The Problem of Tyranny in the “Justification of the Duke of Burgundy” by Jean Petit (1408)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the treatise The Justification of the Duke of Burgundy (1408) written on demand of Jean the Fearless by his adviser Doctor of Theology Jean Petit. The treatise was a successful attempt to protect the duke's reputation, who ordered in November 1407 to kill his cousin Louis of Orleans, the brother of the French king Charles VI. Jean Petit justified the actions of his master by the fact that the late Duke of Orleans was a tyrant who tried to remove Charles VI from the kingdom's administration and destroy him. Thus, the author of the article focuses on the peculiar concept of tyranny and tyrannicide proposed by Jean Petit. Focusing on specific political circumstances, the Parisian theologian proposed to understand tyranny not as an already completed seizure of power but as an intention to commit such an illegal act. Thus, tyranny was considered in the Justification of the Duke of Burgundy to a greater extent as a moral category, a certain state of mind and soul that guides the traitor and leads him to the intended goal.