John of Salisbury

The Stateman’s Book (Policraticus)

I. About the Author

John of Salisbury (1120 – 25 October 1180) who described himself as Johannes

Parvus ("John the Little"), was an English author, educationalist, diplomat, friend of kings
and scholars, bishop of Chartres, and was born at Salisbury. An eloquent ecclesiastical
spokesman, he was concerned with the “limitation of the ruler by higher or divine law, and
under such law, an individual fulfilled his duties, could resist the prince if he did not conform
to law”.Hence, the Policraticus.

II. Overview of the The Statesman’s Book (Policraticus)

The first most important medieval political work, Policraticus sheds light on the
decadence of the 12th-century court manners and the lax ethics of royalty. It is a theory of a
stable society, understood using an organic analogy - that the Commonwealth was “a body
endowed with life by the benefit of divine favor.” The prince was its head, the priesthood its
soul, the senate its heart, judges and governors its eyes, ears and tongue, officials and
soldiers its hands, financial officers its stomach, and husbandmen its feet. All co-operated
for the good of the whole interrelated, coordinated society.

But it is not impossible to happen that there will be tyranny - the abuse of the power by
the prince - , it was part of God’s ordering of the universe. And at times it might be right, just,
and even a public duty, to destroy a tyrant. The higher law to which all were subject seems
to put no control over the prince, this is because of normal internal restraints: “the prince
puts a bridle on himself”.

III. The Nature and Source of Royal Authority

a.) What is meant by a Prince

 Distinguishing it from a tyrant, a prince obeys the law and rules of the people by its
dictates, accounting himself as their servant.
 Distinguishing it from private men, on a prince fall all the burdens of the whole
community.
 Following the way of nature (the best guide for life; gathered all the senses of a man into
the head, and has subjected all the members in obedience to it.), a prince is also the
head of the system, subjecting also all the members in obedience to him.
 The prince stands on a pinnacle, exalted and made splendid with all great and high
privileges which deems necessary for him.

b.) Source of Royal Authority

 The power/authority which the prince has is from God, he merely exercises it through a
subordinate hand, making all things teach God’s mercy or justice.
 The authority of the prince depends upon the authority of justice and law
 Equity – as the learned jurist define it, is certain fitness of things which compare all
things rationally, and seeks to apply like rules of right and wrong to like cases, being
impartially disposed towards all person, and allotting to each that which belongs to him.

Law – is the interpreter of equity; a discovery, gift from God, the corrector of excesses of
the will, the bond which knits together the fabric of the state, and the banisher of crime.

 It is lawful for the prince to do unjust acts, in the sense that it practices equity and love of
justice.

c.) Duty of a Prince

 The prince accordingly is the minister of the common interest and the bond-servant
equity.
 The prince, therefore, bears a sword, not without reason, and sheds blood blamelessly.
And puts men to death without incurring the name or guilt of homicide.
 For as the law pursues guilt without any hatred of persons; the prince most justly
punishes offenders without the motive of wrath but in accordance with the decision of the
passionless law.

IV. The Prince Subordinate to Priests

 The sword, the prince bears, is from the hand of the Church.
 The church uses the sword by the hand of the prince.
 The prince, therefore, is the minister of the priestly power, and one who exercises that
side of the sacred offices which seems unworthy of the hands of the priesthood.

According to the testimony of the teacher of the gentiles, “Greater is the man who blesses man
than he who is blessed”

 Meaning, the church who bestows power to the prince, can lawfully take away the same.

V. The State as an Organism

According to Plutarch, a Greek biographer, a commonwealth is a certain body endowed with life
by the benefit of divine favor, which acts at the prompting of the highest equity, and is ruled by
moderating power of reason.

a.) Analogy
 Soul – the things which establish and implant to the people the practice of religion, and
transmit to them the worship of God (church: priest, pontiff, etc).
 Head – is filled the prince, prefects of religion, preside over the entire body.
- Subjected only to God and to those who exercise His office and represent Him on
earth.
- Meaning it is governed by the priests.
 Heart – is filled by the senate, from which proceeds, the initiation of good works and ill.
 Eyes, Ears, and Tongue – is claimed by the judges and the governors of provinces.
 Hands – is filled by the officials and soldiers.
 Stomach and Intestines – may be compared with financial officers
 Feet – Husbandmen

b.) Significance in the relationship between the Prince and the Husbandmen
 1. It has been said that the prince holds the place of the head, and is solely guided by
his own mind. And as has been said, placed by the divine governance at the apex of
the commonwealth, and preferred above all others.
2. And it has also been said that the husbandmen correspond to the feet, which cleave
to the soil, busied about their plough-lands, cloth-making, mechanic arts, menial
occupation, sustaining life and etc.

It is the husbandmen/feet that walk upon the earth doing service with their bodies, they
meet often with stumbling stones, and therefore deserve protection (from the
head/prince) the more justly since they raise, sustain, and move upward the weight of
the entire body.

So therefore:

 While they do not pertain to the authority of the governing power, they are yet in
the highest degree useful and profitable to the corporate whole of the
commonwealth.
 Therefore Plutarch says that all things must be pursued in the course for the
advantage of the humbler classes or multitude.
 For inferiors owe it to their superiors to provide them with service and superiors
in turn owe it to their inferiors to provide them with the things needed for
protection and succor.
 Only will the health of the commonwealth be sound and flourishing when the
higher members shield the lower respond faithfully and fully.

VI. The Tendency of a Prince to become a Tyrant

 The Prince has tendency of becoming a tyrant, according to the saying or a verse from
the Bible, Isaiah 1:23 “Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone
loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the
widow’s cause does not come to them.”
 Anyone who strives for their own ambition, wage war on the law of the Lord, it may be in
the position of Priesthood and elsewhere, practices tyranny.

Reference:

Curtis, M. (1961).The Great Political Theories: From Plato to Aristotle to Locke and
Montersquieu (Vol. 1). New York: Avon Book Division. Pp. 166-174

Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. John of Salibury Autobiobigraphy. Retrieved at 1pm

September 18, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Salisbury