The territorialization of governance is not compatible with the personal nature of political relations. And it is not compatible with power being understood as the personal possession of rulers. One of the features distinguishing modern polities from earlier kingships is the distinction between the persons of the rules and the office and institutions they occupy. But it is not just that there emerges a distinction between a person and roles and institutions. It is that the polity, that is, the state, comes to be understood as an order distinct from its agents and institution, something reflected in the linguistic distinction discussed earlier between ‘state’ and ‘government’. The modern use of ‘state’ to refer to a public order distinct from its agents and institutions, something reflected in the linguistic distinction discussed earlier between ‘state’ and ‘government’. The modern use of ‘state’ to refer to a public order distinct from both ruled and ruler, with highly centralized institutions wielding power over inhabitants of a defined territory, seems to date back no earlier than the sixteenth century (see Skinner, 1978: vol.2, 352ff; 1989: 90-131; Dyson,1980: 25ff; Vincent, 1987: 16-19). The word derives from the Latin stare, to stand, and status, standing or position. Status also connotes stability or performance, which is carried over into ‘estate’, the immediate ancestor of ‘state’. But the modern use of the word is new: