ABSTRACT

This chapter explores a number of closely interrelated elements of Latin medieval civilization in order to establish a genealogy of what can be termed ‘sapiential rulership’. It focuses on two additional critical factors: first, the manner in which court intellectuals shaped political mentalities as advocates of royal wisdom, or, as propaganda agents, and, second, the contents and aims of their political theology, particularly their discourse on sapiential kingship. The chapter argues that following the splendour of the Carolingian and Ottonian ages, royal wisdom came to occupy a secondary position in the political theology of the succeeding centuries. The maintenance of the Carolingian tradition of sacral kingship was one of the main aims of the early Capetians, devoid as they were of real political power. Capetian kingship was reimagined portraying rulers as peaceful and wise holy men more akin to praying monks than to warring laymen.