Editing Classical republicanism (section)

===Renaissance republicanism===
[[File:Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Niccolò Machiavelli]]]]

In Europe, republicanism was revived in the late [[Middle Ages]] when a number of states, which arose from [[medieval commune]]s, embraced a republican system of government.<ref>J.G.A. Pocock, ''The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine political thought and the Atlantic republican tradition'' (1975)</ref> These were generally small but wealthy trading states in which the merchant class had risen to prominence. Haakonssen notes that by the Renaissance, Europe was divided, such that those states controlled by a landed elite were monarchies, and those controlled by a commercial elite were republics. The latter included the Italian city-states of [[Florence]], [[Genoa]], and [[Venice]] and members of the [[Hanseatic League]]. One notable exception was [[Dithmarschen]], a group of largely autonomous villages, which confederated in a [[peasant republic|peasants' republic]]. Building upon concepts of medieval [[feudalism]], [[Renaissance]] scholars used the ideas of the ancient world to advance their view of an ideal government. Thus the republicanism developed during the Renaissance is known as 'classical republicanism' because it relied on classical models. This terminology was developed by Zera Fink in the 1940s,<ref>Zera S. Fink, ''The classical republicans: an essay on the recovery of a pattern of thought in seventeenth-century England'' (2011).</ref> but some modern scholars, such as Brugger, consider it confuses the "classical republic" with the system of government used in the ancient world.<ref>Bill Brugger, '' Republican Theory in Political Thought: Virtuous or Virtual?'' (1999).</ref> 'Early modern republicanism' has been proposed as an alternative term. It is also sometimes called [[civic humanism]]. Beyond simply a non-monarchy, early modern thinkers conceived of an ''ideal'' republic, in which [[mixed government]] was an important element, and the notion that [[virtue]] and the [[common good]] were central to good government. Republicanism also developed its own distinct view of [[liberty]].
Renaissance authors who spoke highly of republics were rarely critical of monarchies. While [[Niccolò Machiavelli]]'s ''[[Discourses on Livy]]'' is the period's key work on republics, he also wrote the treatise ''[[The Prince]],'' which is better remembered and more widely read, on how best to run a monarchy. The early modern writers did not see the republican model as universally applicable; most thought that it could be successful only in very small and highly urbanized city-states. [[Jean Bodin]] in ''Six Books of the Commonwealth'' (1576) identified monarchy with republic.<ref>John M. Najemy, "Baron's Machiavelli and renaissance republicanism." ''American Historical Review'' 101.1 (1996): 119–129.</ref>

Classical writers like [[Tacitus]], and Renaissance writers like Machiavelli tried to avoid an outspoken preference for one government system or another. Enlightenment philosophers, on the other hand, expressed a clear opinion. [[Thomas More]], writing before the Age of Enlightenment, was too outspoken for the reigning king's taste, even though he coded his political preferences in a utopian allegory.

In England a type of republicanism evolved that was not wholly opposed to monarchy; thinkers such as Thomas More, John Fisher {{Citation needed|reason=Unable to find any evidence John Fisher discussed republicansism|date=January 2024}} and [[Thomas Smith (diplomat)|Sir Thomas Smith]] saw a monarchy, firmly constrained by law, as compatible with republicanism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fink |first=Zera |title=the classical republicans: an essay on the recovery of a pattern of thought in seventeenth-century england |year=1962 |location=[[Evanston, Illinois]] |orig-year=1945}}</ref>

====Dutch Republic====
Anti-[[monarchism]] became more strident in the [[Dutch Republic]] during and after the [[Eighty Years' War]], which began in 1568. This anti-monarchism was more propaganda than a political philosophy; most of the anti-monarchist works appeared in the form of widely distributed [[pamphlet]]s. This evolved into a systematic critique of monarchy, written by men such as the brothers [[Johan de la Court|Johan]] and [[Peter de la Court]]. They saw all monarchies as illegitimate tyrannies that were inherently corrupt. These authors were more concerned with preventing the position of [[Stadholder]] from evolving into a monarchy, than with attacking their former rulers. [[Republicanism in the Netherlands|Dutch republicanism]] also influenced French [[Huguenots]] during the [[French Wars of Religion|Wars of Religion]]. In the other states of early modern Europe republicanism was more moderate.<ref>Eco Haitsma Mulier, "The language of seventeenth-century republicanism in the United Provinces: Dutch or European?." in Anthony Pagden, ed., ''The Languages of political theory in early-modern Europe'' (1987): 179–196.</ref>

====Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth====
In the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], republicanism was the influential ideology. After the establishment of the Commonwealth of Two Nations, republicans supported the status quo, of having a very weak monarch, and opposed those who thought a stronger monarchy was needed. These mostly Polish republicans, such as [[Łukasz Górnicki]], [[Andrzej Wolan]], and [[Stanisław Konarski]], were well read in classical and Renaissance texts and firmly believed that their state was a republic on the Roman model, and started to call their state the [[Rzeczpospolita]]. Atypically, Polish–Lithuanian republicanism was not the ideology of the commercial class, but rather of the landed nobility, which would lose power if the monarchy were expanded. This resulted in an oligarchy of the great landed magnates.<ref>Jerzy Lukowski, ''Disorderly Liberty: The political culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the eighteenth century'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010).{{ISBN?}}</ref>