“And He Wore the Bones and Fur of a Wolf...”: the Concept of a Bad Ruler in the Treatises of John of Salisbury and Jean Petit

Abstract

The article analyzes the concept of a bad ruler, presented in the treatises of John of Salisbury (1159) and Jean Petit (1408). The author pays special attention to the so-called bestial code involved in both works. From her point of view, when creating the “Justification of the Duke of Burgundy”, Jean Petit, in an attempt to belittle Louis of Orleans, described him not just as a tyrant, but as a man who turned into a beast, a werewolf and a sorcerer, and on this basis becoming the devil himself. According to the author, Jean Petit borrowed this concept from the “Polycraticus” of John of Salisbury and strengthened it for his own purposes.