Vincentius Hispanus, ‘Pro Ratione Voluntas,’ and Medieval and Early Modern Theories of Sovereignty
Some years ago I called attention to these words of the early thirteenth-century decretalist, Vincentius Hispanus, on the powers of the pope and of the prince: ‘… sit voluntas pro ratione.’ What is the meaning? Did Vincentius hold that the supreme authority was arbitrarily absolute, that the volunta...
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
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Published: |
Cambridge University Press
1972
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In: |
Traditio
Year: 1972, Volume: 28, Pages: 159-184 |
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Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | Some years ago I called attention to these words of the early thirteenth-century decretalist, Vincentius Hispanus, on the powers of the pope and of the prince: ‘… sit voluntas pro ratione.’ What is the meaning? Did Vincentius hold that the supreme authority was arbitrarily absolute, that the voluntas of the monarch must in all circumstances be accepted as reason itself? Must we believe that he advanced a doctrine of unlimited absolutism — of the pope in the Church and of the emperor in the Empire? And that he anticipated a theory of sovereignty as the authority and powers of the ruler subject neither to the law nor to the laws? |
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ISSN: | 2166-5508 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Traditio
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0362152900011521 |