Founder of the concept of "sovereignty"
A French jurist and political thinker, founder of the modern concept of "sovereignty." In an age when France was torn by wars of religion, he argued that to maintain order a state must have a supreme, indivisible, unconstrained final power — this is "sovereignty." He held that sovereignty should be concentrated in the hands of the monarch to end civil strife by force. Though he used the concept to defend absolute monarchy, it became the cornerstone of all modern theories of the state: whether sovereignty rests with monarch, parliament, or people, the framework that "a state must have a final authority that decides" springs from Bodin.
Before Bodin, medieval power was layered and mutually checked — king, church, lords, and cities each held a share. Bodin was the first to argue clearly that a true state must have one indivisible, supreme final power. He named this thing "sovereignty." The word became a key to understanding every modern state thereafter.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.