SOURCE: Jacob, E. F. “John of Salisbury and the Policraticus.” In The Social and Political Ideas of Some Great Mediaeval Thinkers: A Series of Lectures Delivered at King's College University of London, edited by F. J. C. Hearnshaw, pp. 53-84. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1967.

In the following essay, first delivered as a lecture in 1923, Jacob summarizes John's political ideas in the Policraticus and details his use of metaphor in comparing the state to the body.

It is an interesting fact, not always fully realised, that one of the most characteristic expressions of mediæval political theory came from an Englishman. His countrymen, while interested and often attracted by his life and personality, on the whole have not concerned themselves much with his philosophy, partly, perhaps, from lack of really good and accurate editions of his work, partly, one fears, from that attitude of mind which regards the work...