This volume continues the story of European political theorising by focusing on medieval and Renaissance thinkers. It includes extensive discussion of the practices that underpinned medieval political theories and which continued to play crucial roles in the eventual development of early--modern political institutions and debates.

Preface. Introduction. 1. Medieval Political Ideas and Medieval Society. Medieval Sources. The Historical Context of Early Medieval Political Thought. Carolingian Christian Kingship and Feudal Society. Translatio Imperii. Theocratic Kingship. The Origins of Papal Authority and the Gelasian Doctrine. Two Swords Theory. The Twelfth-century 'Renaissance': Canon Lawyers and their Heirs. The Twelfth-century 'Renaissance' and Civil Lawyers. Civilians and Canonists. Individual and Collective Liberties. Sovereignty and Corporations. Natural Law, Rights and the Lawyers Concern for Individual Autonomy. Origins of Property Rights. Medieval Education: Practical Moral Philosophy of Ethics, Economics and Politics. The Contribution of Arabic and Jewish Thinking to the Twelfth-century 'REnaissance'. Aristotle in the Universities. Ethics and Politics in the Liberal Arts Course. The Purpose of Aristotelian Rhetorical Persuasion. The Thirteenth 'Aristotelian' Century. The Later Thirteenth-century Understanding of Rhetoric's Service to a Prince: Giles of Rome. Aristotelian Rhetoric. Returning to Giles of Rome's Rhetorical De regimine principum. Rhetoric outside the University and Aristotle within the University. Aristotle's Ethics for Medieval University Students. Lawyers Versus the Arts Faculty Philosophers. The New Mendicant Orders: Franciscans and Dominicans and Political Theory. 2. St Thomas Aquinas. Philosophy of Man. Reality and Metaphysics. Naming, Natures and Actual Existents. Natures and Definitions. Substantial Form and Corporeal Individuation. Being and Essence. Cause and Effect. Grace Added to and Perfecting, Not Destroying, Nature. Sense Origin of Knowing. Reason and Will. The Will's Relation to Justice as Universal Principal and as Historically Contingent Conclusion. Eudaomonia/beatitudo: Imoorality and the Completion of Desire. Rationality and the Freedom of the Will. The Will and the Doctrine of Original Sin. Natural Theology. State and Church: The Consequences of Natural Theology. Free Will and Responsibility. Aquinas on Law and Ploitics. Natural Law and Politics. Natural Law beyond Cicero. Natural Human Community. The Consequences of the Fall. Individual Rights and the States's Law. The Contrast with Augustine. The Mixed Constitution. Private Property Rights. 3. John of Paris. Biographical Details. The Franciscan Position. The Dominican Position. The Origin of Government. The Thomistic Underpinning of dominium in rebus, Lordship and Ownership of Things. The Justification of Private Ownership. Limitations on Government. The Origin of the Priesthood. The Relation of the Church to its Property. Deposition Theory. 4. Marsilius of Padua. Biographical Details. A Reading Discourse 1. Some Observations from Discourse 2. Conclusions. 5. William of Ockham. Biographical Details. Ockham's Positions on Church and State. Ockham's Epistemology. Ockham's Dualism Concerning Secular and Spiritual Government: Continuing the Narrative. Comparisions with Marsilius. The Exceptional Exercise of Coercive Authority. Natural Rights. Corporattion Theory. Ockham's 'Absolutism'. How did Ockham Come to Hold These Views?. Right Reason. Scriptural Hermeneutics. Ockham's Ethics. Conclusion. The Late Medieval Fortunes of Corporation Theories in the Church's 'Concilar Theory.'. 6. The Italien Renaissance and Machiavelli's Political Theory. The Italien City-States Compared with Other European Cities. The Unconventional AIms of this VChapter. Communal Discourses and Citizenship. Community, Civitas, Ranked Citizenship and Local Patriotisms. The Involvement of Citizens in Late Thirteenth-century Communal Government. The Communal Ideal and the Menace of Factions. The Evolution of the Florentine Governing Class. Who Wanted to Play an Active Role in Fifteenth-century Florentine Government?. Humanism and Humanist Conceptions of Florentine Republicanism. Fifteenth-century Florentine Ideology. Niccolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli's Political Morality. Founding and Maintaining the 'Stato'. The Fixity of Man's Nature. Character Formation. The 'Fit' Between Character and the Times. Fortune. The Impetuous Prince Who Must Learn How Not to Have Fixed Dispositions. Learn to Imitate Foxes and Lions. Machiavelli's 'Popular' Government: His Views of the Popolo. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

Janet Coleman's two volume history of European political theorizing, from the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance is the introduction which many have been waiting for. It treats some of the most influential writers who have been considered by educated Europeans down the centuries to have helped to construct their identity, their shared "languages of politics" about the principles and practices of good government, and the history of European philosophy. It seeks to uncover and reconstruct the emergence of the "state" and the various European political theories which justified it. This volume continues the story by focusing on medieval and Renaissance thinkers and includes extensive discussion of the practices that underpinned medieval political theories and which continued to play crucial roles in the eventual development of early-modern political institutions and debates. Throughout the author draws on recent scholarly commentaries written by specialists in philosophy, contemporary political theory, and on medieval and Renaissance history and theology. She shows that the medieval and Renaissance theorists' arguments can be seen as logical and coherent if we can grasp the questions they thought it important to answer. Janet Coleman strikes a balance between trying to understand the philosophical cogency of medieval and Renaissance arguments on the one hand, and on the other, elucidating why historically-situated medieval and Renaissance thinkers, respectively, thought the ways they did about politics; and why we often think otherwise. The volume will meet the needs of students of philosophy, history and politics, proving to be an indispensable secondary source which aims to situate, explain, and provoke thought about the major works of political theory likely to be encountered by students of this period and beyond.

"This is a very well-informed, thoughtful and scholarly account that is destined to be read closely (and with great profit) by specialists in the field as well as by the students for whom it is primarily intended." Francis Oakley, Edward Dorr Professor of the History of Ideas and President Emeritus of Williams College "Professor Coleman demonstrates an admirable grasp of the detail and subtlety of the philosophical arguments, and their relation to social and historial circumstances, including trends in wider spheres of thought [...] I found the chapter on Plato particularly illuminating and students will find much of ambiguity in The Republic clarified by Coleman's discussion.[...] Students of specialist courses in Greek, Stoic and early Christian political thought will gain much from this scholarly and erudite book by an acknowledged expert in the field" David Boucher, Cardiff University English Historical Review Vol 117, June 2002

Preface. Introduction. 1. Medieval Political Ideas and Medieval Society. 2. St Thomas Aquinas. 3. John of Paris. 4. Marsilius of Padua. 5. William of Ockham. 6. The Italien Renaissance and Machiavelli's Political Theory. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.