In this book, Dante tacked the
connection between the power of the Church and the power of the monarchy. The
Church is represented by the Pope while the monarchy is represented by the
emperor. Dante criticized the Church for enabling the Pope to have so much
power to the point that his authority was more powerful than that of the
emperor (Alighieri 10). This implied that the Pope also had the power to get
involved in the decisions being made by the emperor and influence the monarchy
altogether.
It is not surprising for Dante to
write a book that is connected to politics and religion because he is a well
respected Italian poet of his generation. The Monarchy is not even his most
famous or successful work. It is the Divine Comedy which is considered as the
best literary masterpiece ever made by an Italian poet. This literary piece
talked about the afterlife and made its discussion more controversial yet funny
at the same time. This provided the inspiration and motivation for Dante to
also write the Monarchy especially when Florence, the city where he was living,
was being pressured by then Pope Boniface VIII to follow his commands. While
Dante knew that he had no power or authority to openly criticize the Pope for
his wrong decisions, he knew that he could use his literary prowess to make
sure that the Pope and the entire Italy would know his opposition to the Pope’s
tremendous powers that exceeded more than the power of the emperor. He wanted
to make sure that through the publishing of the Monarchy, he could also inspire
other poets and writers in Italy during that time to also support his opinion
by also launching their own books and texts. Dante thought that it was unfair
for the Pope to have so much power to control the entire Italy that the emperor
was rendered almost useless.
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Instead of giving so much power on
the Pope, Dante suggested that there had to be a difference in priorities for
the Pope and the emperor. After all, people had to take care of the fulfilment
of their earthly life and their eternal life. Dante mentioned that it would be
better for the Pope to concentrate on teaching the people how to achieve
happiness and fulfilment in their eternal life, while the emperor would
concentrate on guiding the people on how to achieve happiness and fulfilment in
their earthly life. Because there are already different priorities between the
Pope and the emperor, Dante believed that neither of them should interfere with
one another’s responsibilities (Cassell 6). In order for Italy to be productive
and prosperous, the Pope and the emperor should mind their own responsibilities
and avoid causing unnecessary conflicts and disagreements.
It was also in this book that Dante
aimed to explain that the Pope and the emperor were both human beings, and
their power was a gift from God. To explain this, Dante pointed out that it was
important to think that man was the only creature capable of dealing with corruptibility
and incorruptibility at the same time. He mentioned that because the human body
was made of flesh, human beings can be considered as corruptible. However,
because human beings also had a soul, this component made them incorruptible. Thus,
since the emperor and the Pope were merely human beings, they deserved to have
equal power. God is more superior to the emperor and the Pope because He made
all human beings just like the emperor and the Pope. Only God had the authority
to judge the Pope and the emperor because He was the one who gave power to both
of them to effectively rule in their respective realms.
Cited Works
Alighieri, Dante. 2009. On World-Government Or De Monarchia. New
York, NY: Wildside Press
Cassell, Anthony. 2004. The Monarchia Controversy. Washington,
DC: CUA Press
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