The Monarchomachs included jurists such as the Calvinists
François Hotman (1524–1590),
Théodore de Bèze (1519–1605),
Simon Goulart (1543–1628),
Nicolas Barnaud (1538–1604),
Hubert Languet (1518–1581),
Philippe de Mornay (1549–1623) and
George Buchanan (1506–1582), as well as Catholic writers such as
Juan de Mariana (1536–1624). They had a special influence in the so-called Dutch revolt and
contributed to the Netherlands' Act of Abjuration. Through the means of
libels and theoretical tracts, they revived the doctrine of the
tyrannicide. It had been opposed during the
Middle Ages by the "legists" (jurists who theorized the royal power) who attempted to reserve the title of
tyrant to those who tried to overturn the ruling monarch. Legists thus ended up legitimizing, under the name of "tyrannicide", the assassinations of political opponents ordered by the monarch. The Dutch Constitutional Law professor
A.M. Donner on page 16 of his state law manual calls Johannus Althusius "the last of the monarchomachs". Typically
Johannes Althusius in his
Politica opposes
Jean Bodin. Monarchomachs considered that the end of the
state was prosperity of the whole social group, as the true sovereign, granting effective practice of power to the king, whose authority remained of
divine right. This conception of the magistrates and the association of wise people as best representants of the people separated them from modern conception of
democracy, as they restricted effective power to a minority.
Max Weber considered them in his lecture
Politics as a Vocation as participants of the movement of
rationalization of law in Europe. The Monarchomachs also claimed that if the sovereign persecuted true religion, he would violate the contract concluded between God and the people, who were thus granted a
right of rebellion. They were inspired by
Aristotle,
Thomas Aquinas, and the
School of Salamanca on the killing of "bad kings". This legitimization of tyrannicide may have inspired as much the
friar Clément, who assassinated
Henry III in 1589, as
Ravaillac, who assassinated
Henry IV in 1610. Rebellion against tyranny was considered not only as necessary, but as a divine right. == Monarchomach theory in the 16th century ==