Republic

The Middle Ages and the Beginning of Modernity

During the Middle Ages, res publica generally designated the political community in opposition to the church. It was composed of a body politic whose head was the prince or the king. In the late Middle Ages, new republics (e.g., the Swiss confederation) appeared in Europe when a number of small states or city-states embraced republican principles of government. Generally, these were small states or city-states in which the merchant class had risen to prominence. In Italy, given the absence of a powerful central government, prominent towns gained considerable independence and adopted communal forms of government (e.g., the Republic of Venice and that of Genoa). In Florence, the memory of the Greek city-state, the Roman republic as well as of the successful restoration of the republic between 1494 and 1512 inspired an exceptional generation of Florentine republicans. Machiavelli, its most outstanding representative, served as second secretary in the Chancellory of the restored Florentine republic between 1498 and 1512. Machiavelli's reinterpretation of the political legacy of antiquity was based on the notion of virtu—common liberty and love of the country—and inspired antiroyalist, republican literature in 17th-century England (e.g., James Harrington's republican tract Oceania). The republican revolts in Britain and the Netherlands were linked to the formation of a large merchant class who prospered from the trade. The Dutch Revolt, beginning in 1566, saw the Dutch republic reject the rule of Hapsburg Spain in a long conflict that would last until 1648. The Dutch republic resisted the greatest military power of the day and was the wonder of 17th-century Europe. In contrast to the Roman republican model centered on military virtue, the Dutch republic was centered more on mild commercial virtues. The Dutch commercial republic brought together the values of republicanism with those of democracy and tolerance. However, in a world of emerging large absolutist monarchies, the defense of the liberty of small republican governments was short lived. It was the modern revolutions in America and France that would leave a definitive scar on the “system” of absolutist monarchies. The actions of both nations marked the beginning of the Democratic Age and brought about a historical reversal of balance in favor of the republican and the modern democratic model of government.

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