The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology - Paperback

by Ernst Kantorowicz (Author), Conrad Leyser (Introduction by), William Chester Jordan (Preface by)

Originally published in 1957, this classic work has guided generations of scholars through the arcane mysteries of medieval political theology. Throughout history, the notion of two bodies has permitted the postmortem continuity of monarch and monarchy, as epitomized by the statement, "The king is dead. Long live the king." In The King's Two Bodies, Ernst Kantorowicz traces the historical dilemma posed by the "King's two bodies"--the body natural and the body politic--back to the Middle Ages.

Author Biography

Ernst H. Kantorowicz (1895-1963) taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Conrad Leyser is associate professor of medieval history at Worcester College, University of Oxford. He is the author of Authority and Asceticism from Augustine to Gregory the Great. William Chester Jordan is professor of history at Princeton University. He is the author of From England to France: Felony and Exile in the High Middle Ages (Princeton).