Jump to content

File:Body politic.jpg

Page contents not supported in other languages.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Original file (897 × 714 pixels, file size: 547 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description
English: A rare visualization of the body-politic metaphor occurs in the Morgan Avis au roys. Adapted from the iconography of the zodiacal man, a nude, well-porportioned, crowned, and beared male figure represents the physical embodiment of the political body. Inscriptions identify parts of the human body with functions and offices of certain social classes and institutions of government. The resulting hierarchy of political and social values corresponds to the traditional evaluations of the organs of the human body in ancient and medieval anatomical and philosophical texts. For example, occupying the representational and metaphorical top of the hierarchy of the body politic is the king who is its head. As the most distinctive part of the human anatomy, in which the soul, reason, and intelligence, and sensations reside, the head is the ruling principle to which all other parts of the human body and the body politic are subject. Next, associated with the vital human faculties of vision and hearing, the seneschals, bailiffs, and provosts and other judges are compared to the eyes and ears of the body politic. The counsellors and wise men are linked to the essential function of the heart. As defenders of the commonwealth, the knights are identified with the hands. Because of their constant voyages around the world, the merchants are associated with the legs. Finally, laborers, who work close to the earth and support the body, are its feet.
Date Medieval
Source Following Chaucer: Offices of the Active Life Front cover image.
Author Unknown authorUnknown author

Licensing

This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Public domain

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer.


You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States.
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

image/jpeg

a7681737468510d5fbde15e8d21961d92bf3ebce

560,222 byte

714 pixel

897 pixel

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current18:13, 21 March 2021Thumbnail for version as of 18:13, 21 March 2021897 × 714 (547 KB)JonundUploaded a work by Unknown from [https://www.amazon.com/Following-Chaucer-Offices-Active-Life/dp/0472131877 ''Following Chaucer: Offices of the Active Life''] Front cover image. with UploadWizard

The following page uses this file:

Global file usage

The following other wikis use this file:

Metadata