Francis Oakley is the Edward Dorr Griffin Professor of the History of Ideas Emeritus, and president emeritus of Williams College. He is also president emeritus of the American Council of Learned Societies, New York. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including The Watershed of Modern Politics: Law, Virtue, Kingship and Consent (1300 to 1650) and The Mortgage of the Past: Reshaping the Ancient Political Inheritance (1050 to 1300).
