On the Government of Rulers: De Regimine Principum

by Ptolemy of Lucca, James M. Blythe (Translator), Thomas Aquinas

Overview

Ptolemy, considered a proto-Humanist by some, combined the principles of Northern Italian republicanism with Aristotelian theory in his De Regimine Principum, a book that influenced much of the political thought of the later Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the early modern period. He was the first to attack kingship as despotism and to draw parallels between ancient Greek models of mixed constitution and the Roman Republic, biblical rule, the Church, and medieval government.

In addition to his translation of this important and radical medieval political treatise, written around 1300, James M. Blythe includes a sixty-page introduction to the work and provides over 1200 footnotes that trace Ptolemy's sources, explain his references, and comment on the text, the translation, the context, and the significance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812233704
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	01/29/1997
Series:	The Middle Ages Series
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	974,880
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.16(d)