James I fused patriarchal fatherhood into head-of-state ideology
Evidence
James I of England also enlarged the patriarchal authority of the head of the kingdom. “The king towards his people is rightly compared to a father of children, and to a head of a body composed of diverse members… . As the discourse and direction flows from the head … so it is betwixt a wise prince and his people.” If disease in one part of the body affected the other organs, the head might be forced to “cut off some rotten members … to keep the rest of the body in integrity.” In ironic anticipation of the beheading of his successor Charles I, James queried, “But what state the body can be in, if the head … be cut off I leave to the reader’s judgment.” — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 351
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Nineteenth-century reactionary thought made the patriarchal family a microcosm of divine order — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 253; Legitimacy in dynastic monarchy derives from family membership — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 519; Louverture’s constitution reframed plantations as families with owner-fathers — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 867 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Family structure mirrors and reproduces national authority in Europe
#corroborates(0.82) - Nineteenth-century reactionary thought made the patriarchal family a microcosm of divine order
#expands(0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 253 - Louverture’s constitution reframed plantations as families with owner-fathers
#complicates(0.75) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 867 - Legitimacy in dynastic monarchy derives from family membership
#expands(0.72) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 519