Juan de Mariana's great work,
Historiae de rebus Hispaniae, first appeared in twenty books at Toledo in 1592; ten books were subsequently added (1605), extending the work to the accession of
Charles V in 1519. In a still later abstract the author covered the accession of
Philip IV in 1621. It was so well received that Mariana was induced to translate it into Castilian (the first part in 1601; completed, 1609; English translation by J. Stevens, 1699). Mariana's
Historiae, though in many parts uncritical, is regarded for its research, accuracy, sagacity and style. Of his other works the most interesting is the treatise
De rege et regis institutione (
On the king and the royal institution, Toledo, 1598). In its sixth chapter, the question whether it is lawful
to overthrow a tyrant is freely discussed and answered in the affirmative, a circumstance which brought much odium upon the Jesuits, especially after the assassination of
Henry IV of France, in 1610. A volume entitled
Tractatus VII. theologici et historici (published by Mariana in
Cologne in 1609, containing in particular a tract,
De morte et immortalitate, and another,
De monetae mutatione (
On the Alteration of Money), where Mariana criticized the royal monetary politic, was put upon the
Index Expurgatorius. This led to the confinement of its author by the
Inquisition and to a process of
lèse-majesté. Allegedly, either the
De rege et regis institutione or the
De monetae mutatione influenced Chapter 29 of Part One of Cervantes's
Don Quijote. During his confinement, his papers were discovered to include criticism of the Jesuits. This was published after his death as
Discursus de erroribus qui in forma gubernationis societatis Jesu occurrunt (
A discourse on the sickness of the Jesuit order, Bordeaux, 1625), and was reprinted by order of
Charles III when he banished the Jesuits from Spain. According to
Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson, an academic economist specializing in the
School of Salamanca, Juan de Mariana and other Spanish scholastics provided much of the theoretical basis for
Austrian School economic thought.
English translations • "A Treatise on the Alteration of Money",
Journal of Markets and Morality, Vol. V, No. 2, Fall 2002. • "On the Coinage",
Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol. XXI, No. 2, Summer 2018. ==See also==