John of Salisbury, Policraticus (French)

''Policraticus'' is a work by

John of Salisbury John of Salisbury (late 1110s – 25 October 1180), who described himself as Johannes Parvus ("John the Little"), was an English author, philosopher, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres. Early life and education Born at Salisbury, En ...

, written around 1159. Sometimes called the first complete medieval work of

political theory Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

, it belongs, at least in part, to the genre of advice literature addressed to rulers known as "

mirrors for princes Mirrors for princes ( la, specula principum) or mirrors of princes, are an educational literary genre, in a loose sense of the word, of political writings during the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages, the late middle ages and the Renaissance. ...

", but also breaks from that genre by offering advice to courtiers and bureaucrats. Though it takes up a wide variety of ethical questions, it is most famous for attempting to define the responsibilities of kings and their relationship to their subjects.

Title

The title ''Policraticus'', like those of other works by John of Salisbury, is a pseudo-Greek

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

, sometimes rendered as "The Statesman's Book". Its original subtitle was ', "On the Frivolities of Courtiers and the Footprints of Philosophers".

Structure

The work consists of eight books, falling roughly into three 'blocks': the private 'frivolities' of the courtiers (books I-III), the public offices of different classes, with a focus on the prince and the body politic (books IV-VI), and the 'footprints' of the philosophers (books VII and VIII). Most scholarly attention of the work has focused on the 'political' content of the second block and the discussion of tyranny in the final book. The topics of the books are as follows: * Book I: Hunting, theatre, and magic * Book II: Omens, dreams, and occult sciences * Book III: Self-interest and flattery * Book IV: The duties of the 'prince' (''princeps'') * Book V and VI: The

body politic The body politic is a polity—such as a city, realm, or state—considered metaphorically as a physical body. Historically, the sovereign is typically portrayed as the body's head, and the analogy may also be extended to other anatomical par ...

* Book VII: Three Epicurean tendencies (according to

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...

) * Book VIII: Another two Epicurean tendencies; Tyranny

Arguments

Monarchy

John drew his arguments primarily from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and from

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

, especially

Justinian's Code The ''Corpus Juris'' (or ''Iuris'') ''Civilis'' ("Body of Civil Law") is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor. It is also sometimes referred ...

and

Novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

. He depicted "the prince" as a "likeness on earth of the divine majesty", "feared by each of those over whom he is set as an object of fear". The prince's power, like all earthly authority, was "from God", requiring the obedience of the prince's subjects. Purportedly following a manual by

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

titled the '—likely invented by John himself—he argued that the prince had four principal responsibilities: to revere God, adore his subjects, exert self-discipline and instruct his ministers. Since the ruler was the image of God, John advocated strict punishments for

lèse-majesté Lèse-majesté () or lese-majesty () is an offence against the dignity of a ruling head of state (traditionally a monarch but now more often a president) or the state itself. The English name for this crime is a borrowing from the French, w ...

, but he qualified this by specifying that the temporal power of the ruler was delegated by the spiritual power of the church, and argued that a prince should err on the side of mercy and compassion when enforcing the law.

Tyrannicide

John argued that princes must be subordinate to the law, and distinguished the prince from the tyrant on the basis that the prince "obeys the law and rules the people by its dictates, accounting himself as but their servant". The "limbs" of the

could be in subjection to the "head", the monarch, "always and only on condition that religion is kept inviolate". The tyrant's resistance of divine law, on the other hand, could merit their death. John's examples of tyrants included the scriptural figures of

Sisera Sisera ( he, סִיסְרָא ''Sîsərā'') was commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor, who is mentioned in of the Hebrew Bible. After being defeated by the forces of the Israelite tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali under the comm ...

and

Holofernes In the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, Holofernes ( grc, Ὀλοφέρνης; he, הולופרנס) was an invading Assyrian general known for having been beheaded by Judith, a Hebrew widow who entered his camp and beheaded him while he was ...

, as well as the Roman emperor

Julian the Apostate Julian ( la, Flavius Claudius Julianus; grc-gre, Ἰουλιανός ; 331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplato ...

, who attempted to restore Rome's

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

religion. In cases such as these, John argued that killing a ruler, when all other resources were exhausted, was not only justifiable but necessary. Where the prince was an image of God, the tyrant was an "image of depravity", "for the most part even to be killed". The "tree" of tyranny "is to be cut down by an axe anywhere it grows". This was the first systematic defense of

tyrannicide Tyrannicide is the killing or assassination of a tyrant or unjust ruler, purportedly for the common good, and usually by one of the tyrant's subjects. Tyrannicide was legally permitted and encouraged in the Classical period. Often, the term tyran ...

to be written after antiquity.

Modern editions and translations

Critical editions

* ''Policraticus'', ed. K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, CCCM 118 (Turnholt, 1993). Books I-IV. * ''Policratici, sive, De nugis curialium et vestigiis philosophorum'', ed. Clement Webb (Oxford, 1909). Books I-VIII.

English translations

No complete English translation of all eight books of the ''Policraticus'' currently exists. Translated selections may be found in: * ''The Statesman's Book of John of Salisbury'', trans. John Dickinson (New York, 1927

(Contains books IV-VI, with selections from VII and VIII.) * ''Frivolities of Courtiers and Footprints of Philosophers,'' trans. Joseph B. Pike (Minneapolis and London, 1938

(Contains books I-III, selections of VII and VIII.) * ''Policraticus: Of the Frivolities of Courtiers and the Footprints of Philosophers'', trans. Cary J. Nederman (Cambridge, 1990). (Contains various selections, mostly from books IV-VIII.