ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses Vives as a political counsellor who attempted to put rhetoric into practice in his critique of dynastic warfare in the Low Countries and in the Tudor court in the 1520s. In doing so, the chapter makes three points. First (conceptually), Vives, in a very Erasmian key, articulated a theory of politics that stressed the link between ethical character and virtuous political action. Second (rhetorically), he employed this ethical model in his critique of the increasing legalisation of political culture. Third (culturally), this critical stance, very present in his late 1520s political writings, aligned Vives with an Erasmian project of peace which gave voice to broader concerns of the time with destructive warfare and excessive taxation. By 1529, Vives’s political aspirations were over, and the rest of his life was dedicated to the analysis of the problems pestering Europe and to the delineation of a reform project. The outline of this project is presented through an analysis of De concordia.
