Manegoldo di Lautenbach

MANEGOLDO of LAUTENBACH (Manegoldus, Manegoldus, Monigoldus, Maingundus DE LUTENBACH, LIUTENBACH, LIUTENBACH). - Augustinian theologian and jurist, b. probably around the middle of the 11th century. Dean from 1086 of the convent of Raitenbach, in 1090 he founded a convent at Marbach. He took part in the struggle against Henry IV, siding with Gregory VII, whence he was called Hildebrandinus. Imprisoned by the Emperor in 1098, he was released before 1103, the year in which he is found again at Marbach.

Of his works there were published: the Liber ad Gebehardum and the Opusculum contra Wolfelmum. Both deal with the juridical-political problem of the relations between Papacy and Empire and of the authority of the State. M. maintains that power derives from God: the papal power directly, so that no one has greater authority than the pontiff; the civil power, on the other hand, although it too is of divine origin, is conferred on the sovereign, as an officium, by the people, who elect the sovereign himself. Civil power is thus summarized by M.: «Neque eum (regem) populus super se exaltat, ut liberam in se exercendae tyrannidis facultatem concedat, sed ut a tyrannide ceterorum et improbitate defendat». The pontiff has the task of validating the election of the sovereign and of denouncing any infringements of his duties; but only the people will be able to drive out the sovereign who has failed to keep the pacts. In the Opusculum contra Wolfelmum, M. sets out first of all to study the relationship between reason and faith. He, like Peter Damian already, attributes to philosophy a function of vassal of theology, in regard to which it is «tamquam superflua quaedam immensitas». There he deals briefly with psychology, cosmology and theology.

Enzo Maccagnolo