On Sir John Fortescue’s Political Ideas

Sir John Fortescue was a key political thinker in the fifteenth-century England, whose main works exercised great influence over political thoughts of medieval and early modern England. The main aim of the thesis is at expounding the interactions between Fortescue’s political ideas and the political practice of the fifteenth-century England. Besides, the thesis tries to interpret his political points of view through contemporary political context.The thesis is composed of five parts. The introduction focuses on the evolution of the historiography of John Fortescue studies, by pointing out the different paradigms of fifteenth-century England political thoughts. And the second part takes a closer look at the major thinking points in the three great monographs of Fortescue’s. The third part integrates both the concepts of kingship and the development of parliament with the political context of the then England, thereby depicting the subtle but significant characteristics of his political thoughts. At last, the conclusion aims to emphasize the fact Fortescue’s political ideas reflect not constitutional theory in the periods from the seventeen-century to nineteenth-century, but the typically political practice of the fifteenth-century England.