The difference between an absolute and limited monarchy
1471
Sir John Fortescue was chief justice of the court of King's Bench from 1442 to 1461 and an intimate of Henry VI and his family. When Henry was deposed by Edward IV, Fortescue fled with the royal family to France, where he probably became tutor to Henry's heir Prince Edward.
Fortescue wrote this early plea for limited monarchy, a perceptive analysis of the Lancastrian monarchy and the reasons for its failure, following the abortive attempt to restore Henry in 1471, after which the jurist was pardoned by Edward IV and became a member of his Council. The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy was first published widely in 1714, and was issued as The Governance of England in 1885.
