Entre la “ciudad ideal” y la “sociedad real”: consideraciones sobre Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo y la «Suma de la política»

Abstract

By the end of the Middle Ages, a number of treatises were written which scholars have regarded as true proposals for an ideal city. This paper focuses on Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo’s Suma de la Política. After breaking down the main components of his ideal city into three major sections (the physical environment, the social body and the practice of sound government), the paper argues that, under pretext of founding a city and far from considering the latter from the architectural and formal point of view, the Segovia-born churchman saw it as an expresion of a given social and political order. This he did by resorting to a conservative and moral conception of politics while accepting such urban-planning, social and political foundations as were prevalent in the society in which he lived. In this way, Sánchez de Arévalo’s discourse goes beyond the purely urban setting and becomes a vindication of the monarchic form of government. The latter is thus presented as the custodian of the commonwealth as well as an ideal system which –it is concluded– each social and political actor redirects and uses in the service of his particular goals and interests.