established judicial procedures laid down by ‘civil law’, whether created by the current sovereign or predecessors.
In Bodin’s conception, divine and natural law existed not merely as abstract precepts, but as practical norms requiring implementation through the sovereign’s ‘civil law’. While divine and natural law offered practical legal remedies for humanity, they did not “bind” humanity as a whole. Consequently, Bodin posited that only the sovereign, acting as the “agent of God,” could create laws binding the entire nation. That is, Bodin’s De la Démonomanie des Sorciers provided a crucial methodology enabling the sovereign to implement ‘divine law’ through ‘civil law’ ― a process he deemed essential to the sovereign’s legitimacy.

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