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 post mortem 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 problem posed by the "King's two bodies"--the body
natural and the body politic--back to the Middle Ages and
demonstrates, by placing the concept in its proper setting of
medieval thought and political theory, how the early-modern Western
monarchies gradually began to develop a "political theology." The
king's natural body has physical attributes, suffers, and dies,
naturally, as do all humans; but the king's other body, the
spiritual body, transcends the earthly and serves as a symbol of
his office as majesty with the divine right to rule. The notion of
the two bodies allowed for the continuity of monarchy even when the
monarch died, as summed up in the formulation "The king is dead.
Long live the king." Bringing together liturgical works, images,
and polemical material, The King's Two Bodies explores the long
Christian past behind this "political theology." It provides a
subtle history of how commonwealths developed symbolic means for
establishing their sovereignty and, with such means, began to
establish early forms of the nation-state. Kantorowicz fled Nazi
Germany in 1938, after refusing to sign a Nazi loyalty oath, and
settled in the United States. While teaching at the University of
California, Berkeley, he once again refused to sign an oath of
allegiance, this one designed to identify Communist Party
sympathizers. He was dismissed as a result of the controversy and
moved to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he
remained for the rest of his life, and where he wrote The King's
Two Bodies. Featuring a new introduction, The King's Two Bodies is
a subtle history of how commonwealths developed symbolic means for
establishing their sovereignty and, with such means, began to
establish early forms of the nation-state.
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