John of Salisbury

Denis Foulechat, fl. 1363-1372

Translation of John of Salisbury's Policraticus [Le 'Policratique' de Jean de Salisbury ]

Copied by Henri de Trévou and Raoulet d’Orléans

c. 1372

Parchment

Manuscripts Department, Western Section, Fr. 24287

The Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

In 1372, Charles V (1364-1380) had a Franciscan, Denis Foulechat translate Policraticus, an important medieval text about political theory by John of Salisbury (ca. 1115-76).

This illustration depicts the wise King Charles V of France seated on a chair from which justice was meted out and pointing to the manuscript placed on a bookwheel.

He is the very picture of the learned and just king blessed by the hand of God.

Of John of Salisbury, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states:

"John of Salisbury (ca. 1115-76) has an enduring reputation based as much on whom he knew as on what he knew.

He studied with almost all the great masters of the early twelfth century, including Peter Abelard and Gilbert of Poitiers, served as an aid to Thomas à Becket (1118-70), a friend to Pope Hadrian IV, an annoyance if not an enemy to England's King Henry II, and died as Bishop of Chartres.

John walked the halls of power and learning as few have before or since.

John's Policraticus reflects knowledge and insight that could only have come with practical experience; it was considered an authoritative text in political philosophy for centuries.

His reflections on the schools of his day in the Metalogicon offer valuable insight into the academic life of Paris just as the works of Aristotle were being rediscovered"

Before Christmas, Pope Benedict XVI continued his series of talks on medieval monastic theologians and writers.

On 16th December 2009 his talked at the General Audience was devoted in full to John of Salisbury.

As usual the talk was erudite and thought provoking and well worth quoting in full:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we shall become acquainted with John of Salisbury who belonged to one of the most important schools of philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages, that of the Cathedral of Chartres in France.

Like the theologians of whom I have spoken in the past few weeks, John too helps us understand that faith, in harmony with the just aspirations of reason, impels thought toward the revealed truth in which is found the true good of the human being.

John was born in Salisbury, England, between 1100 and 1120. In reading his works, and especially the large collection of his letters, we learn about the most important events in his life. For about 12 years, from 1136 to 1148, he devoted himself to study, attending the best schools of his day where he heard the lectures of famous teachers. He went to Paris and then to Chartres, the environment that made the greatest impression on his formation and from which he assimilated his great cultural openness, his interest in speculative problems and his appreciation of literature. As often happened in that time, the most brilliant students were chosen by prelates and sovereigns to be their close collaborators.

This also happened to John of Salisbury, who was introduced to Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury the Primatial See of England by a great friend of his, Bernard of Clairvaux. Theobald was glad to welcome John among his clergy. For 11 years, from 1150 to 1161, John was the secretary and chaplain of the elderly Archbishop.

With unflagging zeal he continued to devote himself to study; he carried out an intense diplomatic activity, going to Italy ten times for the explicit purpose of fostering relations between the Kingdom and Church of England and the Roman Pontiff. Among other things, the Pope in those years was Adrian IV, an Englishman who was a close friend of John of Salisbury.

In the years following Adrian IV's death, in 1159, a situation of serious tension arose in England, between the Church and the Kingdom. In fact, King Henry II wished to impose his authority on the internal life of the Church, curtailing her freedom. This stance provoked John of Salisbury to react and, in particular, prompted the valiant resistence of St Thomas Becket, Theobald's successor on the episcopal throne of Canterbury, who for this reason was exiled to France. John of Salisbury accompanied him and remained in his service, working ceaselessly for reconciliation.

In 1170, when both John and Thomas Becket had returned to England, Thomas was attacked and murdered in his cathedral. He died a martyr and was immediately venerated as such by the people.

John continued to serve faithfully the successor of Thomas as well, until he was appointed Bishop of Chartres where he lived from 1176 until 1180, the year of his death.

I would like to point out two of John of Salisbury's works that are considered his masterpieces, bearing elegant Greek titles: Metalogicon (In Defence of Logic), and Policraticus (The Man of Government).

In the first of these works, not without that fine irony that is a feature of many scholars, he rejects the position of those who had a reductionist conception of culture, which they saw as empty eloquence and vain words.

John, on the contrary, praises culture, authentic philosophy, that is, the encounter between rigorous thought and communication, effective words.

He writes: "Indeed, just as eloquence that is not illuminated by reason is not only rash but blind, so wisdom that does not profit from the use of words is not only weak but in a certain way is mutilated. Indeed, although, at times, wisdom without words might serve to square the individual with his own conscience, it is of rare or little profit to society" (Metalogicon, 1, 1, PL 199, 327).

This is a very timely teaching. Today, what John described as "eloquence", that is, the possibility of communicating with increasingly elaborate and widespread means, has increased enormously. Yet the need to communicate messages endowed with "wisdom", that is inspired by truth, goodness and beauty is more urgent than ever. This is a great responsibility that calls into question in particular the people who work in the multiform and complex world of culture, of communications, of the media. And this is a realm in which the Gospel can be proclaimed with missionary zeal.

In the Metalogicon John treats the problems of logic, in his day a subject of great interest, and asks himself a fundamental question: what can human reason know? To what point can it correspond with the aspiration that exists in every person, namely, to seek the truth?

John of Salisbury adopts a moderate position, based on the teaching of certain treatises of Aristotle and Cicero. In his opinion human reason normally attains knowledge that is not indisputable but probable and arguable. Human knowledge this is his conclusion is imperfect, because it is subject to finiteness, to human limitations. Nevertheless it grows and is perfected, thanks to the experience and elaboration of correct and consistent reasoning, able to make connections between concepts and the reality, through discussion, exchanges and knowledge that is enriched from one generation to the next. Only in God is there perfect knowledge which is communicated to the human being, at least partially, by means of Revelation received in faith, which is why the knowledge of faith, theology, unfolds the potential of reason and makes it possible to advance with humility in the knowledge of God's mysteries.

The believer and the theologian who deepen the treasure of faith, also open themselves to a practical knowledge that guides our daily activity, in other words moral law and the exercise of the virtues.

John of Salisbury writes: "God's clemency has granted us his law, which establishes what it is useful for us to know and points out to us what it is legitimate for us to know of God and what it is right to investigate.... In this law, in fact, the will of God is explained and revealed so that each one of us may know what he needs to do" (Metalogicon 4, 41, PL 199, 944-945).

According to John of Salisbury an immutable objective truth also exists, whose origin is in God, accessible to human reason and which concerns practical and social action. It is a natural law that must inspire human laws and political and religious authorities, so that they may promote the common good. This natural law is characterized by a property that John calls "equity", that is, the attribution to each person of his own rights. From this stem precepts that are legitimate for all peoples, and in no way can they be abrogated. This is the central thesis of Policraticus, the treatise of philosophy and political theology in which John of Salisbury reflects on the conditions that render government leaders' just and acceptable.

Whereas other arguments addressed in this work are linked to the historical circumstances in which it was composed, the theme of the relationship between natural law and a positive juridical order, mediated by equity, is still of great importance today.

In our time, in fact, especially in some countries, we are witnessing a disturbing divergence between reason, whose task is to discover the ethical values linked to the dignity of the human person, and freedom, whose responsibility is to accept and promote them.

Perhaps John of Salisbury would remind us today that the only laws in conformity with equity are those that protect the sacredness of human life and reject the licitness of abortion, euthanasia and bold genetic experimentation, those laws that respect the dignity of marriage between a man and a woman, that are inspired by a correct secularism of the State a secularism that always entails the safeguard of religious freedom and that pursue subsidiarity and solidarity at both the national and the international level.

If this were not so, what John of Salisbury terms the "tyranny of princes", or as we would say, "the dictatorship of relativism" would end by coming to power, a relativism, as I recalled a few years ago, "which does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires" (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals, Homily, Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff, 18 April 2005).

In my most recent Encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, in addressing people of good will who strive to ensure that social and political action are never separated from the objective truth about man and his dignity, I wrote: "Truth, and the love which it reveals, cannot be produced: they can only be received as a gift. Their ultimate source is not, and cannot be, mankind, but only God, who is himself Truth and Love. This principle is extremely important for society and for development, since neither can be a purely human product; the vocation to development on the part of individuals and peoples is not based simply on human choice, but is an intrinsic part of a plan that is prior to us and constitutes for all of us a duty to be freely accepted" (n. 52).

We must seek and welcome this plan that precedes us, this truth of being, so that justice may be born, but we may find it and welcome it only with a heart, a will and a reason purified in the light of God. "

It is clear from the Pope`s words especially his linking of the thought of John of Salisbury to his own writings and speeches, that this was an important address by HIs Holiness.

Some have criticised these speeches as the Pope simply displaying his erudition or the erudition of his advisors. But what he seems to be seeking to do is to show that the problems of today are in reality no different from those experienced by previous generations. We would be most unwise to ignore these ancient voices and writings. It would seem that the west has forgotten these ancient truths and the Pope wishes to remind us of these truths which were accepted as valid and true in previous dispensations.

In the words of John of Salisbury, he wants us to stand on "the shoulders of giants" to see the Truth.

He is trying to bring to people`s attention to matters which are presently ignored in the present mass media

He realises that in the West we now have an explosion of higher education. But higher education is frequently narrow and increasingly specialised and ignores topics which were regarded as being of the utmost importance in earlier times.

Previous Popes have been criticised for being simplistic and talking platitudes. His talks demand concentration and thought. In no way are they simplistic. As he said in his talk: "Yet the need to communicate messages endowed with "wisdom", that is inspired by truth, goodness and beauty is more urgent than ever. This is a great responsibility that calls into question in particular the people who work in the multiform and complex world of culture, of communications, of the media. And this is a realm in which the Gospel can be proclaimed with missionary zeal."

Likewise some have seized on his talk as an indication that the Pope has a hankering after a type of theocracy. Nothing could be further from the truth. He has often expressed his admiration of a form of separation of church and state. Such criticism is a caricature of his vision of the necessary relationship between Church and State. He does criticise the overweening power of the State which infringes religious freedom and other fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens of the State. But his vision is sophisticated and subtle and cannot be encapsulated in a series of soundbites.