Noo is noo come. Hi, I'm Peter Adamson and you're listening to the History of Philosophy Podcast brought to you with the support of the philosophy department at King's College London and the LMU in Munich.

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Today's episode

Two Swords, Early Medieval Political Philosophy.

Ranking Roger, lead singer of the ska band The English Beat, is not exactly known for incisive

commentary about epoch making events in the history of political thought.

This is, after all, the man who gave the world such lyrics as,

You move your little feet, you rock to the beat,

I see you upon the street, you look so sweet, I see you with your dance in feet.

Yet he also sang the words, two swords slashing at each other, only sharpen one another.

And you could hardly ask for a better ten-word summary of the key events in early medieval

political life. The image of two swords was frequently used in the debates of the time.

It was drawn from a passage of the New Testament that has no obvious relevance to politics.

It comes in the Book of Luke, just after the description of the Last Supper and Christ's

prediction that Peter will deny him three times in the day to come.

Jesus' disciples are gathering weapons and say,

behold, here are two swords, to which he replies,

it is enough.

A widespread medieval interpretation of this text took the two swords to refer

to the spiritual authority of the church and the secular rulership exercised by kings or

emperors.

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