De Arcanis Rerumpublicarum Libri Sex

Arnold Clapmarius (1574-1604) became Professor of History and Political Science in 1600 at the Academy later University of Altdorf near Nurnberg. His main work De Arcanis Rerumpublicarum - by no means a guide or manual on clandestine politics, but an early enlightened text about the mechanisms of politics in monarchical, aristocratical or democratical rule - was printed in eight editions throughout the 17th century. The number of issues shows the importance of this text during the...
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Arnold Clapmarius (1574-1604) became Professor of History and Political Science in 1600 at the Academy later University of Altdorf near Nurnberg. His main work De Arcanis Rerumpublicarum - by no means a guide or manual on clandestine politics, but an early enlightened text about the mechanisms of politics in monarchical, aristocratical or democratical rule - was printed in eight editions throughout the 17th century. The number of issues shows the importance of this text during the religious controversies and constitutional conflicts in the period around the Thirty Years War: Clapmarius first presents a system of the power by the government and the affairs of state and by that he is first in the foundation of public law, so he is regarded as precursor in the thinking about state under the rule of law. It is overdue to include this work in the canon of texts about the history of political ideas in the early modern era. Arnold Clapmarius (1574-1604) war ab 1600 Professor fur Geschichte und Politik an der Akademie und spateren Universitat in Altdorf bei Nurnberg. Sein Hauptwerk De Arcanis Rerumpublicarum - keineswegs ein Handbuch clandestiner Politik, sondern eine fruhaufklarerische Schrift uber die Mechanismen der Politik monarchischer, aristokratischer und demokratischer Herrschaft - wurde im 17. Jahrhundert in sieben Auflagen gedruckt. Die zahlreichen Ausgaben zeigen die Bedeutung, die diesem Text in den standisch-religiosen Konflikten der Epoche um den Dreissigjahrigen Krieg zukam: Clapmarius legt als Erster eine Systematik der staatlichen Macht vor und darf als ein Vorlaufer des Rechtsstaatsdenkens gelten. Es ist uberfallig, diese Schrift in den Kanon der Texte zur politischen Ideengeschichte der Fruhen Neuzeit aufzunehmen.