Marsilius of Padua [addendum]
In order to understand Marsilius more fully, it is useful to examine both the classical influences upon his work and the ways he applies his own principles in the minor works such as Defensor Minor and De Translatione Imperii.
Marsilius and Dcicero
Most discussions of Defensor Pacis concentrate upon Aristotle's Ethics and Politics (which had become available in translation around 1250 and 1260, respectively). Indeed, Marsilius employs the Aristotelian distinctions of the healthy types of civil constitution: monarchy, aristocracy, and polity and their complements the diseased constitutions: tyranny, oligarchy, and extreme democracy. However, though Aristotle is certainly the primary source of many of the distinctions in Part I of Defensor Pacis, there are other key influences as well. Among these is Cicero's doctrine of natural duty to others from his De officiis. Cary Nederham has argued that this sense of natural duty is the secular analogue to theological or Christian duty. The use of parallel justifications for why a person should be committed to the community follows the general structure of the book in which Part I creates a secular justification for politics whereas Part II elaborates the foundations of ecclesiastical duty.
The secular duty to the community is a natural duty so that every person in the state must fulfill the duties of friendship and of civic society—without regard to personal welfare. This duty extends to a concern for others and a duty to rescue and assist those in need. Because the source of the duty is natural to all people, there is no national restriction on this duty. Thus, it commits each person to exhibit concern beyond his own society to others internationally.
Defensor Minor and De Translatione Imperii
These works are more conventional and do not contain the split presentation of secular argument and theological exposition that characterized Defensor Pacis. These minor works are more conventional dealing with parsing the jurisdictions of theology and secular government. Though these works are not as well known as the Defensor Pacis, they are useful to help put Marsilius's major work into perspective. For example, one of the possible motivations for Marsilius's antipapal rhetoric (though Marsilius, himself, was a priest) might be Marsilius's alliance with the Bavarian King Ludwig IV. Ludwig wanted to expand his empire and move into Italy. (It should be remembered that at this time the Pope resided in Avignon, France.) Marsilius's writing was associated with Ludwig, who appointed Marsilius as spiritual vicar of Rome and himself as the Roman Emperor. However, this situation was short lived and soon both fled back to Germany.
The Defensor Minor and De Translatione Imperii fit into this context. They apply principles of Defensor Pacis to contemporary problems. For example, papal authority is questioned in regard to Ludwig's plan to marry his daughter to a close relative in order to stabilize his political prospects. Both Marsilius and William of Ockham were to weigh in on this question as an issue of authority. In Defensor Minor no new positions are forged, but are fine tuned so that they might be applied to cases such as the marriage of Ludwig's daughter.
Another example concerns the bogus "Donation of Constantine." In this forged document the Roman Emperor Constantine supposedly granted the whole of the Roman Empire to the Pope who, in turn, allowed the daily duties of running the secular to fall upon the emperor. This document sought to establish a legal claim for the pope's universal secular power. Marsilius argues against the Donation in both Defensor Pacis and De Translatione Imperii.
Aristotelianism; Aristotle; Cicero, Marcus Tullius; Duty; Political Philosophy, History Of; William of Ockham.
Bibliography
Ashcraft, Richard. "Ideology and Class in Hobbes' Political Theory." Political Theory 6 (1978): 17–62.
Black, Antony. Political Thought in Europe, 1250–1450. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Black, Antony. "Society and the Individual from the Middle Ages to Rousseau: Philosophy, Jurisprudence, and Constitutional Theory." History of Political Thought. 1, (2) (Summer 1980): 145–166.
Luscombe, Davie E. "The State of Nature and the Origins of Society." In The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy, edited by N. Kretzmann, A. Kenny, and J. Pinborg. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
McGrade, A. S. "Aristotle's Place in the History of Natural Rights." Review of Metaphysics 49 (4) (1996): 803–829.
Works by Marsilius of Padua
Defensor Pacis, edited by C. W. Previté-Orton. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1928.
Defensor Pacis. Translated by Alan Gewirth. New York: Columbia University Press, 1956.
Oeuvres Minueres, edited by C. Jeudy and J. Quillet. Paris: Editions CNRS, 1979.
Writings on the Empire: Defensor minor and De translatione imperii, edited by C. J. Nederman. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Works on Marsilius of Padua
Canning, Joseph. "The Role of Power in the Political Thought of Marsilius of Padua." History of Political Thought 20 (1) (1999): 21–34.
Coleman, Janet. "Medieval Discussions of Property: Ratio and Dominium According to John of Paris and Marsiglio of Padua." History of Political Thought 4 (Summer 1983): 209–228.
Condren, Conal. "Democracy and the Defensor Pacis: On the English Language Tradition of Marsilian Interpretation." Il Pensiero Politico 8 (1980): 301–316.
Condren, Conal. "Marsilius of Padua's Argument from Authority: A Study of Its Significance in the Defensor Pacis." Political Theory 5 (1977): 205–218.
D'Entrèves, A. P. The Medieval Contribution to Political Thought: Thomas Aquinas, Marsilius of Padua, Richard Hooker. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939.
Gewirth, Alan. "John of Jandun and the Defensor Pacis." Speculum 23 (1948): 267–272.
Gewirth, Alan. Marsilius of Padua and Medieval Political Philosophy. 2 vols. New York: Columbia University Press, 1951. Contains an extensive bibliography.
Gewirth, Alan. "Republicanism and Absolutism in the Thought of Marsilius of Padua." Medioevo 5 (1979): 23–48.
Grignaschi, Marc. "La Rôle de l'aristotélisme dans le 'Defensor Pacis' de Marsile de Padoue." Revue d'Histoire ed de Philosophie Religieuse 35 (1955): 310–340.
Kaye, Sharon. "Against a Straussian Interpretation of Marsilius of Padua's Poverty Thesis" History of Philosophy Quarterly 11 (3) (1994): 269–279.
Loffelberger, Michael. Marsilius von Padua: Das Verhältnis Zwischen Kirche und Staat in "Defensor Pacis." Berlin: Duncker and Humbolt, 1992.
Nederman, Cary J. "Character and Community in the Defensor Pacis: Marsiglio of Padua's Adaptation of Aristotelian Moral Psychology." History of Political Thought 13 (3) (1992): 377–390.
Nederman, Cary J. Community and Consent: The Secular Political Theory of Marsiglio of Padua's 'Defensor Pacis'. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1995. Contains a good bibliography.
Nederman, Cary J. "From Defensor Pacis to Defensor Minor: The Problem of Empire I Marsiglio of Padua." History of Political Thought 16 (3) (1995): 312–329.
Nederman, Cary J. "Nature, Justice and Duty in the Defensor Pacis: Marsiglio of Padua's Ciceronian Impulse." Political Theory 18 (1990): 615–637.
Quillet, Jeannine. "L'aristotélisme de Marsile de Padoue." Miscellanea Medievalia 2 (1963): 696–706.
Quillet, Jeannine. "L'aristotélisme de Marsile de Padoue et ses rapports avec l'averoïsm." Medioevo 5 (1979): 81–142.
Spiers, Kerry E. "The Ecclesiastical Theory of Marsilius of Padua: Sources and Significance." Il Pensiero Politico 10 (1977): 3–21.
Tierney, Brian. "Marsilius on Rights." Journal of the History of Ideas 52 (1991): 3–17.
Wilks, Michael. "Corporation and Representation in the Defensor Pacis." Studia Gratiana 15 (1972): 251–292.
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