The Problem of Reception of the Machiavelli’s «The Prince» Ideas in Cardinal Richelieu’s «Political Testament»

Abstract

The presented article examine the impact of the main ideas of Chapter XVIII of Machiavelli's "The Prince" on the development of socio-political thought in France in the early modern period. The author proposes to consider the indicated problems within the framework of the concept of the dialogue nature of the Italian and French tiled traditions put forward by him. This allows us to see the leading role of the Italian political thought of the Renaissance, its reception in France and the reaction to it within the framework of French social and political thought. From a methodological point of view, this reaction takes on the most significant form in Richelieu's Political Testament. The author of the article, taking into account the assessments made by representatives of the French and American historiography of the issue under study, comes to the conclusion that the eighteenth chapter of The Sovereign had a significant impact on the political thinking of Cardinal Richelieu, who was forced not only to take into account the point of view of Machiavelli, but also to argue with it in the "Political Testament".