De Monarchia (pronounced Monàrchia) is a treatise on secular and religious power by Dante Alighieri. With this Latin 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) and religious authority (represented by the Pope). Dante's point of view is known on this problem, since during his political activity he had fought to defend the auto...
more
De Monarchia (pronounced Monàrchia) is a treatise on secular and religious power by Dante Alighieri. With this Latin 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) and religious authority (represented by the Pope). 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 from the temporal demands of pope Boniface VIII.
According to most accepted chronology, De Monarchia was composed in the years 1312-13, that is to say the time of Henry VII of Luxemburg'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.
It is made up of three books, but the most significant is the third, in which Dante most explicitly confronts the subject of...
less
