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