Marsilius of Padua

Marsilius of Padua
Born	c. 1275 Commune of Padua
Died	c. 1342 Munich, Duchy of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire
Education
Education	University of Paris
Philosophical work
Era	Medieval philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Scholasticism
Main interests	Theology Politics
Notable works	Defensor pacis
Notable ideas	Criticism of the plenitude of power

Marsilius of Padua (Italian: Marsilio da Padova; born Marsilio Mainardi, Marsilio de i Mainardini or Marsilio Mainardini; c. 1275 – c. 1342) was an Italian scholar, trained in medicine, who practised a variety of professions. He was also an important 14th-century political figure. His political treatise Defensor pacis (The Defender of Peace), an attempt to refute papal claims to a "plenitude of power" in affairs of both church and state, is seen by some scholars as the most revolutionary political treatise written in the later Middle Ages. It is one of the first examples of a trenchant critique of ultramontanism in Western Europe. Marsilius is sometimes seen as a forerunner of the Protestant reformation, because many of his beliefs were later adopted by John Calvin and Martin Luther.

Early years

Marsilius was born in Padua, an important city near Venice, circa 1275. He probably studied medicine at the University of Padua and later went to the University of Paris, where he became a devoted admirer of Aristotle, whom he called 'the divine philosopher". He served as rector of the University of Paris approximately 1312–1313. It is probable that he taught at the University of Paris before and after his tenure as rector.

Political theory and later years

Marsilius wrote Defensor pacis in 1324. This treatise was written in the context of a power struggle between Pope John XXII and Louis of Bavaria (or Ludwig of Bavaria), the elected candidate for Holy Roman Emperor. Louis' policies in the Italian peninsula, where the Empire had important territories, threatened papal territorial sovereignty. In 1323, Louis had sent an army to Italy to protect Milan against the powerful Kingdom of Naples. Naples, along with France, was a strong ally of John XXII. John excommunicated Louis and demanded that he relinquish his claim to the imperial crown. Louis responded to John XXII with fresh provocations.

In Defensor pacis, Marsilius sought to demonstrate, by arguments from reason (in Dictio I of the text) and by argument from authority (in Dictio II) the independence of the Holy Roman Empire from the Papacy and the emptiness of the prerogatives alleged to have been usurped by the Roman pontiffs. A number of Marsilius's views were declared to be heretical by Pope John XXII in 1327.

Most of Defensor pacis is devoted to theology. Relying heavily on Scripture, Marsilius seeks to show that Jesus did not claim to possess any temporal power and that he did not intend his church to exercise any. On the contrary, Scripture teaches that the church should be thoroughly subordinate to the state in both secular and spiritual matters. All authority in the church lies with the whole body of the faithful, the secular ruler who acts as the people's representative, and general councils called by the secular ruler. Some of Marsilius's arguments on these themes had a marked influence during the Reformation.

Today, Marsilius's Defensor pacis is best remembered not for its theology but for its political philosophy and legal theory. Marsilius agrees with Aristotle that the purpose of government is the rational fulfilment of humans' natural desire for a "sufficient life". However, he goes beyond Aristotle in embracing a form of republicanism that views the people as the only legitimate source of political authority. Sovereignty lies with the people, and the people should elect, correct, and, if necessary, depose its political leaders. Democracy, Marsilius argues, is the best form of government because it tends to produce the wisest laws, protects the common benefit, promotes "sufficiency of life", and produces laws that are most likely to be obeyed.

Marsilius and John of Jandun, who has sometimes been credited as a co-author of Defensor pacis, left France for Louis' court in Bavaria. Louis admitted Marsilius and John to his circle. Others were also under his protection, including Michael of Cesena and the philosopher William of Ockham, an advocate of an early form of church and state separation. In 1326, Marsilius accompanied Louis to Italy, where he preached or circulated written attacks against the pope. The Lord of Milan Galeazzo I Visconti, suspected of conspiring with John XXII, was deposed, and Louis was crowned King of Italy in Milan in 1327.

In January 1328, Louis entered Rome and had himself crowned emperor by the aged senator Sciarra Colonna, called captain of the Roman people. Three months later, Louis published a decree declaring "Jacque de Cahors"—Pope John XXII—deposed on grounds of heresy. He then installed the Franciscan Pietro Rainalducci as Nicholas V. Nicholas was deposed upon Louis's departure from Rome in 1329.

In Bavaria, as imperial vicar, Marsilius persecuted the clergy who had remained faithful to John XXII. In recompense for his services, he was appointed archbishop of Milan, and John of Jandun obtained from Louis IV the bishopric of Ferrara.

Marsilius also composed a treatise De translatione [Romani] imperii, which some authorities consider is a rearrangement of a similar work by Landolfo Colonna called De jurisdictione imperatoris in causa matrimoniali. This work, and Marsilius's variation, sought to justify the exclusive jurisdiction of the emperor in matrimonial affairs: Louis of Bavaria had recently annulled the marriage of the son of the King of Bohemia.

Death

Marsilius died in Munich around 1342, still unreconciled to the Church.

Legacy

Some authorities consider Defensor pacis one of the most important political and religious works of the fourteenth century Europe. In the Defensor minor, Marsilius completed and elaborated on different points in the doctrine laid down in the Defensor pacis. He dealt here with problems concerning ecclesiastical jurisdiction, penance, indulgences, crusades and pilgrimages, vows, excommunication, the general church council, marriage and divorce, and unity with the Greek Orthodox Church. In this work, he even more clearly articulates imperial supremacy over the Church.

Theological beliefs

Marsilius saw the scriptures as being above the church and believed the papacy to be created by human arrangement rather than being divinely ordained.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Physician and theologian, b. at Padua about 1270; d. about 1342. Contrary to the assertion of several authors, he was only a layman and neither a religious nor the legitimate Archbishop of Milan, though he was a canon of his native city. He served at first in the army of the emperor, and after wards, on the advice of Mussato, began the study of medicine at the University of Padua. To complete his medical studies he proceeded to Paris, and before 25 December, 1312, became rector of the university there, A little later he went to Avignon and obtained from John XXII letters appointing him to one of the canonries of the Church of Padua (Reg. Vat,, a. I, p. 2, n. 1714). It was at this time that Louis of Bavaria was about to reopen against the pope the struggles of Philippe le Bel against Boniface VIII. John XXII had just denounced Louis as a supporter of heretics, excommunicated him, and ordered him to cease within three months administering the affairs of the Empire. The emperor was looking for help, and Marsilius, who had now begun the study of theology, joined with Jean de Jandun, canon of Senlis, in offering him his assistance. Together they composed the ' Defensor pads" at Paris, and, about 1326, setting out for Germany, presented their work to the emperor. They became his intimate friends, and on several occasions expounded their teaching to him. What were the doctrines of these two Parisian doctors, the very audacity of which at first startled Louis of Bavaria? They recalled the wildest theories of the legists of Philippe le Bel, and Cæsarian theologians like Guilaume Durand and the Dominican John of Paris. The teachings of these last mentioned had been proposed with hesitation, restrictions, and moderation of language which met with no favour before the rigorous logic of Marsilius of Padua. He completely abandoned the olden theocratic conception of society. God, it is true, remained the ultimate source of all power, but it sprang immediately from the people, who had in addition the power to legislate. Law was the expression, not of the will of the prince, as John of Paris taught, but of the will of the people, who, by the voice of the majority, could enact, interpret, modify, suspend, and abrogate it at will. The elected head of the nation was possessed only of a secondary, instrumental, and executive authority. We thus arrive at the theory of the "Contrat Social". In the Church, according to the "Defensor Pacis", the faithful have these two great powers — the elective and the legislative. They nominate the bishops and select those who are to be ordained. The legislative power is, in the Church, the right to decide the meaning of the old Scriptures; that is the work for a general council, in which the right of discussion and voting belongs to the faithful or their delegates. The ecclesiastical power, the priesthood, comes directly from God and consists essentially in the power to consecrate the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and remit sins, or, rather, to declare them remitted. It is equal in all priests, each of whom can communicate it by ordination to a subject legitimately proposed by the community. Luther would have recognized his theories in these heretical assertions, and the Gallicans of later times would willingly have subscribed to such revolutionary declarations. The two writers are just as audacious in their exposition of the respective roles of the Empire and the Church in Christian society and of the relations of the two powers.

According to the idea of the State propounded by Marsilius all ecclesiastical power proceeded from the community and from the emperor, its principal representative, there being no limit to the rights of the lay State (cf. Franck, "Journal des savants" March, 1883; Noël Valois, "Histoire littéraire de la France", XXXIII). As to the Church it has no visible head. St. Peter he goes on, received no more power or authority than the other Apostles, and it is uncertain that he ever came to Rome. The pope has only the power of convoking an ecumenical council which is superior to him. His decrees are not binding; he can impose on the people only what the general council has decided and interpreted. The community elects the parish priest and supervises and controls the clergy in the performance of their duties; in a word — the community or the state is everything, the Church playing an entirely subsidiary part. It cannot legislate, adjudicate, possess goods, sell, or purchase without authorization; it is a perpetual minor. As is clear, we have here the civil constitution of the clergy. Marsilius, moreover shows himself a severe and often unjust censor of the abuses of the Roman curia. Regarding the relations between the emperor and the pope, it is maintained in the "Defensor Pacis", that the sovereign pontiff has no power over any man, except with the permission of the emperor; while the emperor has power over the pope and the general council. The pontiff can act only as the authorized agent of the Roman people; all the goods of the Church belong by right to Cæsar. This is clearly the crudest concept of the pagan empire, an heretical assault on the Church's constitution, and a shame less denial of the rights of the sovereign pontiff to the profit of Cæsar. Dante, the Ghibelline theorist, is surpassed. Arnold of Brescia is equalled. William Occam could never have proposed anything more revolutionary.

The pope was stirred by these heretical doctrines. In the Bull of 3 April, 1327, John XXII reproached Louis of Bavaria with having welcomed duos perditionis filios et maledictionis alumnos (Denifle, "Chart", II, 301). On 9 April he suspended and excommunicated them ("Thesaurus novus anecdotorum", ii, 692). A commission, appointed by the pope at Avignon, condemned on 23 October five of the propositions of Marsilius in the following terms: "1) These reprobates do not hesitate to affirm in what is related of Christ in the Gospel of St. Matthew, to wit that He paid tribute... that he did so, not through condescension and liberality, but of necessit — an assertion that runs counter to the teaching of the Gospel and the words of our Saviour. If one were to believe these men, it would follow that all the property of the Church belongs to the emperor, and that he may take possession of it again as his own; 2) These sons of Belial are so audacious as to affirm that the Blessed Apostle St. Peter received no more authority than the other Apostles, that he was not appointed their chief and further that Christ gave no head to His Church, and appointed no one as His vicar here below — all which is contrary to the Apostolic and evangelic truth; 3) These children of Belial do not fear to assert that the emperor has the right to appoint, to dethrone, and even to punish the pop — which is undoubtedly repugnant to all right; 4) These frivolous and lying men say that all priests, be they popes archbishops, or simple priests are possessed of equal authority and equal jurisdiction, by the institution of Christ; that whatever one possesses beyond another is a concession of the Emperor, who can moreover revoke what he has granted,-which assertions are certainly contrary to sacred teaching and savour of heresy; 5) these blasphemers say that the universal Church may not inflict a coactive penalty on any person unless with the emperor's permission." All the pontifical propositions opposed to the declarations of Marsilius of Padua and Jean de Jandun are proved at length from the Scriptures, traditions, and history. These declarations are condemned as being contrary to the Holy Scriptures, dangerous to the Catholic faith, heretical, and erroneous and their authors Marsilius and Jean as being undoubtedly heretics and even heresiarchs (Denzinger, "Enchiridion", 423, ed. Bann wart, 495; Noel Valois, "Histoire littéraire de la France", XXXIII, 592).

As this condemnation was falling on the head of Marsilius, the culprit was coming to Italy in the emperor's train and he saw his revolutionary ideas being put into practice. Louis of Bavaria had himself crowned by Colonna syndic of the Roman people; he dethroned John XXII, replacing him by the Friar Minor, Peter of Corbara, whom he invested with temporal power. At the same time he bestowed the title of imperial vicar on Marsilius and permitted him to persecute the Roman clergy. The pope of Avignon protested twice against the sacrilegious conduct of both. The triumph of Marsilius was, however, of short duration. Abandoned by the emperor in October, 1336, he died towards the end of 1342. Among his principal works, the "Defensor Pacis", which we possess in twenty manuscripts, has been printed frequently and translated into various languages. The "Defensor Minor " a résumé of the preceding work compiled by Marsihus himself, has just been recovered in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (Canon. Miscell., 188). It throws light on certain points in the larger work; but has not yet been published. "De translatione Imperii Romani" has been printed four times in Germany and once in England. "De jurisdictione Imperatoris in causa matrimoniali" has been edited by Preher and by Goldast (Monarchia sancti Rom. Imperii, II, c. 1283). The influence of the "Defensor pacis" was disastrous, and Marsilius may well be reckoned one of the fathers of the Reformation.

BAUDRILLART, Revue d'hist. et de Zitt. religieuse, 1898, p. 320; BAYLE, Dict. crit., III (1741), 379-80; BEZOLD in Histor. Zeit chr., XXXVI (1876), 343-7; BIRCK, Marsiglio von Padua und Alvaro Pelayo über Papst und Kaiser Ksrche und Staat in Jahrsber. hoh, Burgerschule, Mulheim a Rb. (1868); BULAEUS, Hist. Univ. Paris, IV (1889), 974-5: CASTELLOTTI, La dottrina dello stato in Marsiglio da Padova (Asti, 1898); DENIFLE, Chart. univers., II (Paris, 1891), 158, 303; DÖLLINGER, Papstfabeln Mittel. (1863), 92-3; DUPIN, B. a. e. XIV (1701), 226-30; FABRICIUS, B. M. as. V (1738), 102-3; FÉRET, Facul. théol., III (Paris 1896), 125-8, 193-200; FRANCE, Reform. et Public. moy. âge (th64). 135-51; GRALSSE, Trésor, IV (1863), 418; HURAUT, Etude sur Marsile de Padoue.... (Paris, 1892); JOURDAN, Etude sur Marsile de Padoue, Jurisconsulte at théologien du XIVeme siËcle, (Montauban, 1892); LABANCA, Marsiglio da Padova riformatore politico a religioso del sec. XIV (Fadua, 1882); Marsiglio da Padova a Martino Lutero in Nuova Antologia, XLI (1883), 209-27; MEYER, Etude sur Marsile de Padouc, theolog. du XIVeme siËcle (Strasburg, 1870); NIMIS Marsilius von Padua republikanische Staatslehre (Heidelberg, 1898); RAYNALDUS, Ann. (1652), 1313, 19; 1327, 2737; 1328, 7, 9-10; 1331, 1-2; SCADUTO, Stab e Chiesa negli scritti polit. (1ý82), 112-3; THOMAS in Mel. arch. hist. écr. francais., II (Rome, 1882), 447- 50; TIRABOSCHI, Stor. leU. Ital., V (1807), i, 172, 8; VALOIS, Hist. littér. de La France, XXXIIi; VILLARI in Nuova Antologia, LV (1881), 553-9; WHARTON in CAVE, 8. v. (1744) II, ii, 26; WURM, Zu Marsilius von Padua in Histor. Jahrb., XIV (1893), 68-9.

Further reading

• The Defender of Peace, ed. Annabel Brett (Cambridge University Press, 2005).
• Writings on the Empire: Defensor minor and De translatione imperii, ed. Cary J. Nederman (Cambridge University Press, 1993).
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Marsilius of Padua". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• A Companion to Marsilius of Padua, ed. Gerson Moreno-Riaño and Cary J. Nederman (Leiden: Brill, 2012).
• Marsilius of Padua between History, Politics, and Philosophy, ed. Alessandro Mulieri, Serena Masolini and Jenny Pelletier (Turnhout: Brepols, 2023).