As Machiavelli wrote about securing national unity in a divided Italy, Bodin wrote his works in France, which secured its national unity but was on the brink of civil war because of religious divisions and feudal political feuds. Therefore, what concerned Bodin was not the stage of the constitutive power-violence but the stage of maintaining legitimacy and acceptance. Thus, Bodin is a philosopher who represents the transition from the feudal system to the period of absolute central monarchies. He is also the founder of the understanding of a state which is absolute and superior inside and absolutely independent against the foreign countries. Therefore, the correct option is E.