''Monarchia'', often called ''De Monarchia'' (, ; "(On)
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...
"), is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
treatise on secular and religious power by
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...
, who wrote it between 1312 and 1313. With this text, the poet intervened in one of the most controversial subjects of his period: the relationship between secular authority (represented by the
Holy Roman emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
) and religious authority (represented by the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
). Dante's point of view is known on this problem, since during his political activity he had fought to defend the autonomy of the city-government of
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
from the temporal demands of
Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial ...
. The work was
banned by the Catholic Church in 1585.
Date
According to most accepted chronology, ''De Monarchia'' was composed in the years 1312–13, that is to say the time of
Henry VII of Luxembourg's journey to Italy; according to another, the date of composition has to be brought back to at least 1308; and yet another moves it forward to 1318, shortly before the author's death in 1321.
Title and English editions
The title found in the extant Dante manuscripts and the ''editio princeps'' is simply ''Monarchia''. Michele Barbi pointed this out in his introduction to the 1921 centenary edition and urged editors to adopt it. Prue Shaw has urged likewise, and done so herself, since 1995, explaining how the mistake of 'de' has come about.
An English translation by Frederick William Church was published in 1879, with ''Dante an Essay'' by his father,
Richard William Church
Richard William Church (25 April 1815 – 6 December 1890) was an English churchman and writer, known latterly as Dean Church. He was a close friend of John Henry Newman and allied with the Tractarian movement. Later he moved from Oxford academi ...
. A second translation by
Philip Wicksteed was printed for private circulation in 1896. However, as neither of these editions was easily available in 1904,
Aurelia Henry Reinhardt
Aurelia Isabel Henry Reinhardt (April 1, 1877 – January 28, 1948) was an American educator, activist, and prominent member and leader of numerous organizations. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berk ...
provided a new translation published by
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer.
Cambridge University Pr ...
.
This has been superseded by Shaw's translation, 1995.
Argument
''Monarchia'' is made up of three books, of which the most significant is the third, in which Dante most explicitly confronts the subject of relations between the pope and the emperor. Dante firstly condemns the
hierocratic conception of the pope's power elaborated by the Roman Church with the
theory of the Sun and the Moon
The Sun and Moon allegory is used to depict a medieval political theory of hierocracy which submits the secular power to the spiritual power, stating that the Pope is like the Sun i.e. the only source of his own light, while the Emperor is like ...
and solemnly confirmed by the
papal bull ''
Unam sanctam
' is a papal bull that was issued by Pope Boniface VIII on 18 November 1302. It laid down dogmatic propositions on the unity of the Catholic Church, the necessity of belonging to it for eternal salvation, the position of the Pope as supreme hea ...
'' of 1302. The hierocratic conception assigned all power to the pope, making his authority superior to that of the emperor: this meant that the pope could legitimately intervene in matters usually regarded as secular.
Against this hierocratic conception, Dante argued a need for another strong Holy Roman emperor, and proposed that man pursues two ends: the happiness of earthly life and that of eternal life. Dante argues that the pope is assigned the management of men's eternal life (the higher of the two), but the emperor the task of leading men towards earthly happiness. From this he derives the autonomy of the temporal sphere under the emperor, from the spiritual sphere under the pope—the pontiff's authority should not influence that of the emperor in his tasks.
Dante wanted to demonstrate that the Holy Roman emperor and the pope were both human and that both derived their power and authority directly from God. To understand this it is necessary to think that man is the only thing to occupy an intermediate position between corruptibility and incorruptibility. If it is considered that man is only made up of two parts, that is to say the soul and the body, only in terms of the soul is he incorruptible. Man, then, has the function of uniting corruptibility with incorruptibility. The pope and emperor were both human, and no peer had power over another peer. Only a higher power could judge the two "equal swords", as each was given power by God to rule over their respective domains.
See also
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Separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular s ...
*
List of authors and works on the ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum''
References
External links
Online text (original)Italian translationEnglish translationby
Aurelia Henry Reinhardt
Aurelia Isabel Henry Reinhardt (April 1, 1877 – January 28, 1948) was an American educator, activist, and prominent member and leader of numerous organizations. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berk ...
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{{Authority control
14th-century Latin books
1312 books
Books in political philosophy
Secularism
Secularism in Italy
Christianity and government
14th century in the Republic of Florence
Investiture Controversy
Works about the theory of history
Monarchia
''Monarchia'', often called ''De Monarchia'' (, ; "(On) Monarchy"), is a Latin treatise on secular and religious power by Dante Alighieri, who wrote it between 1312 and 1313. With this text, the poet intervened in one of the most controversial ...
Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor
sk:Monarchia