Juan De Mariana
1536-1623/24. Spanish Jesuit. Born at Talavera, he became a Jesuit in 1554 and read philology, history and theology at Alcalá, after which he lectured in theology at Rome (1561-64), Sicily (1564-69), Paris (1569-74), and Toledo, as well as preaching widely. His De Rege et Regis Institutione (1599), written at the request of Philip II, made him famous. It advocated the people's right to tyrannicide and made the Jesuits responsible for the assassination of Henry IV of France* and the Gunpowder Plot* in England. This view was condemned by the order in 1610. In De monetae mutatione he openly accused the Spanish officials of fraud and when imprisoned wrote a diatribe against the Jesuits. He wrote also several volumes on Spanish history and Scholia in Vetus et Novum Testamentum (1613).