Extremes and the tradition of the mixed constitution from early humanism to the age of democratic revolutions

Speaking in humanistic terms, Aristotelism proved to be a powerfully effective trend until well into the eighteenth century.1 Even though scholastics helped it to blossom, it soon departed from the theological grasp. Also, Averroism had already made its contribution, leading to lively discussions at the arts faculty in Paris, among others.2 Such tendencies found their continuation in the early Renaissance and in the bourgeois humanism of the northern Italian city-states.3