La forma della majestas

Governo della moneta e potere della comunità nella teologia monetaria di Oresme

Abstract

In 1355, Nicolas Oresme, philosopher and political counselor of King Charles V of France, wrote the first work entirely dedicated to money, entitled De Moneta. In this text, he uses twenty biblical citations to argue that money is a common good, which does not belong to the King but to the whole community. The biblical verses are theological-political devices and structure a series of positions of theoretical-political importance. This implies examining the attributes of the majestas of the king, of the rights of the community, of the relationship between the powers over money and political practicability. Oresme’s theological-monetary discourse is an institutional and normative discourse and aims at two goals: the legitimization of money, considered a common good, and the legalization of the government of money (connected to the validation of money, based on the nexus that ties it to God, its Creator). The essay focuses on the relation between Oresme’s theoretical-political positions and the theology used by the Magister to confer legal force to money conceived as an exclusively common good of the whole community. 

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Edizione digitale destinata alla vendita pubblicata da Editrice Morcelliana (link esterno), © 2019 Editrice Morcelliana.
Edizione cartacea destinata alla vendita pubblicata da Editrice Morcelliana (ISSN 2239-6098; ISBN 978-88-372-3325-9; link esterno), © 2019 Editrice Morcelliana.