590 poll tax
modern ideas of the separation of church and state,
representative government, the popular roots of political
power and government, the evolution of authority and
justice, the function of the law, and justification of
property rights.
ISLAMIC THOUGHT AND
COMPARISONS TO CHRISTIANITYMedieval Islamic political thought was based on the
QURAN and the HADITH, in other words, the ideas of
MUHAMMADas a prophet or messenger inspired by God.
These encompassed religion, law, ethics, PHILOSOPHY, and
statecraft. During the Middle Ages Muslim writers pro-
duced systematic treatises, occasional writings, official
rhetorical statements, and popular slogans all based pri-
marily on them.
Just as in Christianity, Islamic political thought was a
religious ideology active in society. Both the religious and
the secular communities were the products of the legacy
of Abraham and the classical world. Their medieval tradi-
tions and cultures were monotheistic, believed in a final
revelation by God to humanity in particular texts, and
were strongly influenced by the ideas and systems of clas-
sical antiquity.
See also ALIGHIERI,DANTE;AUGUSTINE OFHIPPO,
SAINT; CALIPHATE AND CALIPH; FORTESCUE,JOHN;GREGO-
RIAN REFORM; ISLAM; IBNKHALDUN, WALI AL-DINABD
AL-RAHMAN IBNMUHAMMAD;JOHN OFPARIS;JOHN OF
SALISBURY; LAW, CANON AND ECCLESIASTICAL;MARSILIUS
OF PADUA; MIRROR OF PRINCES; PAPACY; WILLIAM OF
OCKHAM;WYCLIFFE,JOHN.
Further reading:Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi,
eds., Medieval Political Philosophy(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1963); Cary J. Nederman and Kate
Langdon Forhan, eds., Medieval Political Theory—a
Reader: The Quest for the Body Politic, 1100–1400(New
York: Routledge, 1993); Hans Baron, In Search of Floren-
tine Civic Humanism: Essays on the Transition from
Medieval to Modern Thought, 2 vols. (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1988); Antony J. Black, Polit-
ical Thought in Europe, 1250–1450 (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1992); Antony Black, The
History of Islamic Political Thought: From the Prophet to
the Present(New York: Routledge, 2001); J. H. Burns,
ed., The Cambridge History of Medieval Political Thought
c. 350–c. 1450(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1988); Joseph Canning, A History of Medieval Political
Thought, 300–1450 (New York, Routledge, 1996);
Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political
Thought, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1978).
poll tax SeePEASANT REBELLIONS.
Polo, Marco SeeMARCOPOLO.
polyphony Medieval polyphony was a method of writ-
ing music in which several voices were superimposed on
each other while harmonizing with melodies not parallel
to each other. It appeared in the ninth century in the
West. Several kinds of polyphonic musical forms suc-
ceeded each other or coexisted in the Middle Ages.
The conductuswas a polyphonic piece in which a
low or tenor voice followed a more or less spontaneous
melody. Thus polyphony was no longer just an orna-
ment of GREGORIAN CHANT, but a new and autonomous
way of writing music. Conductusoften accompanied the
liturgy as processional chants. In the 13th century, the
principal polyphonic musical form was the MOTET.In
the 14th century, rhythmic relations between voices
characterized a new style, the ars nova,in contrast to
the ARS ANTIQUAcultivated earlier in the 13th century.
The most celebrated musician of the Ars nova was
Guillaume de MACHAUT. From the late 14th century,
polyphonic composition began to be simplified in the
Franco-Flemish school best represented by Guillaume
Dufay (ca. 1400– 74). Secular polyphonic song also
developed, but composing for the MASSremained the
most complex genre.
Further reading:David Fallows, Dufay(London: J.
M. Dent and Sons, 1982); Anselm Hughes, Medieval
Polyphony in the Bodleian Library (Oxford: Bodleian
Library, 1951); Heinrich Husmann, Medieval Polyphony,
trans. Robert Kolben (Cologne: Arno Volk, 1962); Ernest
Helmut Sanders, Medieval English Polyphony and Its Sig-
nificance for the Continent(New York: Sanders, 1968).
There are available numerous sound recordings and
musical scores.polyptych In the Middle Ages, the word polyptychand
its derivatives designated land registers. Polyptychs, espe-
cially in the ninth century, recorded lands, tenants, and
the services they owed to the lord of the estate. Some 30
CAROLINGIAN polyptychs have survived. They were
drawn up on land between the Loire and the Rhine; on
the estates of Saint-Germain-dès-Prés, Saint-Remi at
RHEIMS, and at Prüm; but also in other regions of the
Frankish Empire such as northern ITALYat Bobbio. Most
were compiled from great monasteries and demonstrated
the great expansion of cultivation taking place during
that era.HISTORICAL VALUE
Polyptychs were also intended to assist in the manage-
ment of royal FIEFS and ecclesiastical properties. They
were used by a few lay lords. Studied by modern scholars
as sources for social and economic history, they recorded
transport services and monetary payments. By listing
various members of peasant households they provided
a snapshot for the history of the family. They contained
place- and human names useful to philologists. They