Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

Hastings a set of penances was imposed by a Church council, even though the war was
fought against a perjurer and carried out under a Papal banner. These said that any
who killed a man should do one year's penance; it the perpetrator was ignorant ot the
fate of a man he had wounded, then 40 days; if he was not sure how many he had
killed, one day a week tor the rest ot his life. As for archers who ran the risk of not
knowing the losses they had inflicted, they had to do 40 days' penance three times.
The Church's attitude to war continued to evolve, finding new ways to attempt to
limit it. Between 975 and 1025 we see the promulgation of a movement commonly
called the Peace ot God or Pax Dei. This was developed in three major Church
councils; at Le Puy in 975, Charroux in 989 and Verdun-sur-le-Doubs in 1016.
At first these movements sought to obtain oaths from knights to respect the property
and person ot the Church and peasants (although they included caveats that allowed
attacks on the property of peasants on land owned by knights, or to punish criminal
acts). In 1038 Aimon, Archbishop ot Bourges, went a step further by organizing
Peace Leagues, obliging all the faithful aged 15 years and over to declare themselves
enemies of disturbers of the peace and to promise to take up arms against them if
required. Such peace militia were actively encouraged by the French Capetian
monarchs of the 11th and early 12th centuries because they encouraged the
population to look to their own defence rather than relying on their sovereign who,
at this time at least, was not in a position to protect them. As a counter to the
depredations of robber barons and the internecine warfare that was rife within
the region, they were vital in helping the Capetians in their struggle to reassert their
sovereign powers over the over-mighty baronage.
In essence the Peace of God movement was an attempt to counter brigandage and
the depredations of unscrupulous mi/itej. It placed goods and particular individuals
such as clerics, merchants, pilgrims, peasants, noble women and their escorts in the
absence of their husbands, widows and nuns under specific protection. It was about
restricting feuds and unlawful war rather than the just war' under authority ot a prince.
The Truce of God (Treuga Dei) came later, but stemmed from the same motives.
After the Council of Toulonges in 1027 a ban was placed over the county of Roussillon
in France on violence between 9pm on Saturday and Prime (around 6am) on Monday.
In 1041 the bishops of Provence instigated their own truce, running from Vespers
(sunset) on Wednesday until Matins (dawn) on Monday. A few years later the Truce
had spread to Aquitaine, Burgundy, Normandy, Vienne and Besan£on. Pope Urban II
spread it to all of Christendom, adding other periods of abstention; Advent,
Christmastide, Lent, Eastertide, between Rogationtide (from the fifth Sunday after
Easter) and the Octave of Pentecost (50 days after Easter), the three feasts of the
Virgin and several saints' days.