I.
Christian view of the state as fallen
Augustine, City of God:
state as punishment for sin
II.
Medieval theories: descending theory of power
God as ultimate source of ruler’s authority
Emperor: sees himself as protector of Church
French
kings: idea of sacral monarchy
Dante, On Monarchy:
on imperial authority
III. New ideas in 13th century
1) State as natural, human creation:
1260 recovery of Aristotle’s Politics
politics,
from Greek polis = city state
classical
idea of state as natural, not fallen
Aristotle: “man is a political animal,” i.e. social
13th C. scholasticism:
Thomas Aquinas
state
exists before fall in Garden of Eden
2) Italian city states: anomaly in monarchical Europe
self-governing republics, no Kings, reject Emperor
Question
for legal scholars: how to fit city states into Roman Law?
Roman
Law: based on power of Emperor, princeps
14th
C. Barolus of Saxoferrato: civitas sibi princeps
“the
city is prince to itself”
= legal basis for communal self government of city states
Dante’s Political Thought:
from
his experience of Florentine government, factions,
what does city state government actually lead to?
-- armed factions, war within cities & between cities
what should government be like instead?
-- Imperial Rome under Augustus, see Inf 34
Dante's ideal:
Universal Monarchy: rule of Emperor will bring peace, harmony
Henry VII of Luxemborg as Dante’s
hope: in Italy 1310-1313
On Monarchy: political treatise
supporting Emperor (written after 1314)
enemies of Emperor in Italy: Pope, Florence, city states
Note: Dante is Guelf by birth, life in Florence (White Guelf),
in exile becomes supporter of Emperor as Italy's only hope
but calls himself
a “party of one,” not a Ghibelline. Why not?
Look
at his treatment of Ghibellines in Hell: Farinata degli Uberti Inf 10
&
theme of Montaperti: Bocca
degli Abbati Inf 32