Jean Bodin’s Six Livres de la République (1576) is a foundational work, offering a complex and sophisticated understanding of political life. It is a profound meditation on the nature of politics and the mechanics of power in a commonwealth. In light of recent developments in Bodinian scholarship the time is ripe for re-visiting his works. We invite papers which will offer fresh perspectives on this fascinating, encyclopaedic thinker. Scholarship on the early modern history of political thought in the last few years has shifted its emphasis away from absolutism and constitutionalism to concepts of political community, citizenship, domestic economy and territoriality ; we would like this conference to capitalise on these impulses and cast new light on corners of Bodin’s République which have been overlooked. We aim to recontextualise Bodin’s theory of the state in order to construct a new understanding of his concept of “the political”. The focus of the conference will be on the République but we welcome papers which consider this work in the context of Bodin’s wider writings, in particular his Methodus, Juris Universis Distributo and Universae Naturae Theatrum. We also encourage papers which consider Bodin’s legal and historical analysis in the context of the intellectual communities within and outside of France in this period, and questions of comparison between the French, Latin and English editions of the République.

We welcome papers from established scholars and early-career researchers in English or  French, and encourage a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Proposals for a paper of 30  minutes should be no more than 250 words and should be submitted before 30^th March.  We also request a brief CV of no longer than a page. Further enquiries are welcome. All  correspondence should be directed to bodinconference@gmail.com.