Bartolus of Sassoferrato
His Position in the History of Medieval Political Thought

This 1913 publication remains the only full-scale treatment of the political thought of the medieval Italian jurist Bartolus of Sassoferrato.

Cecil N. Sidney Woolf (Author)

9781108051408, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 August 2012

444 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.56 kg

Cecil Nathan Sidney Woolf (1887–1917), Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, was killed in the First World War. In this prize-winning book, published in 1913, Woolf examines the way in which the medieval jurist Bartolus of Sassoferrato (1314–57) interprets the Roman Law to make it relevant to fourteenth-century Italian political reality. Considering Bartolus's treatment of the relationships between the Roman Empire and the papacy, kingdoms and city-republics, Woolf places Bartolus's thought in its wider historical context by surveying the complex problem of the empire from the mid-thirteenth century onwards. In particular, he assesses Bartolus's most famous argument that the city is its own emperor. Arguing that Bartolus's influence lasted into the early modern period, both in the practice of law and in the use made of his works by writers like Bodin and Albericus Gentilis, this book also includes a useful table explaining Bartolus's distinctions between imperium and jurisdiction.

1. Introduction
2. The political theories of Bartolus
3. The problem of the Empire
4. Conclusion
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]