Juan de MarianaHeredero de la escuela de Salamanca y precursor del liberalismo

Abstract

Juan de Mariana (1536-1624) was a Spanish author of the Jesuit order noted for writing the first modern book on the history of Spain. Commissioned by King Felipe II, he published in Latin language the work History of rebus Hispaniae in 1592 and his own Spanish translation entitled General History of Spain in 1601. This doctoral research aims to analyze his main works on political economy De Rege et Regis Institutione (1599) and De Monetae Mutatione (1609), together with his historical work, in order to answer two important questions: whether Juan de Mariana belonged to the School of Salamanca and, also, if he could be considered a precursor of liberalism that influenced later authors of the XVII and XVIII centuries. In order to answer the first question, the research proposes two possible groupings of the Spanish later scholastics that allow the analyses of the large set of institutions and economic principles that they defended. The first classification group of the Spanish late scholastics is based on their ties to the University of Salamanca and to the use of the people’s law (common law) and is called School of Salamanca. However, the second classification group of authors is a broader set where merge the School of Salamanca with the other Spanish authors influenced and quickly extended to all the Spanish universities (Palencia, Valladolid, Alcala de Henares, Valencia, Seville) and linked to the generic use of natural law for the identification of institutions and principles responsible for economic growing of the market order (or economic order) as, among others, property rights, private contracts, international trade, the principle of consent, the principles of taxing, the market price, the origin of money and its functions, the need to balance the public budgets, low taxes and minimal debt, the principle of time preference, the interest rate on loans, the importance of letters of credit...