Ernst Kantorowicz and Government

Abstract This chapter offers a novel interpretation of Ernst Kantorowicz’s monumental work on political theology, The King’s Two Bodies. It argues that Kantorowicz’s innovation with respect to Schmitt consists in offering a genealogy of liberal government in opposition to state sovereignty. The chapter shows how this modern idea of government finds its remote origins in the development of a ‘religion of law’ by jurists working for medieval emperors and monarchs in their struggle against the theocratic claims of the Catholic Church. The chapter contextualizes Kantorowicz’s work in the 20th-century Anglo-American debate on the medieval origins of medieval constitutionalism in Bracton. It also discusses the continuing relevance of Kantorowicz’s genealogy of government in the current debate between defenders of national sovereignty and advocates for global constitutionalism.