Medieval Political Theory: A Reader

Cary J. Nederman is Assistant Professor of Political Science at The University of Arizona. He has written widely on the history of Western political theory., Kate Langdon Forhan is Associate Professor of Political Science at Siena College, New York. She has written a number of articles on the development of medieval political thought.

• Introduction: The Formation of Medieval Political Culture; Part I The Twelfth Century; Chapter 1 Letter to Pope Eugenius III; Chapter 2 The Fable of a Man, His Belly, and his Limbs, Marie de France; Chapter 3 Metalogicon and Policratics; Chapter 4 Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England Commonly Called Glanville; Chapter 5 Letter to Henry, Count of Champagne; Part II The Thirteenth Century; Chapter 6 The Book of Treasure, Brunetto Latini; Chapter 7 On Kingship, Summary of Theology and Commentary on Aristotle’s Politics, Thomas Aquinas; Chapter 8 ‘On Civil Government’; Part III The Fourteenth Century; Chapter 9 On Royal and Papal Power; Chapter 10 The Banquet, Dante Alighieri; Chapter 11 The Defender of the Peace; Chapter 12 The Mirror of King Edward III; Chapter 13 Whether a Ruler Can Accept the Property of Churches for his Own Needs, Namely, in Case of War, Even Against the Wishes of the Pope; Chapter 14 On the Duty of the King, John Wyclif; Chapter 15 The Book of the Body Politic, Christine de Pizan;

`This is an anthology of important works that reveals the development of political ideas between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. Here you will find familiar writers - Glanville, Aquinas, Dante, Marsiglio of Padua - but also the unfamiliar, including women writers like Christine de Pizan and Marie de France. The sources are prefaced by an excellent introduction.' - Teaching History