Abstract

Ptolemy of Lucca (Tolomeo Fiadoni) (c. 1236-1327) was a student of Thomas Aquinas, Dominican prior in Lucca and Florence, and bishop of Torcello. He is chiefly known for his contributions to political thought. His most important book is De regimine principum, a continuation of

Thomas’ De regno, but he also wrote historical works, treatises defending hierocratic papal authority and limiting the powers of the Roman Empire, a commentary on the days of creation, and a history of the church. Ptolemy provided a previously lacking theoretical grounding for the realities and aspirations of Guelph republican city-states, and thereby anticipated many of the tenets of Renaissance civic humanism. He presented republican government as the only suitable alternative for a virtuous people and identified monarchy with tyranny or despotism. He was perhaps the first writer to use the word ‘‘republic’’ as an antonym of ‘‘monarchy,’’ instead of as a generic term for government. He was one of the first medieval writers to praise the Roman Republic in comparison with the Empire. His analysis of Rome complemented his original treatment of ancient Greek governments often praised as mixed constitutions and of the ancient Hebrew government, all of which he compared to certain medieval republics. He extended the common Four World Monarchy theory by denoting the church as a final fifth world monarchy, thereby reducing the Roman Empire to a time-bound state.

Ptolemy of Lucca, born Tolomeo Fiadoni to a Luccan merchant family, entered the Dominican Order at San Romano in Lucca and studied under Thomas Aquinas, probably in Rome (1264-1268). In 1272, he accompanied Thomas to Naples and studied with him there until his teacher’s death in 1274, serving at times as his confessor. Around 1278 he wrote De iurisdictione imperii, incorrectly known as Determinatio compendiosa, defending papal authority in confirmation of the Roman emperor.

After returning to Lucca (date unknown), he was elected prior of San Romano several times between 1289 and 1299 and likely wrote De operibus sex dierum, incorrectly known as Exameron, a treatise on the six days of creation. In 1294 he was in Naples for the brief pontificate of Celestine V. In Lucca, he befriended Countess Capoana, widow of Count Ugolino of Pisa, after the latter’s murder in 1289. She lived at San Romano and named Ptolemy one of her executors. He served as executor for other important figures, including Labro Vulpelli - a top official of the Ricciardi Bank, whose wife Agnese became a conversa at San Romano - and Cardinal Leonardo Patrasso. From 1300-1302 Ptolemy served as prior of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, returning in 1302 to Lucca as prior of San Romano. There he wrote De regimine principum, a continuation of Thomas’ incomplete treatise on government (sometimes called De regno), Annales, a historical chronicle, and two short treatises on the Roman Empire.

In 1309 Ptolemy moved to Avignon, as Cardinal Leonardo’s chaplain, moving to the house of Cardinal William of Bayonne after his patron’s death in 1311. In Avignon he wrote his church history, Historia ecclesiastica nova, dedicated to William. In 1318, Pope John XXII appointed him bishop of Torcello in the Venetian lagoon, and in 1320 he became entangled in a dispute with his superior, the patriarch of Grado (essentially archbishop of Venice) over the appointment of an abbess, leading to his excommunication in 1321 for disobedience, contempt, perjury, and mismanagement of episcopal property. John resolved the conflict, and Ptolemy, reportedly senile and accused of nepotism for allowing his avaricious nephews free reign, died in office.

Ptolemy traveled more than most contemporaries: throughout Italy and France, to Germany, and probably to Spain. Most of these trips were on behalf of his order: first as student and later as abbot, provincial preacher general, representative to provincial and general chapters, and elector of the master general. As he tells us, while traveling he consulted local archives and libraries.

Ptolemy is primarily known as a political thinker. He provided a previously lacking theoretical grounding for the realities and aspirations of Guelph republican city-states, and thereby anticipated many of the tenets of Renaissance civic humanism. He divided secular government into political and regal forms, strongly preferring the former as the only suitable alternative for a virtuous and freedom-loving people. Unlike most scholastic writers, he loathed monarchy, identifying it with tyranny or despotism, while conceding that most peoples lacked the virtue needed for republican self-governance. He was perhaps the first writer to use, although inconsistently, the word ‘‘republic’’ as an antonym of ‘‘monarchy,’’ instead of as a generic term for government. He was one of the first medieval writers to praise the Roman Republic in comparison to the empire, describing as ideal the former’s government, which in his view evolved to incorporate democratic and aristocratic elements. In an original version of the common organic metaphor of society, Ptolemy raised the possibility of a government constructed with such harmony among its components that it achieves perfect stability, another idea usually associated with the Renaissance. His analysis of Rome complemented his original treatment of ancient Greek governments praised as mixed constitutions and the ancient Hebrew government, all of which he compared to certain medieval republics. His work is especially rich with specific examples, something lacking in much scholastic writing, and even contains some personal anecdotes. He tells us, for example, of his joy in reading and writing and of historical events he witnessed.

Ptolemy was a rare political theorist in being both a republican and a supporter of papal hierocracy, although this was a reasonable position for one with his Guelph background, and he never envisioned papal interference with the government of a republic. In his expositions of imperial power he maintained that the pope’s authority over the Empire, although ratified by the Donation of Constantine, stems ultimately from his God-given authority as vicar of Christ. Ptolemy extended the common Four World Monarchy theory, in which (usually) the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires succeed each other, with the Roman lasting until the end of time, by denoting the church as a final, Fifth Monarchy, thereby reducing the Roman Empire to a time-bound state, but one with a special protective relationship to the church so long as it lasted.

Ptolemy’s historical works are flawed, but they sometimes depict events that he himself witnessed and serve as especially important sources for the history of Lucca and Tuscany in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. The same goes for the history of the papacy from the early Middle Ages until 1294, and - if Ptolemy is responsible for the book’s first continuation - to 1316, despite it being one of the early sources of the myth of a female Pope John (not yet Joan) and other apocryphal stories. It was also significant for its early catalog of the work of Aquinas and information on his life.

New learning and political developments of Ptolemy’s time called previous assumptions into question. Consequently, he engaged in a struggle, never quite successful, in almost everything he wrote, to reconcile conflicting outlooks, such as natural and supernatural causation, Augus-tinian and Aristotelian concepts of government, hierocratic and republican rule, and the active and the contemplative life. He also never found a satisfactory balance between his love of detail and his concern with pattern and meaning. One conflict, conditioned by his relationship with several important women, is that between the Aristotelian view of women as defective men and his conviction that women were different from men, but had an equally important role. For example, he discussed at length whether women should be soldiers, concluding that they should not, but only because they had a more important role in the household. At the end of De regimine principum, Ptolemy proposed to write a separate treatise on household government and another on the virtues required for rulers and subjects, but he probably never wrote them.

Several other works Ptolemy mentioned are in the same category. He possibly intended for all or most of his works to form parts of an unfinished grand history of the world, comprising a secularly oriented Historia quadripartita and a spiritually oriented Historia tripartita. He also referred to a proposed treatise on moral philosophy, a catalog of the emperors, and a catalog of the Frankish kings.

Since Ptolemy’s most original work was a continuation of a treatise of Thomas Aquinas and usually ascribed to Thomas, it achieved considerable circulation and was treated as authoritative. Although it is difficult to trace direct influence, it emerges clearly in the writings of several later writers, such as John Fortescue (c. 1395-c. 1477), Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), Niccolc) Machiavelli (1469-1527), and Claude de Seyssel (died 1520), and was likely a factor in much of the political thought of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. His ecclesiological work also attracted interest at least through the fourteenth - and fifteenth-century conciliar debates. De iurisdictione imperii appeared in a revised edition after Ptolemy’s death and was used in the work of Alvarus Pelagius (c. 1280-1352) and William of Ockham (c. 1288-c. 1347), among others, and it was included in a fifteenth century compilation of writings on church and state.

See also:  > John Fortescue > Marsilius of Padua

> Remigio dei Girolami > Thomas Aquinas, Political Thought > William of Ockham