author
François Hotman
1524–1590
A sharp-minded French jurist and Protestant thinker, he wrote boldly about law, history, and the limits of royal power during one of Europe’s most turbulent centuries.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Paris in 1524, François Hotman became one of the leading legal humanists of his time. He studied law at Orléans, practiced in Paris, and later embraced the Reformed faith, a decision that pushed him into a life marked by exile, teaching, and controversy.
Over the years he taught and wrote in several Protestant centers, including Lausanne and Strasbourg, and became known for bringing classical learning to legal and political debate. He is especially remembered for Franco-Gallia (1573), a work that argued French monarchy should be limited by the nation’s laws and institutions rather than treated as absolute.
Hotman died in Basel in 1590. Today he is remembered as an important French jurist, historian, and political writer whose work helped shape early arguments against absolute monarchy.