The Distinctive Elements Among Godfrey of Viterbo's Political Ideas

It may seem perverse to look for distinctive elements in the thought of a man who set out to write a summary of all existing ideas, a compendium or encyclopaedia. ¹ Attaining originality was far from Godfrey’s avowed intention at any point in his years of production, redrafting, rededicating, editing and polishing. If what he thought his lay and ecclesiastical contemporaries ought to know both expanded and changed in emphasis somewhat over the years, ² his intention to provide a compilation of the thoughts of others never wavered. Nevertheless, beneath the loose construction and the welter of plagiarized ideas and endless exempla, there were two or three fresh notions, which were dredged up as responses to direct challenges to the imperial position in his own day. In order to highlight these, it makes sense to look first at his ideas about empire and then at those about emperors, particularly Roman emperors.