The mystical body of the king

Juan Carlos I, in front of the Zarzuela Palace on June 9, 2014, his last days as King.Andres Kudacki / AP

It is an old and outdated belief. It is also a legal doctrine famously held by Edmund Plow den, a distinguished lawyer and parliamentarian under the Tudor dynasty in the 17th century. And it constitutes, above all, the nucleus of a classic of historiography, The two bodies of the King. A study on medieval political theology , published in 1957 and from the wise pen of Ernest Kantorowicz, a historian who professed at Harvard after fleeing Nazi Germany in 1933, like so many other German Jews. ...

Sign in to continue reading

Just by having an account you can read this article, it's free

Sign up

Thanks for reading EL PAÍS