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The Peace and Truce of God () was a movement in the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
led by the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and was one of the most influential mass
peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...
s in history. The goal of both the ''Pax Dei'' and the ''Treuga Dei'' was to limit the violence of
feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...
ing in the western half of the former
Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...
– following its collapse in the middle of the 9th century – using the threat of spiritual sanctions. The eastern half of the former Carolingian Empire did not experience the same collapse of central authority, and neither did England. This movement was also marked by popular participation, with many commoners supporting the movement as a solution to the famines, violence, and collapse of the social order around them. The Peace of God was first proclaimed in 989, at the Council of Charroux. It sought to protect ecclesiastical property, agricultural resources and unarmed clerics. The Truce of God, first proclaimed in 1027 at the Council of
Toulouges Toulouges (; , ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Toulouges is located between Thuir and Perpignan, in the canton of Perpignan-6 and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. The town covers an area ...
, attempted to limit the days of the week and times of year that the nobility engaged in violence. The movement persisted in some form until the thirteenth century. Other strategies to deal with the problem of violence in the western half of the former Carolingian Empire included the code of
chivalry Chivalry, or the chivalric language, is an informal and varying code of conduct that developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It is associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood, with knights being members of ...
.


Background

Christian laws regarding violence had evolved from the earlier concept of
Pax Romana The (Latin for ) is a roughly 200-year-long period of Roman history that is identified as a golden age of increased and sustained Roman imperialism, relative peace and order, prosperous stability, hegemonic power, and regional expansion, a ...
. There was an ecclesiastical discussion of peace for secular authorities as early as 494, in a letter from
Pope Gelasius I Pope Gelasius I was the bishop of Rome from 1 March 492 to his death on 21 November 496. Gelasius was a prolific author whose style placed him on the cusp between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.The title of his biography by Walter Ullma ...
to Emperor Anastasius, in which he suggested that kings listen to religious authorities before making their judgments. As early as 697,
Adomnán Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (; , ''Adomnanus''; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and Christian saint, saint. He was the author of the ''Life ...
of Iona promulgated the
Cáin Adomnáin The ''Cáin Adomnáin'' (, , "Law of Adomnán"), also known as the ''Lex Innocentium'' (Law of Innocents), was promulgated amongst a gathering of Gaels, Gaelic and Picts, Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr in 697 in Ireland, 697. It is named ...
, which provided sanctions against the killing of children, clerics, clerical students and peasants on clerical lands. Other ecclesiastical measures to protect church property were also observed from the tenth to the eleventh centuries, as evidenced by the Council of Trosly, which explicitly designated the destruction of church property as sacrilege. The controversy flourished in the eleventh century, when secular violence from private wars and personal feuds began to threaten both church buildings and monastic communities throughout Europe.


History

The Peace of God was first proclaimed in 989 at the Council of Charroux. It sought to protect ecclesiastical property, agricultural resources, and unarmed clerics. After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire in the ninth century, the areas formerly under its control degenerated into many small counties and lordships, in which local lords and
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a 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. The concept of a knighthood ...
s frequently fought each other for control. The West Frankish nobility benefited from the Carolingian accession and introduced the Capetian, further transforming medieval European society. One of the critical points of this dynastic change is what Guy Bois calls "the mutation of the year 1000," the period being known for its relentless combination of chaos and creativity. Frederick S. Paxton argues that the political and cultural landscape of this period highlights some of the prevailing cultural anxieties and problems around the turn of the millennium, particularly the "unprecedented disorder in governmental, legal, and social institutions." Carolingian society faced a "king incapable of action and a nobility unwilling to act, which led the French people, imbued with a 'national spirit' that was particularly creative in combating political and social ills, to turn to spiritual sanctions as the only available means of limiting violence." While some historians postulate that the Peace of God and Truce of God movements stem from the inability or unwillingness of the highest echelons of Carolingian society to contain the violence and feuds among the Capetian nobles, other scholars argue that a Castellan revolution in the Frankish kingdoms contributed to the problem. According to André Debord, the Peace and Truce movement arose in response to the social and political upheavals resulting from the rapid growth of castle building in the early eleventh century, particularly in
Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...
. The chaos of the era is attributed to the problem of violent feuds, with
castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...
s and their militias working toward consolidated power and freedom from the overarching political structure of the Carolingian Empire. By 1030, at the same time that
William V, Duke of Aquitaine William the Great (; 969 – 31 January 1030) was duke of Aquitaine (as ) and count of Poitou (as or III) from 990 until his death. Upon the death of the emperor Henry II, he was offered the kingdom of Italy but declined to contest t ...
,
William IV of Provence William IV (died 1030) was the Count of Provence from 1018 to his death. During this time Provence was part of the Kingdom of Arles The Kingdom of Burgundy, known from the 12th century as the Kingdom of Arles, was a realm established in 933 by t ...
, and
Ademar of Chabannes Ademar is a masculine Germanic name, ultimately derived from ''Audamar'', as is the German form Otmar. It was in use in medieval France, Latinized as ''Adamarus'' or ''Ademarus'', and in modern times has been popular in French, Spanish and Portug ...
died, county power was overwhelming in
Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...
. During this period, the county power of dukes and counts was changing, for the building of castles was an inherent consolidation of power. At the same time, "those who possessed county castles had a marked tendency to disobey as soon as the count or duke turned his back on them," so that figures who possessed little traditional power, such as Hugh the Chiliarc, "could cause the most serious trouble to the distinguished duke of Aquitaine." There were often attacks from the
Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9 ...
in this period, who settled in northern areas (the
Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
) but continued to raid territory further inland. The two movements began at different times and places, but by the eleventh century they became synonymous as "Peace and Truce of God". The Germans looked on French 'anarchy' with a mixture of horror and contempt. To preserve the king's peace was the first duty of a German sovereign." The movement, though seemingly redundant to the duties of the crown, had a religious momentum that would not be denied.
Holy Roman Emperor Henry III Henry III (, 28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black () or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia. Henry was rai ...
issued the earliest form of this in his empire while at
Constance Constance may refer to: Places * Constance, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Constance, Minnesota, United States, an unincorporated community * Mount Constance, Washington State, United States * Lake Constance (disambiguat ...
in 1043. Some scholars connect it to the subsequent concept of ''
Landfriede Under the law of the Holy Roman Empire, a ''Landfrieden'' or ''Landfriede'' (Latin: ''constitutio pacis'', ''pax instituta'' or ''pax jurata'', variously translated as "land peace", or "public peace") was a contractual waiver of the use of legiti ...
'' in the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
, although others suggest ''Landfriede'' existed alongside or prior to these movements.


Peace of God

The Peace of God or Pax Dei was a proclamation of the local clergy that granted immunity from violence to noncombatants who could not defend themselves, starting with the peasants (agricolae) and the clergy. The Synod of Charroux decreed a limited ''Pax Dei'' in 989, and the practice spread to most of Western Europe over the next century, surviving in some form until at least the thirteenth century. Under the Peace of God are included: * consecrated persons — clerics, monks, virgins, and cloistered widows; * consecrated places — churches, monasteries, and cemeteries, with their dependencies; * consecrated times — Sundays, and ferial days, all under the special protection of the Church, which punishes transgressors with excommunication.Moeller, Charles. "Truce of God." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912
At an early date the councils extended the Peace of God to the Church's protégés, the poor, pilgrims, crusaders, and even merchants on a journey. The peace of the sanctuary gave rise to the right of asylum.


Popular Participation

At the Benedictine abbey of Charroux in La Marche on the borders of the
Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...
"a great crowd of many people (''populus'') gathered there from the
Poitou Poitou ( , , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical ...
, the
Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
, and neighbouring regions. Many bodies of saints were also brought there "bringing miracles in their wake". Three canons promulgated at Charroux, under the leadership of
Gombald Gundobald or Gombald (died after 998) was the Archbishop of Bordeaux from 989 to his death. He was the ''episcopus Gasconum'', bishop of the Gascons, from 978, holding the episcopal dignity in all the Gascon sees. He was the third son of Sancho I ...
Archbishop of
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
and
Gascony Gascony (; ) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part of the combined Province of Guyenne and Gascon ...
, were signed by the bishops of Poitiers, Limoges, Périgueux, Saintes and Angoulême, all in the west of France beyond the limited jurisdiction of King
Hugh Capet Hugh Capet (; ; 941 – 24 October 996) was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder of and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, he was elected as t ...
.
Excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...
would be the punishment for attacking or robbing a church, for robbing peasants or the poor of farm animals – among which the donkey is mentioned, but not the horse (an item beyond the reach of a peasant) – and for robbing, striking or seizing a priest or any man of the clergy "who is not bearing arms". Making compensation or reparations could circumvent the anathema of the Church. Children and women (virgins and widows) were added to the early protections. The ''Pax Dei'' prohibited nobles from invading churches, from beating the defenceless, from burning houses, and so on. A
synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...
of 1033 added merchants and their goods to the protected list. Significantly, the Peace of God movement began in
Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...
,
Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
and
Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...
, areas where central authority had most completely fragmented. The participation of large, enthusiastic crowds marked the phenomenon of Pax Dei as one of the first popular religious movements of the Middle Ages. In the initial phase, the mixture of relics, crowds and enthusiasm characterized the movement with an exceptionally popular character. After a lull in the first two decades of the eleventh century, the movement spread to the north of France with the support of king
Robert II of France Robert II ( 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious () or the Wise (), was List of French monarchs, King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters ...
(reigned 996–1031). There, the high nobility sponsored Peace assemblies throughout Flanders, Burgundy, Champagne, Normandy, the Amiénois, and Berry. The oaths to keep the peace sworn by nobles spread in time to the villagers themselves; heads of households meeting communally would ritually swear to uphold the common peace. The tenth-century foundation of the
Cluny Abbey Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The abbey was constructed in the Romanesque architectural style, with t ...
in
Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
aided the development of the Peace of God. Cluny was independent of any secular authority, subject to the Papacy alone, and while all church territory was inviolate, Cluny's territory extended far beyond its own boundaries. A piece of land 30 km in diameter was considered to be part of Cluny itself, and any smaller monastery that allied itself with Cluny was granted the same protection from violence. A Peace of God council gave this grant in
Anse Anse may refer to: Places * Anse, Belgium, a municipality * Canton of Anse, Rhône department, France, an administrative division ** Anse, Rhône, a commune and seat of the department * Anse, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in the United ...
in 994. The monastery was also immune from
excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...
s,
interdict In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particular rites, or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for ...
s, and
anathema The word anathema has two main meanings. One is to describe that something or someone is being hated or avoided. The other refers to a formal excommunication by a Christian denomination, church. These meanings come from the New Testament, where a ...
s, which would normally affect an entire region.
Fleury Abbey Fleury Abbey (Floriacum) in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, France, founded in about 640, is one of the most celebrated Benedictine monasteries of Western Europe, and possesses the relics of St. Benedict of Nursia. Its site on the banks of the ...
was granted similar protection. Many Cluniac monks came from the same knightly class whose violence they were trying to stop. The movement was not very effective. However it set a precedent that would be followed by other successful popular movements to control nobles' violence such as
medieval commune Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense (both physical defense and of traditional freedoms) among the citizens of a town or city. These took many forms and varied widely in organization and makeup. C ...
s. The phrase "Peace of God" also occurs as a general term meaning "under the protection of the Church" and was used in various contexts in medieval society. Pilgrims traveling on crusades, for example, did so under the "peace of God," that is, under the protection of the Church. This general use of the term does not always refer to the "Peace and Truce of God" movement.
Georges Duby Georges Duby (; 7 October 1919 – 3 December 1996) was a French historian who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages. He ranks among the most influential medieval historians of the twentieth century and was one of Fra ...
summarised the widening social repercussions of ''Pax Dei'':


The Limousin Peace of God

A subset of the movement is known as the Limousin Peace of God (994–1032/3). The most important source documenting the Limousin movement is the contemporary writer Ademar of Chabannes (989–1034). Ademar is a monk of Saint-Eparchius of Angoulême, who spent time at Saint-Martial in Limoges and was a historian, liturgist, grammarian, and artist. The Limousin Peace of God movement is generally regarded as largely fictitious, for Ademar seems to have created a fiction about the actual development of the Peace of God in Aquitaine. One of the points that Richard Landes and other historians have established is that there was a Peace of God movement in Aquitaine, as Rodulphus Glaber, writing about the peace councils in Francia in 1033, stated that the movement began in Aquitaine. One of the most important points in Landes' historiographical study of the early councils of Limoges is the fact that ecclesiastical authorities encouraged cultural and religious enthusiasm within council activities in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. Landes, known for his work on apocalyptic currents of thought around the year 1000, argues that conciliar activities in Limoges and other areas of Aquitaine are crucial to understanding the role of the God's Peace movement as a whole because of the combination of apocalyptic attitudes toward the end of the tenth century and the popularity of penitential practices for natural and man-made disasters. In the case of Limoges, there was a major outbreak of a "'plague of plagues,' probably
ergotism Ergotism (pron. ) is the effect of long-term ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the '' Claviceps purpurea'' fungus—from the Latin "club" or clavus "nail" and for "head", i.e. the purple club-h ...
" and "the abbot and the bishop (brothers of the viscount), in consultation with the duke of Aquitaine, called for a three-day fast, during which relics from all over the world would come to Limoges."


The Cult of Saints and the Importance of Relics

In general, one of the reasons for the large popular participation in the Peace of God movement throughout Europe was the popularity of relics and the penitential practices associated with the cult of saints. In the case of Limoges, the cult of
Saint Martial Martial of Limoges (3rd century), whose name is also rendered as Marcial, Martialis, and Marcialis, and is also called "the Apostle of the Gauls" or "the Apostle of Aquitaine," was the first bishop of Limoges. Venerated as a Christian saint, Mar ...
is prominent, as miracles were attested to his shrine during the Peace Council of 994. The narrative from the Vita prolixior s. Martialis is directly related to the ideals of peace: Relics and the cults of saints were also important in the Peace of God movement in Hainaut. During the rebellion of Godfrey III against
Holy Roman Emperor Henry III Henry III (, 28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black () or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia. Henry was rai ...
(1047–56),
Lobbes Abbey Lobbes Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery in the municipality of Lobbes, Hainaut, Belgium. The abbey played an important role in the religious, political and religious life of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, especially around the year 1000. The ...
was ravaged and had to be rebuilt, so the abbot decided to take the relics of the abbey's founder,
Saint Ursmar Ursmar of Lobbesalso known as Ursmer or Ursmarus (born 644, died 713) was a missionary bishop in the Meuse and Ardennes region in present-day Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg and France. He was also the first abbot of Lobbes Abbey. Like many missionar ...
, on a tour (''delatio'') through Flanders, starting in 1060, in order to convince Count Baldwin V to restore the abbey's Flemish estates (and possibly to collect gifts from the faithful along the way). Performing many supposed miracles along the way, and ending feuds between many different types of people, this tour helped Pope Urban II's declaration of the Truce of God in 1095 become implemented in
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
and its surrounding area more quickly.


Truce of God

The Truce of God or ''Treuga Dei'' had its origin in Normandy in the city of Caen. It dates from the eleventh century. Proclaimed in 1027 at the Council of
Toulouges Toulouges (; , ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Toulouges is located between Thuir and Perpignan, in the canton of Perpignan-6 and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. The town covers an area ...
, the bishops attempted to limit the days of the week and times of year that the nobility engaged in violence. While the Truce of God is a temporary suspension of hostilities, as opposed to the Peace of God, the scope of the truce of God is broader. The Truce of God prohibited fighting on Sundays and
Feria In the liturgy of the Catholic Church, a feria is a day of the week other than Sunday. In more recent official liturgical texts in English, the term ''weekday'' is used instead of ''feria''. If the feast day of a saint falls on such a day, the ...
(feast days when people did not have to work). It was the sanctification of Sunday that led to the Truce of God, because it had always been agreed not to fight on that day and to suspend disputes in the courts. It confirmed permanent peace for all churches and their grounds, the monks, clerks and chattels; all women, pilgrims, merchants and their servants, cattle and horses; and men at work in the fields. For all others peace was required throughout Advent, the season of Lent, and from the beginning of the
Rogation days Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity. They are observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The so-called ''major'' rogation is held on 25 April; the ''minor'' rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday ...
until eight days after
Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...
. This prohibition was later extended to certain days of the week, namely Thursday, commemorating the Ascension, Friday, the day of the Passion, and Saturday, the day of the Resurrection (Council 1041). In the middle of the twelfth century, the number of days prescribed was extended until there were about eighty days left for fighting. The Truce soon spread from France to Italy and Germany; the 1179
Third Council of the Lateran The Third Council of the Lateran met in Rome in March 1179. Pope Alexander III presided and 302 bishops attended. The Catholic Church regards it as the eleventh ecumenical council. By agreement reached at the Peace of Venice in 1177 the bitt ...
extended the institution to the whole Church by Canon xxi, "De treugis servandis", which was inserted in the collection of canon law, Decretal of Gregory IX, I, tit., "De treuga et pace". Aquinas challenged the Truce, holding that it was lawful to wage war to safeguard the commonwealth on holy days and feast days.


Peace of God and Truce of God and chivalry and crusades

One of the interesting developments that began at the end of the tenth century and continued well into the eleventh century is the rhetoric of God's Peace and God's Peace movements within chivalric vows and as a way to divert chivalric violence from one's country. While the God's Peace and God's Peace movements must be considered as developing separately in Europe, in terms of the role of these movements in war and in civil society, there are instances where the rhetoric of the movements is combined in oaths and speeches by both secular and ecclesiastical leaders, such as the secular leader Robert the Pious (996-1031). The oath is important because it shows that the secular powers are now willing to obey the ecclesiastical powers and rein in problematic knights and armies. Furthermore, chivalric and warlike violence is often undermined by the ecclesiastical powers through the use of crusades. For Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095, subverting martial violence is an effective means against secular violence: The Peace of God and the Truce of God thus moved in the rhetorical landscape of subverting violence by redirecting it to more appropriate areas, such as a crusade in the Middle East against Islam to recapture Jerusalem.


Other developments

From the 11th century on, knighthood developed a religious character. Aspiring knights underwent strict religious rituals to be initiated. An initiate had to fast, confess his sins, take a symbolic bath, have his hair cut to represent humility, and spend a night in prayer while his weapons lay on an altar symbolizing the dedication of his arms to the Church and God. Advances in metallurgy made it possible to engrave inscriptions and images of sacred symbols on helmets, swords, shields, the saddle and bridle of a horse. Relics and items with religious symbols, often of saints, were routinely carried into battle by knights in the Middle Ages. The symbols reminded the knights and soldiers that God supported their efforts and offered the soldiers protection and the assurance of victory over their enemies. In addition to the Peace and Truce of God movement, the clergy used other nonviolent, though less direct, methods of controlling violence. By adding the religious oath of
fealty An oath of fealty, from the Latin (faithfulness), is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Definition In medieval Europe, the swearing of fealty took the form of an oath made by a vassal, or subordinate, to his lord. "Fealty" also r ...
to the feudal act of homage and by organizing rights and duties within the system, churchmen did their utmost to civilize feudal society in general and to set limits on feudal violence in particular.
Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VI ...
was famous for his attention to settling disputes and keeping the peace, at least within the Kingdom of France. He issued the first surviving decree prohibiting warfare in France indefinitely. This text, dated January 1258, forbade guerre omnes as well as arson and disturbance of wagons and agricolae working with wagons or plows. Those who violated this prohibition were to be punished as peacebreakers (fractores pacis) by the king's officer and the elected bishop of le Puy-en-Velay. Louis IX promulgated this text as a simple royal act based on his authority as king. The Bianchi were a religious movement that swept through Italy for several months in 1399. Tens of thousands of men, women, and children crisscrossed the country praying and advocating for peace. It was a shock to many observers, and the authorities were unprepared. It also brought peace, at least for a few months, to much of Italy.


See also

* Catholic peace traditions *
Cluniac Reforms The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval Christian monasticism, monasticism in the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. ...
*
Landfrieden Under the law of the Holy Roman Empire, a ''Landfrieden'' or ''Landfriede'' (Latin: ''constitutio pacis'', ''pax instituta'' or ''pax jurata'', variously translated as "land peace", or "public peace") was a contractual waiver of the use of legiti ...
*
Religion and peacebuilding Religion and peacebuilding is the study of religion's role in the development of peace. Nathan C. Funk and Christina J. Woolner categorize these approaches into three models. The first is “peace through religion alone”. This proposes to at ...
*
Cáin Adomnáin The ''Cáin Adomnáin'' (, , "Law of Adomnán"), also known as the ''Lex Innocentium'' (Law of Innocents), was promulgated amongst a gathering of Gaels, Gaelic and Picts, Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr in 697 in Ireland, 697. It is named ...
*
Peace Testimony The testimony of peace ( testimony for peace or testimony against war) is the action generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) for peace and against participation in war. Like other Quaker testimonies, it is not a ...
* " I am a Catalan", a 1971 speech by
Pau Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Olympic Truce The Olympic Truce is a tradition originating from ancient Greece that dates back to 776 BC. A " truce" () was announced before and during the Olympic Games to ensure the host city state ( Elis) was not attacked and athletes and spectators could t ...
, truce promoted during the Olympic Games *
Peace (law) The legal term peace, sometimes king's peace (Latin: )''Black's Law Dictionary'' (10th ed.: ed. Bryan A. Garner: Thomson Reuters, 2014), p. 1306. or queen's peace, is the common-law concept of the maintenance of public order.Markus Dirk Dubber, ...


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * Thomas Head, "The Development of the Peace of God in Aquitaine (970–1005)," ''Speculum'' 74, no. 3 (Jul., 1999): 656–686. * * * * * *
''Peace of God – Synod of Charroux, 989''


* ttp://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/t-of-god.html ''Truce of God – Bishopric of Terouanne, 1063''
"Truce of God"
In ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Online.


External links


Gunbald of Bordeaux, Peace of God

Decree of the Emperor Henry IV Concerning a Truce of God; 1085 A.D.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peace And Truce Of God Catholicism in the Middle Ages 989 establishments 13th-century disestablishments in Europe Christian terminology Peace movements pt:Paz de deus