John of Salisbury

John of Salisbury’s twelfth-century political treatise, the Policraticus, discusses the respective powers of Church and State and the ethics of rulership. This paper analyses John’s commentary on royal and ecclesiastical tyranny which reveals his non- hierocratic perspective of power. He differentiates between kingly and priestly tyrants while also advocating for tyrannicide in limited circumstances. Archbishop Thomas Becket and King Henry II, both of whom meet John’s criteria for tyranny, are case studies as they represent the powers of Church and State respectively. Becket’s assassination would seem to be the natural consequence of his previous tyrannical behaviour, yet John quickly pronounces Becket a martyr. For John, secular tyrants oppose the law they are meant to embody; therefore their death is warranted. Priestly tyrants, however, are God’s ministers and provide salvation via the sacraments. The Church is eternal but the State temporary; thus, the tyrannicide of a priest is never justifiable.