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

632 pp. With a new introduction by Conrad Leyser and a preface by William Chester Jordan. 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.