Responsabilités publiques et éthique aristocratique Le délicat jeu d’équilibriste des rois anglais de la fin du Moyen Âge

This article aims to highlight some of the fundamental characteristics of royalty in late medieval England. It shows how kings were forced to reconcile different expectations: their political authority resulted from a fragile balance between their ability to conform to an aristocratic ethic and to appear as the backbone of an emerging civic society.