Title: The Just War in the German Baroque Drama Pietas victrix

Abstract: Nicolaus Avancini’s play Pietas victrix dramatizes the Christian emperor Constantine’s victory over the pagan usurper Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. It formulaically employs early modern just war discourse to stage the justice of Constantine’s cause, his legitimate authority, and his conduct in battle, thereby foregrounding his virtues as a just and merciful ruler. The play, however, selectively adapts this framework by elevating religious piety as the ultimate justification for war. This reframing thus functions not only to glorify the attending Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and his house, but also to provide both legal justification and political propaganda for the ongoing Habsburg campaigns against the Ottoman Empire.

Keywords: Pietas victrix, just war, Baroque drama, Francisco Suárez, Nicolaus Avancini

Author: Shuting Lv, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University, Beijing, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2025.04.005