Renaissance Political Theory in Translation: John Florio and the Basilikon Doron

When King James VI of Scotland ascended to the throne of England in 1603, John Florio (1553-1625), well known as one of the most outstanding interpreters of Italian humanistic culture in Elizabethan England, and the celebrated translator of Montaigne’s Essais into English (1603), chose out of James’s numerous works to translate the Basilikon Doron into Italian. This work represents a lesser known and seemingly less relevant chapter in the history of translation than the Essays, and yet it is particularly interesting for its relevance to both political theory and linguistic practices of the time. This essay will discuss this most unusual case study of early modern translation, aiming to suggest that Florio’s translation worked as both linguistic exercise and a meditation on politics, and to establish some measure of the influence exercised by a major player of Italian culture in Elizabethan England on the political lexicon of early-modern England.