This book would not be possible without the generous support of the University of Chicago Department of History, the German Academic Exchange Service (daad), Herzog August Bibliothek, Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, the Max Weber Fellowship Program at the European University Institute, the Mellon Foundation, the Law and Public Affairs Program at Princeton University, and the University of Cincinnati, especially the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Nor would this book exist without the generosity of a vast array of mentors, scholars, friends, and colleagues, who, in seminars, symposia, workshops, conferences, research venues, coffee breaks, and hikes, have not only shown great interest in the project but have also encouraged me to make the story of how ius gentium was transformed at the hands of the ‘fathers of legal humanism’ accessible to a variety of audiences that all too often do not intersect. To that end, I am incredibly grateful for the insightful questions, invaluable feedback, and generosity of Constantin Fasolt, Martin van Gelderen, Anthony Grafton, Michael Geyer, Tamar Herzog, William J. Novak, James Hankins, Annabel Brett, James Tully, Quentin Skinner, Brian Cummings, Lorraine Datson, Kim Lane Scheppele, Marie Theresa O’Connor, Stephen Porter, A. J. Aiseirithe, Daniel Gullo, Peter Brooks, Elizabeth Mertz, Gordon Silverstein, Janet McLean, Michael Lobban, Erika Gasser, Laura Culbertson, Tracy Teslow, Janne E. Nijman, Chana Baron, Katherine Sorrels, Robert Stern, Sigrun Haude, Ethan Katz, Maura O’Connor, Douglas B. Klusmeyer, Steven Gill, Theo Jung, James Murray, and, of course, Abigail Laura Karr and Ingo Trauschweizer. All of whom gave freely of their time to discuss the nuances of the argument, pushed me to clarify concepts, and challenged me to be a better writer. Special thanks are also due to the editors of this series and to those who carefully reviewed the manuscript, their comments and suggestions have undoubtedly made this a better work. And, to William Barker, who graciously shared the images of Alciati’s Emblems that appear in this volume from his private collection.
I owe an enormous debt to Constantin Fasolt, James Hankins, Daniel Gullo, Cameron Hawkins and James Murray for their Latin expertise and advice that helped me (over the life of this project) render the meandering prose of Guillaume Budé and the technical vocabularies of Ulrich Zasius and Andrea Alciati into accessible English. Naturally, all errors remain my own.
Finally, I wish to thank Janne E. Nijman and Anthony Carty, co-editors of Morality and Responsibility of Rulers: European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of