Marsiglio of Padua Life and Works

Marsilius of Padua (Italian Marsilio or Marsiglio da Padova) (1270 – 1342) was
an Italian medieval scholar, physician, philosopher, and political thinker. He collaborated with
the Averroist philosopher Jean de Jandun on Defensor pacis (1324), one of the most
extraordinary political and religious works of the fourteenth century. Crafted in response to the
excommunication of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor elect, by Pope John XXII, Defensor
pacis laid out an elaborate theory of government by popular sovereignty and challenged the
authority of the Pope and clergy over secular affairs. Marsilius supported the supremacy of
the Empire as a government independent of the Holy See by declaring that all political power
came from the people, and that the supreme coercive power in a community should be in the
hands of a secular body chosen by popular consensus. He denied the anointing of a special
leader of the church by St. Peter; said that all priests and bishops were equally invested with
the authority to perform sacraments but did not have the right to judge their parishioners; and
presented the position that scriptures should be interpreted by councils of the faithful rather
than by authorities of the church. Life
Marsilius was born at Padua, Italy in 1270. He served for a time in the army of the emperor,
and then began to study medicine at the University of Padua. Around 1311 he traveled to
Paris to complete his medical studies, and in December of 1312 he became rector of
the University of Paris. Soon after that, he went to Avignon and obtained letters from Pope
John XXII appointing him as a canon of the Church of Padua (Reg. Vat., a. I, p. 2, n. 1714).
In Paris, Marcilius made the acquaintance of Averroist philosopher Jean de Jandun, canon of
Senlis, and together they composed "Defensor pacis" in 1324, to support Louis of Bavaria in
his struggles with Pope John XXII.
At this time a conflict had arisen between Pope John XXII and Louis of Bavaria, the Roman
emperor elect (elected 1314, died 1347). The Pope had denounced Louis for supporting
heretics, excommunicated him and ordered him to step down within three months. At issue
was whether or not the Roman emperor could rule without the confirmation of the Pope. In
1326, when it became known that they were the authors of Defensor pacis, Marcilius and
Jean de Jandun went to Nuremberg to seek the protection of the emperor Louis of Bavaria.
Startled by the boldness of their political and religious theories, he was at first inclined to
regard them as heretics. He soon changed his mind, however, and, admitted them to the
circle of his intimates. In the Papal Bull of April 3, 1327, John XXII reproached Louis of
Bavaria for having welcomed Marcilius and Jean de Jandun to his court. On the ninth of April
the Pope summoned them and excommunicated them. On October 23rd, 1327, a commission
appointed by the Pope condemned five of the propositions of Marsilius and supported their
claims with evidence from history and the Scriptures. The propositions of Marcilius and Jean
de Jandun were declared to be erroneous, against the Holy Scriptures, heretical and
dangerous to the Catholic church.
Marsilius accompanied Louis to Italy, where he saw some of his revolutionary ideas being put
into practice. On January 17, 1328, Louis had himself crowned by Colonna syndic of the
Roman people. He removed John XXII as Pope and replaced him with a mendicant friar,
Pietro de Corbara, raised by an imperial decree to the throne of St. Peter as Nicholas V after
a supposed popular election on May 12, 1328. Marsilius was appointed Imperial Vicar and
began to persecute the clergy who had remained faithful to John XXII. In recompense for his
services, he seems to have been appointed archbishop of Milan, while his collaborator, John
of Jandun, obtained from Louis the bishopric of Ferrara. Marsilius was apparently abandoned
by the emperor in October of 1336 and died towards the end of 1342.
Works
In addition to Defensor pacis, Marsilius of Padua also composed a treatise De translatione
imperii romani, which is merely a rearrangement of a work of Landolfo Colonna, De
jurisdictione imperatoris in causa matrimoniali. It was intended to prove the exclusive
jurisdiction of the emperor in matrimonial affairs, in order to justify the actions of Louis of
Bavaria, who had just annulled the marriage of the son of the king of Bohemia and the
countess of Tirol. In the Defensor minor, an unpublished work preserved in the Bodleian
Library at Oxford, Marsilius completed and elaborated certain points from the Defensor pacis.
It further expounds his democratic theory and deals with ecclesiastical jurisdiction, penances,
indulgences, crusades and pilgrimages, vows, excommunication, the pope and the council,
marriage, and divorce.
Background
The conflict between Louis of Bavaria and Pope John XXII was one of many political disputes
which arose between the powerful Roman Catholic Church and the European monarchs over
issues such as marriage alliances, land ownership, taxation of church property, and territorial
sovereignty. Marsilius did not believe that the Roman Catholic Church should involve itself in
secular politics and saw the church as a divisive force that was disrupting the peace of
Europe. Cæsarian theologians like Guilaume Durand and the Dominican John of Paris had
already begun to challenge the hegemony of the Roman church.
Within the religious community there was also disgust at the corruption and materialism which
existed at the highest levels of the church hierarchy, and which seemed at odds with the
teachings of Christ.

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Marsilius of Padua (Italian Marsilio or Marsiglio da Padova) (1270 – 1342) was

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