temp nr. 4 2012 - temp – tidsskrift for historie

36
JEPPE BUCHERT NETTERSTRØM
PH.D., LEKTOR
INSTITUT FOR KULTUR OG SAMFUND
AARHUS UNIVERSITET
ABSTRACT
Soldiers and Civilians in Danish Articles of War (16th-17 th centuries)
This article investigates regulations concerning soldiers’ treatment of civilians
in Danish Articles of War (16 th-17 th centuries). These Articles prohibited soldiers
from assaulting certain civilian groups in enemy territory and regulated other
activities aff ecting civilians, such as looting and destruction. It is shown that the
legislators behind the 16th century Articles of War consciously reduced the group
of protected civilians. A similar development can (hitherto unknown to international
research) be ascertained in contemporary German, Dutch, and Swedish Articles
of War; Danish Articles of War sometimes imitated, but never mechanically
duplicated, such foreign Articles of War. This pan-European diminishing of the
protection of civilians was, it is suggested, caused by the intensification of interstate
rivalry in the early phases of the military revolution. Furthermore, the article
shows that the Danish 17th century Articles of War augmented the group of
protected civilians and limited the soldiers’ access to legitimate looting. The inspiration
came from recent Dutch military reforms and the Kontributionssystem
of the Thirty Years’ War. This ‘rehumanization’ culminated with the Danish Articles
of War of 1683, and a similar process can be traced in German and Swedish
17th century Articles of War. It may be explained by state-building and deconfessionalization
of the European state system.