These three volumes of Voegelin's History of Political Ideas— volumes three, four, and five—cover the death of Saint Thomas to Bodin and the close of the sixteenth century. One might question David Walsh's contention in his introduction to volume three, The Later Middle Ages, that no other survey “even approaches the insights Voegelin draws out of his study— (p. 5). Nevertheless, it would be impossible to name a study that both captures the sustaining theme of medieval civilization, which Voegelin names the sacrum imperium, and identifies the philosophic forces leading to its decline and the rise of modernity.