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Jean Bodin (1530-96), French Philosopher and Statesman
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Born into a Catholic family in Anjou, Bodin became a Carmelite friar. Sent to Paris by the Carmelites, he studied under the lecteurs royaux instituted by Francois I, Bodin's model of the ideal sovereign. Imprisoned on suspicion of Lutheran leanings, and fearing that religious wars would engulf Anjou, Bodin left for Paris, where he became an advocate for the Parliament for Paris. His first systematic work championed practical law instead of the exegesis of ancient texts. In 1571 he entered the service of the Duc d'Alençon, brother of the future Henri III, who befriended Bodin at his coronation in 1574. In 1576, at a meeting of the States-General, Bodin broke with the king, opposing his request for financing to suppress the French Protestants; his speech probably averted civil war but lost his the king's favor. Retiring to a humble post in the provinces, Bodin wrote The Six Books of a Commonweal in 1578.
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