Moisés Romanazzi Tôrres (Email)

I took my Licentiate and Bachelor Degrees in History at Universidade Federal Fluminense - UFF. I acquired my Medieval History Master’s Degree in this same University, working with the Political Thought of Dante Alighieri. For the Doctorate course I changed universities, but kept faithful to medieval studies.

Currently I am a Assistant Lecturer at the Universidade Federal de São João del Rei and I am also taking my Doctorate course in Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ, where I am developing a research on another important medieval philosopher: Marsiglio of Padua.

My interest in Celtic and Germanic studies is connected to my personal dream of realizing collective, interdisciplinary research work in Antiquity and Higher Middle Ages (besides my individual work in Lower Middle Ages). This is work that could bring more light to the understanding of these civilizations: so remote in time and, maybe because of that, so little studied, but at the same time so present, if we consider that these were the civilizations, together with Roman civilization, that forged our Western World.

Current Research: The Concept of Empire in Dante Alighieri and Marsiglio of Padua

Our work aims to show that, contrary to historiography, as well as to the studies in Political Philosophy and those realized in the field of Law, the thought of Marsiglio of Padua developed in his Defensor Pacis already found itself intricately connected to an ideological justification of the imperial institution. Thus, it approximated itself to what was expressed in DanteAlighieri’s De Monarchia. Trying to confirm this hypothesis, we intend to have as sources the Marsilian work, especially Defensor Pacis, and confront these with the political work of Dante (De Monarchia, Convivio, and Commedia). We will also contrast them with official documents emitted by emperors, especially those from Hohenstaufen such as the Dieta de Roncaglia (XII and XIII centuries), where the “Frederician Ideology” is described.

Areas of Interest:
Celtic Religion and Irish monachal tradition; Religious, Educational, and Intellectual Development among the Germanic peoples; Inter-relationship between Culture, Religion, and Society for Celts and Germanic peoples.