The King's Two Bodies

The King's Two Bodies (subtitled, A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology) is a 1957 historical book by Ernst Kantorowicz. It concerns medieval political theology and the distinctions separating the "body natural" (a monarch's corporeal being) and the "body politic".

The book has had significant influence on the field of medieval studies, even as its methods and style of argumentation are viewed with wariness by contemporary scholars. It is the recipient of the Haskins medal from the Medieval Academy of America.

Stephen Greenblatt has said that the book is a "remarkably vital, generous, and generative work," while the historian Morimichi Watanabe called it a "monumental classic." Others have called it "an unnoticed volume on the shelves" that remains important and influential in disciplines including art history. It is also said to have more admirers than readers. Horst Bredekamp, an art historian, has referred to the book as a "continuous success". It has been kept in print since 1957 by Princeton University Press and has been translated into Romanian, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Scholarly technique in the book includes use of art, philosophy, religion, law, numismatics, and archaeology.