Sir John Fortescue lived in England from 1395-1477. He is considered the most important political theorist of the fifteenth century. The England of his time was mired in the bitter convulsions of the War of the Roses between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists branches. After the military kingship of Henry V (1413-1422), his son Henry VI, age 9 months began his reign and ushered a period widely perceived as a serious crisis of governance. This was characterized by massive abuses of the king's patronage, after 1453 Henry had bouts of mental illness, massive overspending in the king's household, massive judicial discrepancies, and the loss of Normandy which Henry V had previously recaptured (as recounted in Shakespeare).
Fortescue was a member of the growing group of lay professionals. He served in parliament and eventually became the Chief Justice of the Court of the King's Bench at Westminster. He fled with Henry VI, after the defeat at the battle of Towton, and while in Scotland he wrote in support of the Lancastrians. In July 1463, he traveled to France where he wrote In the Praise of the Laws England and when he received his pardon from the Yorkist king Edward IV, he returned to England and presented Edward with The Governance (we are unsure when it was written).
It is this background above, which sets the field for his works. The Governance, and In Praise of the Laws of England form an forceful argument for justice against tyranny, for public against private interest. Fortescue argues that a strong king was needed one who is learned in the field of justice. He states that the government of the realm is 'political' because it 'is ruled by the administration of many, and royal' because the subject cannot make laws without 'the authority of the king' (pg xxiii). A lot of criticism of the his argument rests on the fact that the situation he describes in England, while defending English laws and tradition, were not actually working as he describes. His defense is simple, he is presenting the optimal way of governance and thus In Praise of the Laws of England is therefore to be seen as a critical and reforming work rather than as complacent or merely descriptive. The situations in France are portrayed as horrible in an effort to prove his point in contrast. A very good introduction sets the tone perfectly and explains Fortescue's reasoning, sources, arguments, etc... This is a very important document for understanding political theories of the time.
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Top reviews from other countries
Nev harvey
'In Praise (and gratitude)of the Laws of this land'
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2012
Paul Marks
A view into another world - and a warning to ours.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2013JJ
Third rate job in producing this not inexpensive work
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2024