Facing Inflation Alone: Juan de Mariana and His Struggle against Monetary Chaos

This is a brief biographical sketch of the heroic late-scholastic thinker Juan de Mariana, with particular attention to his epic confrontation with Philip III and the Duke of Lerma, including a review of the list of charges against him. Around 1600, Mariana produced a series of powerful criticisms of statist monetary policy. From a broad perspective, the Jesuit's attitude anticipates classical liberal and libertarian opposition to the shenanigans of central bankers (cf. Jefferson, Rothbard, Huerta de Soto, etc.). Furthermore, we continue to learn that Mariana's analysis of monetary manipulation was disseminated more widely than we once thought, both within Spain and across Europe. This, in turn, supports the general thesis that the School of Salamanca had greater impact than previously believed. Deprived of their silver content, stamped with artificially inflated face values, and mass-produced by way of a hydraulic invention installed at Segovia in the 1580s, the copper billon coins allowed the Habsburgs to implement a form of taxation without consent, and Mariana dissented loudly. Many millions of citizens, from his generation to our own, have benefited from the courageous efforts of this exemplary man who defended private property and freedom against the tyrants of his day.