John of Salisbury and law

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to consider the knowledge and use of law by John of Salisbury, evaluating what he thought law should be, whence it originated and how it related to aspects of society, for example the institutions of the monarch and the church. For this purpose, the main evidence used will be Historia Pontificalis, Policraticus and the large corpus of letters. Chapter One is entitled Types of Law and gives an outline of the main types of law as John saw them. Chapter Two is entitled Canon Law. This chapter is devoted entirely to the study of John’s knowledge and use of canon law. In this chapter, consideration will be made to what canon law John appears to have known and how John used this knowledge within his written work. Chapter Three, entitled King and Law, focuses upon John of Salisbury’s opinion of the relationship between the monarch and the law. Chapter Four, Theory of Law: Church and King considers John’s ideas on the relationship between church and monarch. Attention will also be paid to how he conveyed his ideas during the papal schism and the Becket dispute as well as John’s ideas on judges. Chapter Five is entitled Law in Practice: Church and King, whereby analysis will be made of how John sees the monarch’s involvement in issues such as church elections.