This book contributes to current debates on the history and theory of international law by focusing on the life and work of the sixteenth-century Italian émigré, legal scholar, and practicing lawyer, Alberico Gentili (1552–1608). A Protestant who lived in exile and Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford, Gentili contributed substantially to the development of the law of nations. Although he lived in an age of religious wars, clashes of cultures, struggles for hegemony and religious intolerance, Gentili sketched out fundamental concepts of international law while also separating international law from both theology and municipal law. Not only is his work historically relevant, but it is crucial to understand contemporary issues and ongoing debates regarding the maintenance of international peace, the safeguarding of cultural diversity, and international justice.
This book aims to develop a solid understanding of, and position on, Alberico Gentili’s contribution to international law. As Gentili’s work has been characterized by some ambiguities, this book combines both textual and contextual analysis. Not only does it carefully examine the text of the Gentilian works, but it also contextualizes the works in the political, cultural, and legal environment in which Gentili lived, in order to shed some light on this enigmatic scholar, and to map and critically assess the seminal contribution he made to the theory of the law of nations.
By unveiling the dialectical oscillations of the Gentilian thought between opposing poles, this work provides the reader with the critical tools necessary to appreciate the complexity of the Gentilian opus against the lights and shadows of the sixteenth century. It also provides the reader with a complete analytical framework of Gentili’s major theoretical contributions to international law, which may be of use to both practitioners and scholars with an interest in the past, present, and future of international law.
FrontispiecePortrait of Alberico Gentili, painted by Domenico Bruschi in 1896, Aula consiliare, Provincia di Macerata Iv
1Statue of Alberico Gentili, 1908, by Giuseppe Guastalla, San Ginesio 25
2The Phoenix Portrait, circa 1575, Queen Elizabeth I, associated with Nicholas Hilliard, oil on panel, National Portrait Gallery 70
3The Armada Portrait, circa 1588, Queen Elizabeth I, by an unknown English artist, on display at the Queen’s House, Greenwich 338
