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The Authorship Of the Defensor Pacis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

There is still some ambiguity about the authorship of the book Defensor Pacts. When it was first printed in the sixteenth century it appeared under the name of Marsilio of Padua alone, and subsequent editors repeated the ascription of the editio princeps. For long, therefore, it passed as Marsilio's work. But evidence has since been brought to light suggesting that a certain John of Jandun had some sort of interest in the book too. That evidence has been very variously interpreted. On the one hand, Jandun has been treated as merely a copyist, the translator of the French version, or Marsilio's confidential adviser; but on the other, as a collaborator who furnished the quotations from Aristotle, or perhaps constructed some of the philosophical arguments. But what exactly his share was has yet to be determined.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1926

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References

page 85 note 1 The most careful discussion of the evidence, both external and internal, bearing on the question of authorship is to be found in the article by Valois, N., Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XXXIII, pp. 571573Google Scholar. He concludes that Jandun collaborated in some way with Marsilio. The same conclusion is reached by Riezler, S., Die Literarische Widersacher der Pāpste zur Zeit Ludwigs des Baiers (Leipzig, ·1874), p. 195Google Scholar, on the external evidence alone, and has been assumed in the most recent articles on the Defensor Pads by Brampton, C. K., Eng. Hist. Rev., Vol. XXXVII, p. 305Google Scholar, and Prévité-Orton, C. W., Eng. Hist. Rev., Vol. XXXVIII, p. 7Google Scholar. But on the other hand, Jandun's share in the authorship of the book has been denied by B. Labanca, Marsilio da Padova, riformatore religiosoe politico (Padova, 1882), pp. 117–24, on the ground that the book is the work of a student of practical politics, as Marsilio was, not of a student of philosophy such as Jandun; and by Emerton, E., The Defensor Pads of Marsilio of Padua; a critical study (Cambridge, Mass., 1920), pp. 1719, on the grounds of the unity of style throughout the book.Google Scholar

page 85 note 2 Friedberg, E. v., Die Mittelalterlichen Lehren über das Verhaltniss von Stadt und Kirche (1869), p. 114.Google Scholar

page 85 note 3 Sullivan, J., Amer. Hist. Review, Vol. II, p. 598.Google Scholar

page 85 note 4 B. Labanca, op. cit., p. 117.

page 86 note 1 C. W. Prévité-Orton, op. cit., p. 7.

page 86 note 2 N. Valois, op. cit., p. 572.

page 86 note 3 For a list and descriptive account of Jandun's and Marsilia'a works, see N. Valois, op. cit., pp, 536–60 and pp. 602–18.

page 87 note 1 Baluze, , Miscellanea, II, p. 280.Google Scholar

page 87 note 2 Marténe, Thes. Novus Anec, II, col. 692.

page 87 note 3 See, for example, Martene, op. cit., II, col. 778, the Bull of June, 1329; col. 813, the Letter of Sept. 1330; col. 817, the Letter of Jan. 1331.

page 87 note 4 Denifle, Chartul. Univ. Paris, III, p. 223.

page 87 note 5 Walsingham, I, 345 ff.

page 87 note 6 B. Labanca, op. cit., p. 123.

page 88 note 1 Def. Pac, i, cap. i (Cartellieri, p. 4).

page 88 note 2 B. Labanca, op. cit., p. 118.

page 89 note 1 C. W. Prévité-Orton, op. cit., p. 16.

page 90 note 1 For an account of the editions of the Defensor Pacis, see Sullivan, J., Amer. Hist. Rev., II, pp. 600604Google Scholar. The editio princeps was published in 1522 at Basle; a facsimile of the first dictio was reprinted by A. Cartellieri (Leipzig, 1913); the second and third dictiones are most accessible in Goldast, Monarachia S. Romani Imperii, Vol. II (Frankfurt, 1614). Analyses of the argument are to be found in an article by Allen, J. W. in Hearnshaw, F. J. C., Social and Political Ideas of some great Medieval Thinkers (London, 1923), p. 167Google Scholar; Prévité-Orton, C. W., Eng. Hist. Rev., Vol. XXXVIII, p. IGoogle Scholar; N. Valois, op. cit., pp. 574–87 ; B. Labanca, op. cit., chap, vi, vii.

page 90 note 2 Def. Pads, I, cap. i, “in prima demonstrabo intenta viis certis humano ingenio adinventis … in secunda confirmabo testimoniis veritatis in eternum fundatis auctoritatibus quoque sanctorum illius interpretum … ut liber iste sit stans per se … in tertia siquidem conclusiones quasdam, seu perutilia documenta, civibus tarn principantibus quam subiectis observanda inferam, ex praedeterminatis habentia certitudinem evidentem” (Cartellieri, p. 5).

page 91 note 1 Scaduto, F., Stato e chiesa negli scritti politici (Firenze, 1882), II, p. 116, remarks on the fact that the plan is not adhered to and suggests that this is the result of collaboration.Google Scholar

page 92 note 1 Def. Pads, I, cap. ii. I have purposely used the word “state” when describing the subject of the argument of dictio I. The author had the conception though no Latin word to express it; he is even conscious of the difficulty ; “regnum,” he says, is “commune quiddam adomnem regiminis temperati speciem,” and he always uses the double phrase “civitas aut regnum” to make it clear he is discussing the character they have in common; any single Latin word he found unsatisfactory, as it suggested some particular form of constitution rather than a pure abstraction.

page 92 note 2 Def. Pads, I, cap. iii.

page 92 note 3 Def. Pads, I, cap. iv.

page 92 note 4 Def. Pads, I, cap. iv.

page 92 note 5 Def. Pads, I, cap. V–x.

page 92 note 6 Def. Pads, I, cap. Xi–xviii.

page 93 note 1 Def. Pads, I, cap. xii (Cartellieri, p. 36), and passim, dictio I.

page 93 note 2 In his analysis of the functions performed in the community they are all governmental or economic save the function of the priest, and he suggests that that is as much governmental as moral. He divides society into the “pars agricultura,” “pars artificium,” “pars pecuniativa,” “pars militaris,” “pars iudicialis,” “pars sacerdotium.”—Def. Pads, I, cap. v.

page 94 note 1 Def. Pacts, II, cap. iii.

page 94 note 2 Def. Pads, II, cap. Iv–xvii.

page 94 note 3 For example, Def. Pacts, II, cap. xi (Goldast, p. 221).

page 94 note 4 Def. Pads, II, cap. Xvii–xxvi.

page 94 note 5 For example, Def. Pads, II, cap. xx (Goldast, p. 258); cap. Xxiv (Goldast, p. 273).

page 94 note 6 For example, Def. Pads, II, cap. xxiii.

page 94 note 7 Def. Pads, II, cap. xxvii.

page 94 note 8 Def. Pads, II, cap. xxviii, xxix.

page 94 note 9 Def. Pads, II, cap. xviii, cap. xxiv, cap. xxvi.

page 95 note 1 Def. Pads, II, cap. ii (Goldast, p. 191).

page 95 note 2 Def. Pads, II, cap. xv, “electionem, qua unus ex ipsis ad aliorum ordinationem seu gubernationem assumitur … per legislatorem aut singulares personas statuta et ordinata” (Goldast, p. 241).

page 95 note 3 Def. Pads, II, cap. xxi, “ad nullius episcopi … auctoritatem pertinere, absque Generalis Concilii vel fidelis humani legislatoris determinatione in aliquibus mundi ecclesiasticis officiis personas instituere seu praeferre, neque pro eisdem officiis ecclesiastica temporalia, vocata beneficia, distribuere” (Goldast, p. 261).

page 97 note 1 Def. Pads, I, cap. v, “sacerdotium” is one of the six functions performed by the State in order to secure “sufficiens vita” to the individual.

page 97 note 2 Def. Pads, I, cap. vi, is headed “De finali causa partis sacerdotalis ex dei traditione sive relatione immediate, impossible tamen humana ratione convinci.”

page 97 note 3 Def. Pads, I, cap. v, “Convenerunt tamen omnes gentes in hoc, quod ipsum conveniens sit instituere propter dei cultum et honorationem … (etc.). Cessabant que propter haec in communitatibus multae contentiones et iniuriae. Unde pax etiam et tranquillitas civitatum et vita hominum sufficiens pro statu praesentis seculi difficile minus servabatur” (Cartellieri, pp. 14, 15).

page 97 note 4 Def. Pads, II, cap. xix (Goldast, p. 254), and cap. Xx (Goldast, p. 256).

page 97 note 5 Def. Pads, II, cap. xxi (Goldast, p. 261). See passage quoted above.

page 97 note 6 The legislators described, Def. Pads, I, cap. xii-xiii, “dicamus legislatorem seu causam effectivam primam et propriam esse populum seu civium universitatem aut eius valentiorem partem, per suam electionem seu voluntatem in generali civium congregatione per sermonam expressam praecipientem seu determinantem aliquid fieri vel omitti circa civiles actus humanos sub poena vel supplicio temporali” (Cartellieri, p. 36).

page 98 note 1 Def. Pacts, I, cap. xii, “id fecerit universitas praedicta civium aut eius pars valentior per seipsam immediate, sive id alicui vel aliquibus commiserit faciendum, qui legislator simpliciter non sunt nee esse possunt secundum solum ad aliquid et quandoque, ac secundum primi legislatoris auctoritatem” (Cartellieri, p. 37).

page 98 note 2 Def. Pads, I, cap. xiii (Cartellieri, p. 44). A body of wise men frame the laws, these are promulgated in the whole community of citizens, who appoint representatives to consider, accept and reject these proposals.

page 98 note 3 The Principans is described, Def. Pads, I, cap. Xiv–xviii, “secundarium vero quasi instrumentalem seu executivam dicimus principantem per auctoritatem huius a legislatore, sibi concessam, secundum formam sibi traditam ab eodem, legem videlicet secundum quam semper agere ac disponere debet quantum potest actus civiles.”

page 98 note 4 This is implied in his analysis of the functions performed by the State, Def. Pads, I, cap. v. They cover the whole province of human activity, temporal and spiritual.

page 98 note 5 For instance, Def. Pads, II, cap. xxi (Goldast, p. 259).

page 99 note 1 Def. Pacts, II, cap. xvii, “ad legislatorem humanum solummodo seu fidelium multitudinem … pertineat eligere, determinare, ac praesentare personas promovendas ad ecclesisaticos ordines” (Goldast, p. 248).

page 99 note 2 Def. Pads, II, cap. xxi (Goldast, p. 261). See passage quoted above.

page 99 note 3 Cartellieri, p. 4.

page 99 note 4 Cartellieri, p. 2.

page 99 note 5 Cartellieri, p. 77.

page 99 note 6 Goldast, p. 285.

page 99 note 7 Cartellieri, p. 2.

page 99 note 8 Goldast, p. 285.

page 100 note 1 Prévité-Orton, C. W., Eng. Hist. Review, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 16.Google Scholar

page 100 note 2 Def. Pacts, I, cap. xii.

page 100 note 3 Def. Pads, I, cap. xiii.

page 100 note 4 Def. Pads, I, cap. v.

page 101 note 1 For a general account, see A. J. Carlyle, Medieval Political Theory in the West, Vol. II, chap. vii.

page 101 note 2 For an account of Aquinas' theories that brings out the correspondence between them and dictio I, see Feugueray, H. R., Essai sur les doctrines politiques de S. Thomas d'Aquin (Paris, 1857).Google Scholar

page 102 note 1 For a list of the manuscripts of Jandun's other treatises and their printed editions, where such exist, see N. Valois, op. cit., pp. 536–60. He gives a very brief abstract of the argument in each case. The most important are the Quaestiones super Libros Physicorum, Quaestiones super Librum de Substantia Orbis, Quaestiones super tres libros Aristotelis de A nima, and Quaestiones in XII Libros Metaphysicae Aristotelis. They reveal his fundamentally Averroist position, and the clash between such conceptions and the creed he is at pains to subscribe to. He also wrote the far less formal and more intimate De Laudibus Silvanecti (Senlis) and De Laudibus Parisius. Their titles are an indication of their contents.

page 102 note 2 For an account of the Averroist philosophy in the University of Paris, see Mandonnet, P. F., Siger de Brabant et l'Averroisme latine au XIIIe Siécle (Fribourg, 1894).Google Scholar

page 113 note 1 Edited by C. K. Brampton (Birmingham, 1922). It is analysed by N. Valois, op. cit., p. 606

page 104 note 1 This was possibly originally part of the Defensor Minor and later separated; J. Sullivan, Eng. Hist. Rev., Vol. XX, p. 508. It is printed as a separate tract in Goldast, Vol. II, p. 1286.

page 104 note 2 Printed in Goldast, Vol. II, p. 147.

page 104 note 3 Printed in Goldast, Vol. II, p. 88. N. Valois, op. cit., p. 604, points out the practical identity of the two tracts.

page 105 note 1 They have been examined and reported on in an article by Sullivan, J. in the Eng. Hist. Review, Vol. XX, p. 293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 106 note 1 14619 (S. Victor). Described by N. Valois, op. cit., p. 573, footnote.

page 106 note 2 At the enquiry about a French translation. See above.

page 106 note 3 Nicholaus de Cusa. Opera, De Concordantia Catholica (Basle, 1565), p. 772.