ABSTRACT
Ernst Kantorowicz lived from 1895 to 1963. He was a German historian who specialized in medieval European politics. In The King's Two Bodies, he argues that medieval political and legal thinking used analogies relating to God and religious belief to understand and establish the power of the monarchy and other institutions. He also argues that the same thinking persists today and can still be seen in the construction of modern nationhood. The book has had a major impact on how works of literature and art are analyzed, particularly in terms of their social and political contexts. It is also an extraordinary collection of source material on medieval law. The King's Two Bodies focuses on the ways that law, literature, and art can construct meaning—the process of semantics. The book identifies the same symbols in different times and places, and explores how their meanings can either vary or stay the same.
