Abstract
In his classic work The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology the historian Ernst Kantorowicz examined the development of the political doctrine that distinguished between a monarch's natural body and his or her political body. Whereas the monarch's natural body is mortal – it lives, breathes, becomes ill and dies – the political body, which is the embodiment and representative of the state, is immortal. Yet somehow the two bodies comprise a single unit in making appointments, conducting wars and signing treaties. The paradox is encapsulated in the expression, "The king is dead. Long live the king!".
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