Utopian Antipodes: The Influence of Tommaso Campanella and Pedro Fernández de Quirós on Spanish Habsburg Messianism
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2020
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The focus of this research is to better understand the utopian vision of Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernández de Quirós and to determine whether this vision reflected merely his own idiosyncratic religious delusions or whether it reflected the Messianic aims of the Spanish Empire. It also seeks to compare his ideas alongside those of the famous Italian philosopher, Tommaso Campanella, to which they bear striking resemblance. This study advances the hypothesis that the Messianic vision of Campanella influenced the Spanish Habsburgs who then tasked Quirós with its initiation by locating Terra Australis Incognita.
The research approach includes detailed textual comparisons of key works of Campanella and Quirós to determine whether such a claim can reasonably be substantiated. Particular attention is paid to their common millenarian ideas, shared idiosyncratic interpretations of prophecy, and similarities between Quirós’s belief in a ‘New Jerusalem’ and Campanella’s City of the Sun. I also focus attention on their networks of associations which I argue shed light on how their ideas may have circulated, focusing on their shared links to the Duke of Sessa and Pope Clement VIII.
The findings from this research indicate that Campanella and Quirós envisaged near identical utopian visions. I highlight how they anticipated Spanish and Catholic world hegemony underscored by theocracy and the fulfilment of idiosyncratic interpretations of end-time prophecies. They also held similar views on idyllic societies such as those in the City of the Sun and the New Jerusalem.
The main conclusions drawn from this study are that Campanella and Quirós shared a philosophical and a temporal link centered on the Spanish Crown. These findings lend weight to the idea that Spain experimented with Messianism as a strategic means of regaining imperial ascendancy in the late Renaissance culture wars. This study also provides a basis for rethinking the influence Campanella had with the Spanish Crown, the credibility of Quirós and the idea that the first European search for Terra Australis Incognita was motivated by a Messianic impulse.
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