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Marsilius of Padua

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Marsilius of Padua (märsĭl`ēəs, pă`dyə), d. c.1342, Italian political philosopher. He is satirically called Marsiglio. Little is known with certainty of his life except that he was rector of the Univ. of Paris c.1312. When Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV Louis IV or Louis the Bavarian, 1287?–1347, Holy Roman emperor (1328–47) and German king (1314–47), duke of Upper Bavaria.
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 was seeking a theorist to assist him in his struggle with Pope John XXII John XXII, 1244–1334, pope (1316–34), a Frenchman (b. Cahors) named Jacques Duèse; successor of Clement V. Formerly, he was often called John XXI. He reigned at Avignon. John was celebrated as a canon lawyer under Boniface VIII, whom he supported.
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, Marsilius composed a tract, Defensor pacis [the defender of peace], probably in collaboration with the Averroist John of Jandun. It was published in 1324 and proved to be one of the most revolutionary of medieval documents. The work held that all power is derived from the people and their ruler is only their delegate; there is no law but the popular will, as expressed in the ruler. The church too has no authority apart from the people, and the actual power of the Holy See is self-arrogated; the church should be under the ruler, its province should be purely that of worship, and it should be governed by periodic councils. The notion that princes derive their power from the people was current in scholasticism, but the antiecclesiastical argument of the work aroused great scandal. It was repeatedly condemned by the Holy See. Marsilius, however, continued under the emperor's protection and went in Louis's train to Rome for his coronation and attended him afterward. His lesser works include an argument that the emperor had final jurisdiction in matrimonial cases (1342). The Defensor pacis had a long life; John Gerson Gerson, John (Jean Charlier de Gerson) (gûr`sən; zhäN shärlyā` də zhârsôN`)
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 recommended it, and in England, during Henry VIII's fight with the church, Thomas Cromwell patronized its translation into English (1535).

Bibliography

See the modern edition of A. Gewirth (1967); also A. Gewirth, Marsilius of Padua and Medieval Political Philosophy (1951).


Marsilius of Padua

(born c. 1280, Padua, Kingdom of Italy—died c. 1343, Munich) Italian political philosopher. He was consultant to the Ghibellines until condemned as a heretic (1327) after writing Defensor pacis (1320–24) and fleeing to the court of Louis IV of Bavaria. He helped declare Pope John XXII a heretic, install Nicholas V as antipope, and crown Louis emperor (1328). In his secular concept of the state, the power of the church is limited, and political power lies with the people, a theory that influenced the modern idea of the state.


Marsilius of Padua
Italian name Marsiglio dei Mainardini. ?1290--?1343, Italian political philosopher, best known as the author of the Defensor pacis (1324), which upheld the power of the temporal ruler over that of the church


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This echoed earlier calls by Marsilius of Padua as well as many Swiss reformers who felt the state must play a key role in bringing the church back to Christ.
Late medieval academics like William of Ockham and Marsilius of Padua assailed the papacy--a movement that reached its climax in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of the university church at Wittenberg.
The earliest form of conciliarism, advocated by Marsilius of Padua in the 14th century, taught that a general council represents the whole church, not merely an assembly of autonomous bishops.
 
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