Garnier: Introduction to the Letters

Extract from
http://txm.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/bfm/pdf/becket.pdf
Stanzas 557-569
Lines 2781-2845

557
Del tut erent a un plus que uncles e niés.
E sovent enveieient a saint Thomas lur briés :
Diseient qu’il ot tort, quant al rei ert si griés ;
Car des iglises est li reis e sire e chiés,
2785 E les iglises sunt faites des reaus fiés.

558
As reis deivent tresbien li prelat obeïr.
Bien lur deit hum laissier lur custumes tenir ;
Quant a lur anceisurs nes peut um ainc tolir,
Pur tuz cels qui or sunt ne lur estuet guerpir.
2790 Mult deivent lur seignur e clerc e lai suffrir.

559
Itels briefs enveieient al saint humme ultre mer,
Plusurs altres asez, dunt rien ne sai conter,
Pur mielz plaisir al rei e pur lur sens mustrer.
Il refaiseit les suens, si lur faiseit porter
2795 Pur destruire les lur e sa cause afermer.

560
Humblement respundeit li sainz a lur escriz,
E par les escriptures confermout tuz ses diz.
Ne pot estre en nul liu pur els tuz contrediz.
Herbergiez ert en lui pur veir sainz Esperiz,
2800 Qui dedenz lui parlout e par qui il ert fiz.

561
As terrïens seignurs deit hum bien obeïr,
Tant cum al siecle apent ; mais s’il volent tolir
A saint’iglise rien, ne lur deit hum suffrir.
E se l’um les esparne, qu’um nes voille ferir,
2805 Quant Deus revoldra bien, ne li purrunt guenchir.

562
Li prelat sunt serf Deu, li reis les deit cherir ;
E il sunt chiés des reis, li reis lur deit flechir.
Deus est chiés des prelaz ; pur sa lei maintenir
Devreient il estendre les cols, prez de murir :
2810 Deus suffri mort en cruiz pur s’iglise franchir.

563
De Deu tienent li rei, de sainte mere iglise :
A li e as suens deivent e honur e servise,
Car de li unt il lei e la corune prise ;
Ele deit bien aveir, e tuit li suen, franchise,
2815 Quant par sa mort li ad Nostre Sire conquise.

564
E li buen anceisur, qui les iglises firent
E qui premierement del lur les establirent
E de lur propre aumosne les crurent e vestirent,
De tutes ces custumes e d’autres les franchirent,
2820 N’ainc puis a nule rien un des deiz n’i tendirent.

565
Car cil qui fait aumosne la deit del tut franchir,
Par tut e contre tuz defendre e maintenir ;
N’il n’en deit seignurie, ne nul el, retenir,
Car ço n’est pas aumosne, s’il en fait sun plaisir :
2825 Quant l’a dunee a Deu, ne li puet retolir.

566
E quant vers saint’iglise volt li reis rien mesprendre,
Qui la devreit par tut e tenser e defendre,
Li evesque l’en deivent mult egrement reprendre ;
Ne deivent la endreit rien a sun voil entendre.
2830 Mais n’osent la bufee plus que le ros atendre.

567
Barun e chevalier e sergant e vassal,
Qui n’unt rien de nului fors fié anceisural,
Se conbatent sovent pur lur seignur mortal
E sueffrent granz damages, mort e mahaing e mal,
2835 Car il ne volent estre tenu pur desleal.

568
Mielz devreient asez li prelat guerreier
Tuz cels qui saint’iglise volent contralïer ;
Car de la table Deu sunt riche e haut e chier.
Le fil a mult bas humme fait Deus si eshaucier
2840 Qu’um li dune eveschié u mult plus haut mestier.

569
Li prelat deivent estre li plus espirital,
Ne deivent chanceler pur rien de lur estal.
Cil qui laissent le munt e se tienent el val
Bous d’or en gruing de porc sunt, e del tut jaal.
2845 Ne sunt pas des sers Deu, ainz sunt des serfs Baal.

Translation

557
They were in everything as one more than uncles and nephews [family]. And often they sent letters to St. Thomas saying he had done wrong, when towards the king he had been so critical, because the king was both lord and chief [head] of the churches, and the churches had been made royal fiefs. 2785

558
Prelates ought very much to obey their kings [and] well kings should be allowed to maintain their customs. when if by their ancestors they could not previously have them removed.then they [kings] do not have to abandon them for the sake of anyone alive today. Clerics and laity must accept on suffrance [submit to] their lord. 2790

559
Such were the kinds of letters which they sent to holy man across the sea, besides many others of which I know not the number, for which much to please the king and to express their reasoning. He [Thomas] in his turn caused to have his sent back to them to bring down their [arguments] and to affirm his own cause 2795

560
Our saint replied to their letters with humility, and by reference to the scriptures confirmed all that he said. One could not find anywhere in them which to contradict him. The Holy Spirit truly dwelt within him, and spoke from within him and through him made Himself apparent. 2800

561
One must fully obey one's secular [earthly/lay] [feudal] lord for all that which belongs to this world. But if he wishes to deprive anything from Holy Church he must not be allowed to do so. And we may spare them not wishing to strike them, how much more God will wish to again. They cannot escape Him. 2805

562
Prelates are the servants of God; kings must care for them: God is the suzerain of prelates, and kings must bow before them. To maintain His law they must stretch their necks, [and be] ready to die. God suffered death on the cross to free His Church. 2810

563
Kings hold [their position/and are beholden as vassals] from [to] God and Holy Church: they must both honour and serve Him and her as it is from them whom and by law they have received their crown. She [the Church] must enjoy her freedom, and all her own too, since she acquired them from Our Lord by his death/ 2815

564
And the good ancestors of old who founded churches and who initially established them out of their own pocket, and then enriched and endowed them out of their own charity freed them from all these and other customs, and since then have not pointed a single finger at them in any way..2820

565
Because anyone who give alms must be completely free of them, and above all must maintain and defend them from everyone; he must not have or retain any lordship over them, because then that would not be alms-giving if he was able to do what he likes with them. That which has been given to God cannot be taken back.

566
If a king commits a wrong against Holy Church, he who must always protect and defend her, then bishops ought strongly to reproach him, without listening in the least way to his will. But they are more like reeds daring not to withstand a strong wind.

567
Barons and knights, men-at-arms and vassals who hold little else besides their ancestral fiefs, often fight for their mortal lords and suffer great harms, death, woundings and pain because they do not wish to be held to be disloyal. 2835

568
Better still prelates should take up battle against all those who would wish to attack Holy Church, for they enjoy great riches and high honour at the table of God. God sometimes advances the son of a very low-born man by giving him a bishopric, or an even higher ministry. 2840

569
Prelates must be ever the more so spiritual and must not abandon their posts for anything. Those who leave the mountain to stand in the valley have rings of gold in their snouts like swine: they have completely prostituted themselves. They are not the servants of God but are the henchmen of Baal. 2845

Proverbs 11:22
Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without good sense.

Garnier: Coronation of the Young King

Extract from 

http://txm.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/bfm/pdf/becket.pdf

Stanzas 550 - 556
Line 2746 - 2780

550
En cel contemple ad fait li reis Henris jurer
Henri sun fil a rei, e sil fist coruner.
L’arcevesques Rogiers, qui nel volt refuser,
L’aveit enuint a rei. Nel se deüst penser,
2750 Car cil de Cantorbire deit tuz les reis sacrer.

551
Od l’arcevesque i sunt dui evesque asemblé,
Gilebert Foliot de Lundres la cité,
E Jocelins i ad, de Salesbire, esté,
Pluisur autre ensement, qui ci ne sunt numé.
2755 Sur ces treis fu li fais, e par els fu ovré.

552
Or unt enuint l’enfant icil trei boiseür.
Deus li creisse ses anz e vertu e honur !
Mais n’apartint a els, fait s’en sunt robeür.
N’en sunt de rien li mot del sacrement peiur,
2760 Ne il rien mains sacrez. Deus li doinst sue amur

553
Senz raisun unt enpris en autrui poesté,
A faire autrui mestier ; mais chier l’unt comperé.
A Rome en sunt sumuns, mais pas n’i sunt alé :
Par l’apostolie sunt de lur mestier sevré.
2765 Pur la poür del rei unt Deu tut adossé.

554
Deus, quel duel des prelaz qui lur mestier ne funt !
Mucie est la lumiere qui esclaire le munt.
Il sunt li pullent sels qui l’esperit corrunt.
Chien mu n’abaient pas ; suz le banc lïé sunt.
2770 As larruns conjoïssent, al mesfait od els vunt.

555
Tut de but se teneient par tut cil trei al rei ;
N’il ne voleient faire pur Deu ne ço ne quei.
En fause trinité erent en un tut trei,
E de la verité esteient par tut quei,
2775 E voleient turner les custumes en lei.

556
Ne voleient de rien lur seignur adrecier ;
Mais contre saint’iglise le faiseient plaidier,
E se peneient mult des escriz encergier,
S’il peüssent trover nule rien n’espïer
2780 Dunt la cause le rei peüssent esforcier.

Translation

550
On this occasion King Henry had his son sworn as king and had him crowned and anointed by archbishop Roger of York who did not wish to refuse him [the king]. But anyone should have brought to mind that it was the right belonging to Canterbury to consecrate all kings [of England]. 2750

551
Together with the archbishop [Roger] were duly gathered there Gilbert Foliot [bishop] of the City of London, and Jocelyn who was [bishop] from Salisbury. There were [also] many others whom I have not named. It was by these three that the deed was done and brought about. 2755

552
The child [prince] was now anointed by these three impostors [traitors]. May God increase his years in virtue and honour. But it did not belong to them [the impostors] to do this, and they had acted like robbers. [However] the words of the sacrament are no worse and the new king has been no less consecrated. May God give him His love [blessing]. 2760

553
Without logical reason they assumed the authority of another to perform the duty of this other, but dearly have they paid for this. They have been summoned to Rome [to appear] and by the Pope they have been suspended from their ministeries, but they have yet to go there. Fear of the king has led them to abandon God completely. 2765

554
O God, what pity these prelates have made of their ministries; hidden from the light which shines upon the world, this is the stink of sin which causes the spirit to fester. Dumb dogs do not bark, [instead] they are  tied down under benches. They celebrate with thieves and join with them in their crimes. 2770

555
Without any hesitation these three held to the cause of the king in everything, never wanting to do anything for God, nothing at all. These three were always united in a false Trinity, and as far as the Truth was concerned they were silent. They wanted to turn customs into law. 2775

556
They never wished to do anything to admonish their lord, but they caused him to speak out against Holy Church. And they did their very best to search out for any written documents which might be able to support the cause of the king. 2780

References

Constitutions of Clarendon: Coronation of the Young King Henry, 14th June 1170

Garnier: Peter's Pence

Extract from 

http://txm.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/bfm/pdf/becket.pdf

Stanzas 546-549
Lines  2726- 2745


546
Encore a un capitle que dirai ensement,
U li reis comanda par l’escrit veirement
Que li deniers saint Piere fust par tute la gent
D’Engleterre cuilliz e guardez lealment,
2730 Tresque il en fesist altre comandement.

547
Grant avancement unt Engleis en lur païs,
Si fu par le rei Knut, qui fu Daneis, asis :
Par chascun ostel est cil deniers par an pris,
U il a de cinc solz de vif aveir le pris.
2735 (A trente deniers est en tels lius i ad mis.)

548
Li apostolies sout aveir icel denier,
E par ço fist gramment les Engleis alegier :
Nes estuet pur pechié de la terre esluignier,
Tute lur penitence ferunt lez lur fuier.
2740 Idunc le prist li reis, e sil fist estuier.

549
Selunc mun jugement li reis aver le deit :
Apostolies, legaz, arcevesques esteit.
Se pape u arcevesque sa terre entrediseit,
Senz cruiz e senz estole li reis les asoilleit .
2745 N’i poeit saint’iglise vers li mustrer nul dreit.

Translation

546
There is yet one other legal matter whereof I shall speak: the king likewise has truly ordered by writ that the St. Peter's Pence were to be collected from all the people in the England and stored securely, until such time as he commanded otherwise. 2730

547
A great advantage was enjoyed by the English in their land, when king Knut [Canute], who was Danish, ordered a tax to be collected from each household [hearth which kindled a fire] assessed at one penny each year for every five shillings worth of livestock held. (There were some households [places] where this amounted to as much as 30 pence). 2735

548
The Popes used to receive this money, and which [in the past] caused them to give the English a dispensation which greatly alleviated them: they did not have to travel out of their country to seek expiation for their sins, but could perform their penances at the side of their own hearths  But the king took this money and locked it up in his own treasury. 2740

549
In my judgement the king had the right to do this, for he was Pope, [Papal]Legate and Archbishop [in his own land]. In fact if either Pope or Archbishop were to lay the country under an interdict, he [the king] could absolve himself without the need for a stole or a cross. Holy Church was powerless to assert any right against him. 2745

References

Constitutions of Clarendon: Peter's Pence

The 'Denarius Sancti Petri' in England
O. Jensen, D. de Comitibus and Joh. de Binis
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
New Series, Vol. 19 (1905), pp. 209-277
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Historical Society
DOI: 10.2307/3678232
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3678232

James Tyrrell (1700). The General History Of England, Both Ecclesiastical and Civil: From The Beginning of the Reign Of King William I. .. To the End of the Reign Of King Henry the Third ... The 18th ...: Rogers. p. 65.

Thomas LAWSON (Quaker, of Lancashire.) (1680). A treatise relating to the call, work, and wages of the ministers of Christ; as also to the call, work, and wages of the ministers of Antichrist, etc.  CAP XI The Rise of Reek Money pp. 80–.

John Morris (1885). The Life and Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. Burns and Oates. pp. 405–407.

R. J. A. White (August 1967). A Short History of England. Cambridge University Press. pp. 56–. ISBN 978-0-521-09439-9.

Jean Louis de Lolme (1838). The Rise and Progress of the English Constitution: In Two Volumes. Parker. pp. 30–.

Henry II as described by Gerald of Wales, 1172

KING HENRY II. DESCRIBED BY GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS [Gerald of Wales],

Who accompanied him (as he afterwards did King John) into Ireland, A.D. 1172.

Henry II., king of England, was of a very good colour, but somewhat red; his head great and round, his eyes were fiery, red, and grim, and his face very high coloured; his voice or speech was shaking, quivering, or trembling; his neck short, his breast broad and big; strong armed; his body was gross, and his belly somewhat big, which came to him rather by nature than by any gloss feeding or surfeiting; for his diet was very temperate, and to say the truth, thought to be more spare than comely, or for the state of a prince; and yet to abate his grossness, and to remedy this fault of nature, he did, as it were, punish his body with continual exercise, and keep a continual war with himself. For in the times of his wars, which were for the most part continual to him, he had little or no rest at all; and in times of peace he would not grant unto himself any peace at all, nor take any rest: for then did he give himself wholly unto hunting; and to follow the same, he would very early every morning be on horseback, and then go into the woods, sometimes into the forests, and sometimes into the hills and fields, and so would he spend the whole day until night. In the evening when he came home, he would never, or very seldom, sit either before or after supper; for though he were never so weary, yet still would he be walking and going. And, forasmuch as it is very profitable for every man in his lifetime that he do not take too much of any one thing, for medicine itself, which is appointed for man's help and remedy, is not absolutely perfect and good to be always used, even so it befell and happened to this prince; for, partly by his excessive travels, and partly by divers bruises in his body, his legs and feet were swollen and sore. And, though he had no disease at all, yet age itself was a breaking sufficient unto him. He was of a reasonable stature, which happened to none of his sons; for his two eldest sons were somewhat higher, and his two younger: were somewhat lower and less than he was. If he were in a good mood, and not angry, then would he be very o and eloquent: he was also (which was a thing very rare in those days) very well learned; he was also very affable, gentle, and courteous; and besides, so pitiful, that when he had overcome his enemy, yet would he be overcome with pity towards him. In war he was most valiant, and in peace he was as provident and circumspect. And in the wars, mistrusting and doubting of the end and event thereof, he would (as Terence writeth) try all the ways and means he could devise, rather than wage the battle. If he lost any of his men in the fight, he would marvellously lament his death, and seem to pity him more being dead, than he did regard or account of him being alive; more bewailing the dead, than favouring the living. In times of distress no man was more courteous; and when all things were safe, ao man more cruel. Against the stubborn and unruly, no man more sharp, yet to the humble no man more gentle; hard towards his own men and household, but liberal to strangers; bountiful abroad, but sparing at home; whom he once hated, he would never or very hardly love; and whom he once loved, he would not lightly be out with him, or forsake him. He had great pleasure and delight in hawking and hunting:—would to God he had been as well bent and disposed unto good devotion to*. It was said, that after the displeasure frown between the king and his sons, by the means and through the enticing of the queen their mother, he never was accounted to keep his word and promise, but, without any regard or care, was a common breaker thereof. And true it is, that, of a certain natural disposition, he was light and inconstant of his word; and if the matter were brought to a narrow strait or pinch, he would not stick rather to cover his word, than to deny his deed. And for this cause, in all his doings, he was very provident and circumspect, and a very upright and severe minister of justice, although he did therein grieve and make his friends to smart. His answers, for the most part, were perverse and froward. And, albeit, for profit and lucre all things are set to sale, and do bring great gains, as well to the clergy as the laity, yet they are no better to a man's heirs and executors, than were the riches of Gehasi [servant of the prophet Elisha], whose greedy doings turned himself to utter ruin and destruction. He was a great peace-maker, and careful keeper thereof himself; a liberal almsgiver, and a special benefactor to the Holy Land; he loved humility, abhorred pride,

* Giraldus here alludes to his quarrel with Thomas a Becket.

and much oppressed his nobility. The hungry he refreshed, the rich he regarded not. The humble he would exalt, but the mighty, he disdained. He usurped much upon the holy church; and of a certain kind of zeal, but not according to knowledge, he did intermingle and enjoin profane with holy things; for why? He would be all in all himself. He was the child of the holy mother church, and by her advanced to the sceptre of his kingdom; and yet he either dissembled or utterly forgot the same; for he was slack always in coming to the church unto the divine service, and at the time thereof he would be busied and occupied rather with councils and in conference about the affairs of his commonwealth, than in devotion and prayer. The livelihoods belonging to any spiritual pro. motion, he would, in time of their vacation, confiscate to his own treasury, and assume that to himself which was due unto Christ When any new troubles or wars did grow. or come upon him, then would he lavish and pour out all that ever he had in store or treasury, and liberally bestow that upon a soldier, which ought to have been given unto the priest. He had a very prudent and forecasting wit, and thereby foreseeing what things might or were like to ensue, he would accordingly order or dispose either for the performance or for the prevention thereof; notwithstanding which, many times the event happened to the con trary, and he was disappointed of his expectation: and commonly there happened no ill unto him, but he would foretell there. of to his friends and familiars. He was a marvellous natural father to his children, and loved them tenderly in their childhood and young years; but they being grown to some age and ripeness, he was as a father-in-law, and could scarcely brook any of them. And, notwithstanding they were very handsome, comely, and noble gentlemen, yet, whether it were that he would not have them prosper too fast, or whether they had evil deserved of him, he hated them; and it was full much against his will that they should be his successors, or heirs to any part of his inheritance. And such is the prosperity of man, that as it cannot be perpetual, no more can it be perfect and assured: for why?—such was the secret malice of fortune against this king, that where he should have received much comfort, there had he most sorrow; where quietness and safety —there unquietness and peril; where peace —there enmity; where courtesy—there ingratitude; where rest—there trouble. And whether this happened by the means of their marriages, or for the punishment of the father's sins, certain it is, there was no good agreement, neither between the father and the sons, nor yet among the sons themselves. But at length, when all his enemies and the disturbers of the common peace were suppressed, and his brethren, his sons, and all others his adversaries, as well at home as abroad, were reconciled; then all things happened and befell unto him (though it were long first) after and according to his own will and mind. And would to God he had likewise reconciled himself unto God, and by amendment of his life, had in the end also procured his favour and mercy! Besides this, which I had almost forgotten, he was of such a memory, that if he had seen and known a man, he would not forget him: neither yet whatsoever he had heard, would he be unmindful thereof. And hereof was it, that he had so ready a memory of histories which he had read, and a knowledge and a manner of experience in all things. To conclude, if he had been chosen of God, and been obsequious and careful to live in his fear and after his laws, he had excelled all the princes of the world; for in the gifts of nature, no one man was to be compared unto him.”


Extracted from

The History Of The Principal Transactions Of The Irish Parliament, ... From The Year 1634 To 1666: In Two Volumes. Cadell. 1792. pp. 33–. and also William Hone (1878). The Table Book, of Daily Recreation and Information: Concerning Remarkable Men, Manners, Times, Seasons, Solemnities, Merry-makings, Antiquities and Novelties, Forming a Complete History of the Year. Tegg. pp. 491–.

Becket's Mission to the King of France

References

J. A. Giles (1846). The Life and Letters of Thomas À Becket: Now First Gathered from the Contemporary Historians. Whittaker. pp. 72–.

https://archive.org/stream/lifeandletterst02gilegoog#page/n108/mode/1up
CHAPTER VIII. p. 72-79  OF THE CHANCELLOR's EMBASSY TO THE FRENCH KING.

James Craigie Robertson (1859). Becket, archbishop of Canterbury: A biography. Chancellor Becket's Embassy to King of France 1159: J. Murray. pp. 31–.

John Morris (1859). The Life and Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Etc. Longman, Brown. pp. 26–.

Gourde, Leo T., "An Annotated Translation of the Life of St. Thomas Becket by William Fitzstephen" (1943). Master's Theses. Paper 622.   p.38-
http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/622

James Craigie Robertson (15 November 2012). Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (Canonized by Pope Alexander III, AD 1173). Volume III. Cambridge University Press. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-1-108-04927-6.

The idea of the Church as a divinely ordained living organism, or 'Body of Christ'

The idea [or metaphor] of the Church as a divinely ordained living organism, or 'Body of Christ', was commonplace in early medieval ecclesiology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_of_Christ

The importance of the organism in the political theory of John of Salisbury
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143045900003355  https://goo.gl/ZXAh8Q

also in

Michael Wilks (1994). The World of John of Salisbury. Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19409-5. pp 303-17

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ORGANIC METAPHOR IN JOHN OF SALISBURY'S "POLICRATICUS"

Cary J. Nederman
History of Political Thought
Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer 1987), pp. 211-223
Published by: Imprint Academic Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/26213292

John of Salisbury: Policraticus (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) - Internet Archive

John of Salisbury and Pseudo-Plutarch
Author: H. Liebeschütz
Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 6 (1943), pp. 33-39
Published by: The Warburg Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750420...
In Books V and VI [of the Policraticus John of Salisbury] leaves the Bible and arranges his material in terms of a new frame of reference: res publica is symbolized by the human body, and it is in terms of this image that John presents his analysis of the social organism. The head of the body politic is the king; the soul is the priest; the senate is the heart; the judges and administrators of the provinces are the eyes, ears and tongue; the knights are the hands and the peasants are the feet. It is the duty of the prince to keep the organism in good health, and in this the priesthood is pledged to help him; the relationship between church and state being expressed in terms of the relationship between soul and body. And it is this metaphor which determines the orders of the chapters in these two books.

There is no new feeling here for the character and organic unity of the state. John is expressing the common mediaeval conception of society as ecclesia, coming under two authorities, the spiritual and the secular, which have to work together in harmony.
...

The head of the body politic, the king or prince, is literally the "Head" of state.

Some Notes on John of Salisbury's Theory of Kingship as outlined in Policraticus Book IV

John of Salisbury outlines what he thinks the worldly and religious duties of a King ought be in his Policraticus Book IV. This book was dedicated by him to Becket whilst he was Henry II's Chancellor. John was in exile at the time when he wrote it, 1159.

John of Salisbury uses the terms "Prince" meaning  "Head of the Secular State" (King/Emperor/Prince), and "Republic" meaning the State (or Kingdom) itself.

Johannes (Sarisberiensis); Carey J. Nederman Ed and Tr (26 October 1990). John of Salisbury: Policraticus. Book IV: Cambridge University Press. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-0-521-36701-1.
https://goo.gl/ajrBwX

The Old Testament view of Kingship
Deuteronomy 17:14-20
https://goo.gl/eZVZan

The fourth book in Policraticus makes reference to the law of good kingship to be found in Deuteronomy.

14 When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

Some Notes

The Mediaeval conception of society is as ecclesia

It comes under two authorities, the spiritual and the secular, which have to work together in harmony.

The entirety of a king's authority is derived from God.

All law is a gift from God

The influential orator [Cicero], would seem to support this and to subject all men to its obedience because all law is a sort of discovery and gift from God, the teaching of the wise, the corrective to excesses of wilfulness, the harmony of the city, and the banishment of all crime.

Thus Chrysippus asserted that Law has power over all divine and human affairs, for which reason it presides over all good and all evil and is ruler and guide of things as well as of men.

All kings are obligated from necessity to observe the Law.

The king is not above the Law.

The Prince is a minister [servant] of priests and their inferior.

That the Prince is a minister [adjudtor, advocatus or assistant] of priests, and is their inferior; and what it is for rulers to perform their ministry faithfully.

The sword [of state] is accepted by the Prince from the Hand of the Church.

The Prince is therefore a sort of minister [servant] of the priests and one who exercises those features of the sacred duties that seem an indignity in the hands of priests. For all duties of sacred law are in fact the affairs of the religious and the pious, yet that duty is inferior which executes the punishment of crime and which seems to be represented by images of executioners.

That the authority of Divine Law consists in the Prince being subject to the Justice of Law.


The Prince is said to be an absolutely binding law unto himself, not because he is licensed to be iniquitous, but only because he should be someone who does not fear the penalties of law but someone who loves justice, cherishes equity, procures the utility of the republic, and in all matters prefers the advantage of others to his private will.

The prince is the public power and a certain image on Earth of the divine majesty. Beyond doubt the greatest part of the divine virtue is revealed to belong to the Prince,

Samuel deposed Saul by reason of disobedience, and substituted for him the humble son of Jesse atop the the kingdom.

http://biblehub.com/kjv/1_samuel/15.htm

Constantine [the Great] Emperor of the Romans ... when written accusations involving the crimes of priests ... to [him], he accepted them and placed them unopened in the fold of his toga. ... As he was a human subject to the verdict of priests, he himself then said it was not for him to examine divine cases which none except God could adjudicate. Those rolls which he had accepted he consigned to the flames uninspected.

1 Corinthians 2:15 King James Version (KJV)
The secular power is judged by the spiritual, the latter by no one
"But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man."

References

Bernard of Clairvaux De Consideratione III, I, I https://goo.gl/eHymUc

John of Salisbury, ep. 44. Patr. Lat. 199, col. 274. 5 https://goo.gl/tbJBpF

Gosselin (M.) (1853). The power of the Pope during the Middle Ages, Volume II. J. Murphy. pp. 210–.

Medieval Sourcebook: John of Salisbury: Policraticus, Book Four (selections)