Stephen Junius Brutus

Stephen Junius Brutus (fl. 1579) was a Huguenot political theorist whose pseudonymous treatise *Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos* (1579) synthesized Reformed theology with classical republicanism to construct a systematic justification for resistance against tyrannical rulers. Writing in the context of the French Wars of Religion, Brutus developed influential arguments grounded in covenant theology that positioned magistrates and the people as divinely ordained checks on monarchical power, thereby establishing foundational principles for early modern theories of limited government and popular sovereignty. His work profoundly shaped subsequent Protestant political thought and contributed significantly to the intellectual genealogy of constitutional resistance doctrine.