Abstract

Giles of Rome (c. 1243/1247-1316) was the first member of the order of Augustinian Hermits to be appointed regent master of theology at the University of Paris and later became archbishop of Bourges. By 1282, he had composed On the Rule of Princes a manual of instruction for secular rulers dedicated to the future French king Philip IV. The work, which proved immensely popular throughout the later Middle Ages, drew heavily upon Aristotelian ideas to offer a portrait of the ideal ruler. Giles considered a well-educated hereditary king free from any form of limitation to be best able to obtain the common good of those he ruled. During the 1290s and first years of the fourteenth century Giles became closely associated with Pope Boniface VIII and subsequently involved in his struggle with Philip IV over issues of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. In the course of one of these Franco-papal disputes Giles composed On Ecclesiastical Power, a work which drew on Aristotelian language to establish and defend an influential vision of society’s

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Structure in which temporal power was entirely subordinated to spiritual power. Giles argued not only that all legitimate secular rule, but even all legitimate right to property, was ultimately derived from the church. His model equated the power vested in the church with the power vested in the papal office and thereby established the pope as the ultimate authority in both spiritual and temporal affairs. The pope possessed an authority free from any effective limitations, although Giles argued he should, in imitation of God’s governance of the universe, seek to restrain himself from interfering in temporal affairs in all but exceptional circumstances. The two phases of Giles’ political thought have sometimes been considered contradictory although they share a similar view of hierarchical structures and the nature of rulership.