In 1957 Ernst Kantorowicz published a book that would be the guide for generations of scholars through the arcane mysteries of medieval political theology. In The King's Two Bodies, Kantorowicz traces the historical problem posed by the "King's two bodies"--the body politic and the body natural--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.

The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology

History

Kantorowicz, Ernst

Europe

Princeton University Press

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.

The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology (Princeton Classics)

FREDERICK THE SECOND is the story of the remarkable man whose power and sphere of influence straddled the worlds of Christendom and of Islam. The last of the Hohenstaufens, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily and Jerusalem, Frederick II was an energetic and versatile ruler, a man of great ambition in whose lifetime the conflict between Emperor and Pope reached a new intensity. Excommunicated three times by the Church, he was an absolute monarch whose power, defended in almost continuous struggle, extended over much of Germany and Italy as well as the Holy Land. Frederick was a complex man of cultured tastes and licentious manners who had unusually wide intellectual interests. At his Sicilian court scholars of all religions were welcomed--Christian, Jewish, Mohammedan. He founded the University of Naples in 1224 and was a patron of the arts and sciences. The life of this dynamic man is fully explored in Ernst Kantorowicz's notable biography, filled with dramatic incident and absorbing detail, and written with style and scholarship.

Frederick the Second: 1194 - 1250

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Known as the 'stupor mundi' – the wonder of the world – Holy Roman Emperor Frederick the Second led one of those extraordinary lives that was full of unimaginable drama and achievement. Born in 1194, Frederick was the son of emperor Henry II and Constance, Queen of Sicily, who, at the age of forty, allegedly gave birth to him in a public square so no one could doubt he was her son. He was crowned King of Sicily at the age of four; Pope Innocent III was his guardian; the future Pope Honorious III was his tutor. Once he came of age, the charismatic and ambitious Frederick fought for control over the lands he considered his birth right to become King of the Germans, King of Jerusalem and Holy Roman Emperor; his vast empire straddling Christendom and the Holy Land. Hailed as a Messiah and a tyrant in equal measure, Frederick led crusades but was excommunicated four times. He was as much a patron of the arts as a warrior: he spoke six languages and, unusually, welcomed Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars to his court. Dante saluted his contribution to Sicilian literature and language, yet still consigned him to hell in his Inferno. 
First published in 1927, Ernst Kantorwicz's biography of this dynamic man was a bestseller in its time and one of the first examples of popular narrative history writing. This edition, with a new introduction by bestselling author Dan Jones, brings that life to a new audience.

Frederick the Second: Wonder of the World 1194-1250

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Apollo

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Books by Kantorowicz, Ernst

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kantorowicz, Ernst. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology

The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology (Princeton Classics)

Frederick the Second: 1194 - 1250

Frederick the Second: Wonder of the World 1194-1250