The studies about 16th and 17th Century Political Thought have currently paid attention of new possibilities of interpretations of classical references without emphasizing teleological approaches as "political modernity" or "secularization". Such a mainstream explains the new interests of studying classical references of 16th and 17th Century Political Thought, but relating them to the background and breakdown of religious and political authorities in Early Modern Europe. So, this article intends to analyse the rhetorical motives used by James I in Basilikon Doron (1599) to represent sacred kingship and to figure its opposites (namely "puritans" and "papists"), also including a study of king's propositions and advices to his son on the ways of fashioning princely manners.
auctoritas; Basilikon Doron; Reformation; Ancient Regime.