The governance of England: otherwise called The difference between an absolute and a limited monarchy. A rev. text edited with introd., notes, and appendices by Charles Plummer.

sone Ninus, and aftir hym other paynemes, þat bi ensample of Nembroth made hem realmes, wolde not haue thaim ruled bi oþer lawes then be ther owne wylles. Wich lawes ben right gode vndir gode princes, and thair kyngdomes bethe than most resembled to the kyngdome of God, wich reigneth vpon man rulynge hym bi his owne will. Wherfore mony cristen princes vsen the same lawe; and ther|fore it is that þe lawes seyn, quod principi placuit, legis habet bigorem. And thus I suppose first be gan in Realmes dominium tantum regale. But aftirwarde, whan mankynde was more mansuete, and bettir dis|posid to vertu, grete comunaltes, as was the felow|shippe that came in to this lande with Brute, willynge to be vnite and made a body pollitike callid a reawme, hauynge an hed to gouerne it;—as aftir the saynge of the philisopher, euery comunalte vnyed of mony parties must nedis haue an hed;—than they chese the same Brute to be þer hed and kynge. And thai and he vpon this incorperacion, institucion, and onynge of hem self in to a reaume, ordenyd the same reaume to be ruled and justified by suche lawes as thai all wolde assent vnto; wich lawe therfore is callid polliticum, and bi cause it is ministrid bi a kynge, it is callid regale. Policia dicitur a poles, quod est plures, et ycos, scientia; quo regimen politicum dicitur regimen plurium scientia siue consilio ministratum. The kynge of Scottis reignith vppon is peple bi this lawe, videlicet, regemine politico et regali. And as Dio|dorus Siculus saith in is boke de priscis historiis, the reawme of Egipte is ruled bi the same lawe, and therfore the kynge therof chaungith not his lawes with owt the assent of his peple. And in like fourme as he saith is ruled the kyngdome of Saba in Felici

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Title: The governance of England: otherwise called The difference between an absolute and a limited monarchy. A rev. text edited with introd., notes, and appendices by Charles Plummer.
Author: Fortescue, John, Sir, 1394?-1476?
Canvas: Page 112
Publication: Oxford,: Clarendon Press,; 1885.
Subject terms: Political science; Monarchy; Constitutional law -- Great Britain.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/aew3422.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/aew3422.0001.001/136:4

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Full citation: "The governance of England: otherwise called The difference between an absolute and a limited monarchy. A rev. text edited with introd., notes, and appendices by Charles Plummer." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/aew3422.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 2, 2025.

The governance of England: otherwise called The difference between an absolute and a limited monarchy. A rev. text edited with introd., notes, and appendices by Charles Plummer.

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