In his New Latin novel, Methodus Doctrinae Civilis (1628), Adam Contzen (1571-1635), Jesuit and confessor to Prince Maximilian I of Bavaria, presents his political theory in the form of a vita of fictive Ethiopian king Abissinus. This volume presents the first bilingual, annotated edition of Methodus. The introduction contextualizes Contzen's novel from the perspective of intellectual and literary history.
The book series 'Frühe Neuzeit' - founded in 1987 by Jörg Jochen Berns, Gotthard Frühsorge, Klaus Garber, Wilhelm Kühlmann and Jan-Dirk Müller - publishes editions, monographs and collected volumes advancing fundamental research in the field. It does not seek to produce wide-ranging overviews, premature syntheses or pretentious constructions but takes the long route of detailed work and the exploration of submerged traditions.
