La educación político-económica del gobernante en los discursos al rey Felipe III de Pedro de Valencia (1555-1620)

Abstract

Present-day economical crisis resembles partly that one suffered in Spain at the beginning of the 17th century. In those days, the Spanish Crown, which like all modern States had needed to carry out new functions such as deciding the ell into a deep economic crisis. Many treatises and discourses, several of them addressed to the king Philip III were written to change the economic policy of the State, which was considered responsible for the evils affecting Spain. Some of these texts have been studied by the historians of economics, but not by the historians of education, however they can be, in our opinion, included in that literary genre whose objective was the education of the princes. In this work we will analyse the writings dedicated to that king by the Spanish humanist Pedro de Valencia with the aim of educating the rulers of the Monarchy so that they could acquire the necessary intellectual and moral virtues to accomplish their duties. There are in his texts many teachings that are still valid nowadays.