Abstract
Tyrannical governments posed an important problem for political philosophers throughout the Middle Ages. The concept of tyranny was an invention of ancient Greece, but the terminology was passed along via Roman sources and Latin translations to medieval thinkers, who developed an extensive analysis and critique of tyrannical rule. However, not all authors wholly condemned the tyrant. Some argued that tyranny was an appropriate form of government in cases where a populace was otherwise incapable of accepting virtuous rulers. Thus, tyranny proved to be a somewhat elastic concept.
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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
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Nederman, C.J. (2011). Tyranny . In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_508
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_508
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9728-7
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