This book has been written in the belief that the period from 1250 to 1450 was seminal for the values and politics of the modern world, especially but by no means exclusively in Europe; that this has been strangely neglected or misunderstood; but, above all, that it is fascinating in its own terms. State sovereignty, separation of church and state, representation, the popular origin of government, property rights – these are just a few of the ideas formulated, often for the first time in their modern form, during this period. We must get away from the idea of the ‘Middle Ages’ as esoteric. Political thought then was about as varied and fluid as later.

This book is aimed at students both of history and of political thought. I have attempted to set the subject matter in the context both of contemporary politics and of the history of ideas. Nothing less would have been fair to the subjects treated. It assumes no special prior knowledge. If I have been motivated by anything other than the usual reasons for writing books, it has been a desire to set the record straight and do justice to this epoch and the thinkers in it. This has become a work of exploration in its own right because, while other and better scholars have done justice to individual thinkers and topics, this period has not been satisfactorily treated as a whole. (Indeed, it has become an adventure playground for prejudice.)