The problem of the relationship between the category of «peace» in Machiavelli's «The Prince» and Richelieu's «Political Testament»
Authors: Saranov Serhii 
Published: December 2023

Machiavelli's «The Prince» and Richelieu's «Political Testament» are two iconic works that reflected the process of formation of political realism. On the one hand, this is a well-researched phenomenon, and in this sense, this article is not an attempt to highlight the historical significance of two separate works, since this aspect is quite well studied in historiography. The presented article is also not an attempt to highlight the historical circumstances of the creation of the two texts of the works. Despite the considerable interest of this question, it would also mean in many ways to repeat the path taken by other researchers or to be included in academic discussions that have a narrower framework. The presented article analyzes at the problematic level the methodological possibilities of a comparative analysis of the «peace» category within the framework of «The Prince» and the «Political Testament». In previous publications, the author of the article considered the general characteristics of the «peace» category in Richelieu's «Political Testament», methodological and interpretive aspects of the historical significance of «The Prince», outlined the contours of the problem of the reception of Machiavelli's ideas in «Political Testament». The author stated the topical nature of this issue in the general context of the formation of the tradition of socio-political development of the early modern times. The author proposed methodological parameters for the study of the «peace» category, emphasized the insufficient study of this issue in historiography as a whole. The topical nature of the mentioned problem is intensified in the light of insufficient study of the «Political Testament» in terms of sources and historiography. For a number of reasons, as you know, unlike «The Prince», Richelieu's «Political Testament» is a less studied text. Considering this, the issue of comparative consideration of the «peace» category in «The Prince» and «Political Testament» in the context of introducing additional characteristics to the definition of the «peace» category deserves special attention. This will allow us to better see the specifics of the formation of the tradition of political realism, to understand the degree of commonality and the level of differences in the texts of the two works from a number of key aspects.
The purpose of the article is to consider the problem of the relationship between the category of «peace» in Machiavelli's «The Prince» and Richelieu's «Political Testament». In addition to general scientific research methods, the main research method is the comparative-historical method. The scientific novelty is that, for the first time, a comprehensive comparative analysis of the category of «peace» in Machiavelli's «The Prince» and Richelieu's «Political Testament» is carried out. The author's concept of the internal structure of the «peace» category is presented, taking into account the addition of auxiliary elements to this structure. In addition, for the first time in the historiography of the researched issue, the analysis of the categories of «peace» in «The Prince» and «Political Testament» was carried out on the basis of the provisions of the methodological article of the French historian Marc Blok «Towards a Comparative History of European Societies». A comparative analysis of the category of «peace» in Richelieu's «The Prince» and «Political Testament» shows the productivity of the methodological positions of Mark Blok's article «On the Comparative History of European Societies», as well as Leo Strauss's point of view expressed in his concept of «three waves of modernity» regarding the rupture of Machiavelli's connection with «pre-modern» political thought. We argue, complementing the opinion and argument of Leo Strauss, that in the context of the analysis of the category of «peace» Machiavelli made a break primarily with the tradition of St. Augustine and Homa Aquinas. On the contrary, in our opinion, Richelieu in «Political Testament» tries to connect two traditions, Machiavellian and «pre-modern», trying to offer a «compromise option».