The legal and political doctrine of the king's two bodies in the context of the 17th century English revolution

The study discusses the medieval political and legal doctrine of the king’s two bodies as applied to political events in England in the first half of the 17th century. The author analyzes this doctrine in terms of the parliamentary crisis and the English Civil War. The research outlines the preconditions of the social and political situation in the 17th century necessary for a proper understanding of the evolution of ideas that are regarded as the key to the English Revolution and the political and legal thought of the period under review. The study presents the historical and legal construction of the doctrine in the context of political and theological views of the late Middle Ages and early Modern Period that have generated much discussion of the limits of the English monarch’s powers against a background of the revolutionary events in the mid-17th century. The legal construction of the king’s two bodies is considered from a theoretical and practical perspective in the English political life. This political and legal doctrine is reviewed to trace the roots of the structure of government in England in the 17th century.