The ''miles Christianus'' ( Christian soldier) or ''miles Christi'' (soldier of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

) is a Christian allegory based on

New Testament military metaphors The New Testament uses a number of military metaphors in discussing Christianity, especially in the Pauline epistles. In Philippians 2:25 and Philemon 1:2, Paul describes fellow Christians as "fellow soldiers" (in Greek, συστρατιώτ� ...

, especially the

Armor of God The phrase "Armor of God" (, ''panoplian tou Theou'') is derived from Ephesians 6:11: "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." (King James Version).Bible Gateway Passage Lookup: Armour of God ...

metaphor of military equipment standing for Christian virtues and on certain passages of the Old Testament from the

Latin Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels us ...

. The plural of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''miles'' (soldier) is ''milites'' or the collective ''militia''. By the 5th century, the Church had started to develop doctrines that allowed for Christian participation in battle, though this was limited by a requirement that the fighting must be undertaken to convert infidels or spread the glory of Christ. Christians were not to fight for conquest or personal glory.

Overview

The concepts of ''miles Christi'' and ''militia Christi'' can be traced back to the first century AD. The phrase ''miles Christi,'' derived from a letter from Paul the Apostle and much employed by Pope Gregory VII, also appeared in the '' Gesta Francorum'' in reference to the young Prince Tancred, Bohemond, Godfrey and Count Raymond of Toulouse, each of whom were Christian leaders in the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...

. The metaphor has its origins in early Christianity of the Roman Empire, and gave rise to the contrasting term '' paganus'' (hitherto used in the sense of "civilian," "one lacking discipline") for its opposite, i.e. one who was not a soldier of Christ. Chivalry as the idealized image of

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

was a common moral allegory in early Christian literature. During the Saxon Wars, Charlemagne's Christian knights attended mass, surrounded by relics, before battles. Fragments from 15th c. Polish chronicler

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...

describe the sanctification of weapons and a concept of knighthood that was grounded in religion. It became a theme in

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

during the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 150 ...

, with depictions of a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

with his various pieces of equipment identified with various

virtue Virtue ( la, virtus) is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standards ...

s. This parallels the development of the understanding in medieval

Christendom Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...

of the armed nobility as defenders of the faith, first emphasized by Gregory VII in the context of the

Investiture controversy The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest ( German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture) and abbots of mona ...

and later made even more explicit with the actual military expeditions of the

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. Depictions of the ''miles christianus'' with the emblematic Armour of God however remained very rare in the medieval period and only became prominent after the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

."depictions of the miles christianus in emblematic armour are extremely rare before the Reformation" (Evans p. 14) In the early modern period, the understanding of the term again became more metaphorical, but it survives in various Christian orders or confessions; it is especially pronounced among the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

and in the Salvation Army, and it is the central theme of the 18th century hymn "

Soldiers of Christ, Arise "Soldiers of Christ, Arise" is an 18th-century English hymn. The words were written by Charles Wesley (1707–1788),Onward, Christian Soldiers "Onward, Christian Soldiers" is a 19th-century English hymn. The words were written by Sabine Baring-Gould in 1865, and the music was composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871. Sullivan named the tune "St Gertrude," after the wife of his friend Erne ...

References

*Michael Evans, "An Illustrated Fragment of Peraldus's ''Summa'' of Vice: Harleian MS 3244", ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', vol. 45 (1982), pp. 14–68.

External links

Flemish Miles Christianus, 1586-1635 (British Museum)
{{Catholic saints Chivalry Christian ethics Virtue

Overview

See also

References

External links