Diplomacy and Political Ethics: Prudential Texts of Philip II, Juan de Mariana and Joseph Creswell during the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604)

Unlike aeshtetic works, whose impressions on the receptor are 'indifferent,' according to Kant, ethico-political texts cause a surplus of emotions. This is the case with declarations or proclamations of war, specula principum, and lay-ecclesiastic petitions. Herewith we analyze the end, always ambiguous; the literary genre, often malleable; and the multiple effects on the addressees of royal political tracts penned by Kings Philip II of Spain and Henry IV of France, and Jesuit ecclesiastics like Juan de Mariana and Joseph Creswell. Their works modified history by provoking various perlocutionary effects on their readers during the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604).