Marsilius of Padua

Dante's work is great poetry in the classical tradition, but it is also trenchant political comment, reflecting the concerns of a politically active layman.

Indeed, while Philip the Fair was attacking the Templars, Marsilius of Padua was taking a fresh look at Aristotle's political theory in Paris.

The result was a very different picture of the ideal Christian state from that of Gregory VII or Boniface VIII.

Marsilius presents a secular history of the state rooted in the will of the people.

This is the first podcast in a series of what is often referred to as a history of ideas, but I'm going to call them a history of dissenting ideas.

The subject of this podcast is an Italian political philosopher called Marsilius of Padua, who had a background in medicine.

This background in medicine is important to know about because it underpins Marsilius' thinking on the body politic.

In other words, he used the biological human body as a metaphor for creating a harmonious and healthy society, and more of that later.

These were voices excluded from mainstream teaching, and they are the kind of dissenting voices that I want to present in this series on the history of dissenting ideas.

So where to start? I noticed that David Runciman has his, in his so-called critically acclaimed book called History of Ideas, that he starts with Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century.

Well, I'm going to start much further back in time to 13th century Italy and to Marsilius of Padua, who was profoundly influenced by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, which allows me to include some of Aristotle's ideas on politics.

And to understand Marsilius, we need to understand how Aristotle influenced Marsilius' thinking about the state.