born с 1280, Padua, Kingdom of Italy
died с 1343, Munich
Italian political philosopher.
He was consultant to the Defensor pacis (1320–24) and fleeing to the court of {{link=Louis">Louis IV of Bavaria. He helped declare Pope John XXII a heretic, install Nicholas V as antipope, and crown Louis emperor (1328). In his secular concept of the state, the power of the church is limited, and political power lies with the people, a theory that influenced the modern idea of the state.