Abstract

The article offers a reading of some texts from the corpus of ecclesiological-political writings from the late 13th to the 14th century that are especially significant in order to investigate the concept of ‘institution’. Besides referring to the work of previous authors, such as Augustine of Hippo and John of Salisbury, the analysis focuses on relevant elements of the ecclesiological-political thought of authors who lived between the two centuries, such as Herveus of Nédellec, Jean of Pouilly and others. The basic proposal is to propose a reading of these texts and of the whole late-medieval political ecclesiology discussion from the original perspective of a possible, and very varied, philosophy of the institution.