Marsiglio of Padua(c. 1275-1342)is;best known to students of Westernpolitical thought as the author of the Defensor pacis, one of the most originaland influential works of the late Middle Ages. Marsiglio was associated formuch of his life with the court of the Geman King Ludwig IV, who spent hisentire reign in a dispute with the papacy about his right to exercise the Powersof the Holy Roman Emperor.

Marsiglio's service to Ludwig included the rolesof ambassador and advisor, as well as polemicist. After completion of theDefensor pacis in 1324, he wrote two treatises regarding the Roman Empireand the authority of its Emperor: De translatione Imperii( On the Transfer of theEmpire), probably written in the mid-1320s, and the Defensor minor, a synopsisand restatement of the Defensor pacis, Composed around 1340. This editionmakes these works available for the first time in an English translation; thesubstantial and up-to-date introduction describes Marsiglio's life, career and ithought, examines the intellectual, political and personal circumstancessurrounding the composition of his writings about the Empire, and relates theideas of the Defensor minor and De translatione lmperii to the doctrines of theDefensor pads and to Marsiglio's thought as a whole.

Acknowledgements

Editor’s Intr oduction

Note on texts snd translations

Bibhliographical note

Principal events in the life of Marsiglio of Padua

　　　Defensor minor

(translated by Cary J. Nederman)

　　　De translatione Imperii

(translated by Fiona watson and Cary J. Nederman)

Table of biblical citations

Index of proper names

Index of srbjects