Re e baroni: l’obbedienza nel IV libro del De obedientia di Giovanni Pontano

The essay examines the political thought of Giovanni Pontano (1429-1503), expressed in his treatise De obedientia. Pontano analyses obedience in all its forms and how it should proceed from below starting from the subjects up to the king. The focus on the obedience that the barons owe to the sovereign is interesting: in the fifteenth century the kingdom of Naples, ruled by King Ferrante, was shaken by the baronial claims and by an aristocracy opposed to the new Aragonese dynasty. Pontano tries to legitimise his sovereign and to instruct the barons to respect the new government.