Sovereignty has always been an important concept in political thought, and at no time in European history was it more important than during the perplexed conditions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Universal government was a fading dream, giving way to the new conception of the national state and the whole basis of political thought was being reorientated by the influx of Aristotelian ideas. Dr Wilks's book is an attempt to clarify the more important problems in the political outlook of the period. He shows that at this time the theologians and literary writers, especially Augustinus Triumphus of Ancona, had built up a complete theory of sovereignty in favour of the papal monarchy, based on a neo-Platonic, Augustinian view of the church as a universal and totalitarian state.

In four periods : From the foundation of the Church to the "Decretum Gratiani", from the Gregorian Reform to the Council of Trent, from Trent to the "Codex Iuris Canonici", and from its promulgation in 1917 to the new Codex of 1983, Van de Wiel offers a clear description of the general concepts and constitutive sources of Canon Law. His work is a contribution to the history of canon law and will be of great service both to students and jurists. Constant Van de Wiel is currently professor of Canon Law at the Catholic University of Leuven, Louvain (Belgium), Chancellor and Keeper of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Mechlin-Brussels. He published on the subject in the Louvain Journal of Theological and Canonical Studies : "Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses", and in several specialized journals.

Written at the turn of the 14th century, Giles of Rome's De ecclesiastica potestate is a papal tract written at the height of Pope Boniface VIII's conflict with King Philip IV of France.

Incorporating research previously unavailable in English, this clear guide gives a synthesis of the latest scholarship providing the historical and intellectual context for political ideas. This accessible and lucid guide to medieval political thought * gives a synthesis of the latest scholarship * incorporates the results of research until now unavailable in English * focuses on the crucial primary source material * provides the historical and intellectual context for political ideas. The book covers four periods, each with a different focus: * 300-750 - Christian ideas of rulership * 750-1050 - the Carolingian period and its aftermath * 1050-1290 - the relationship between temporal and spiritual power, and the revived legacy of antiquity * 1290-1450 - the confrontation with political reality in ideas of church and of state, and in juristic thought. Canning has produced an ideal introductory text for undergraduate and postgraduate students of the period.