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IN
43
Mansi,xix,cc. 99-102.
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NUMBER 46
and robbed churches,those who made offwiththe beasts of lawabidingpeasantsand poor men, and those who attackedunarmed
clerks.8 Therefollowedmanysimilarcouncilsin or nearAquitaine:
notablyat Narbonne (99o), Le Puy (c. 990-3), Limoges (994),
vulnerablecategories
of
speed,theworkofthesecouncilsin protecting
personsand goodswas takenup in mostpartsofFrance,includingthe
royaldemesne.
The Truce was a further
stagein thesedevelopments.Whereas
thePeace soughtto protectcertainclassesand theirgoodsat all times,
the Truce was an attemptto stop all violenceat certaintimes. Its
firstappearancewas at thecouncilofToulouges(10o27),in thecounty
of Roussillon. A pactumvel treugawas swornthat,"in orderto
enableeverymanto showproperrespectfortheLord's Day", no one
should attackhis enemybetweenSaturdayeveningand Monday
morning. During the I30os and I040s, the Truce as an attemptto
II
45
of our holy
"concerningthe renewalof peace and the establishment
faith". There were numerousmiraclesof healing. Led by the
bishops,all presentcriedin unisonto God, "Pax, pax, pax", foran
signof the promisesthathad been made betweenthemeverlasting
selvesand God.10
Ralph Glaber'spictureof generalenthusiasmand the background
of deliverancefromnaturaldisastersagainstwhich he set Peace
indicatethatthePeace of God was a morecomplexmatter
legislation,
thanconciliarcanonsby themselvessuggest. This is borneout by
other evidence, such as hagiography,chronicles,sermons,and
of
similarliterature;and, indirectly,
investigations
by archaeological
churches and monasteries. Of outstandingimportanceare the
ofAdhemarof Chabannes,whonotonlywrotean important
writings
chroniclebut also lefta corpusof othermaterialaboutsuch councils
describes." A completepictureof the
as Ralph Glabersummarily
of
the
and
nature
Peace of God mustbe drawnfromall
sponsorship
such evidence.
thatit was
The literary
sourcesconfirm
Ralph Glaber'stestimony
turned. This is to
thebishopsuponwhomthePeace councilschiefly
be expected, for, as Carolingianauthoritycrumbled away, the
and functions. It was
episcopalorderremainedintactin itsstructure
whichled up
thebishopswho convenedthetenth-century
gatherings
to thePeace councils. Above all it was thebishops,as distincteven
fromthemonks,whoexclusively
disposedoftheold judicialsanction
of excommunication
and the new judicial sanctionof interdictby
whichthePeace was imposed:it was, afterall, to theapostleswhose
successorsthe bishopswere,not to the monksand stillless to lay
rulers,thatChristhad leftthepowerto bindand to looseuponearth.
Nevertheless,as Ralph Glaber again suggests,the monks were
prominentat the Peace assemblies. There emerged no Peace
"o Historiarum,iv.5.I4-I6: Raoul Glaber, Les Cinq Livres de ses histoires
ed. M. Prou (Paris, 1886), pp. 103-5.
(9oo-o1044),
I IAdhemar was born c. 988 near Limoges,
wherehe enteredthe monasteryof
Saint-Martial. Although he soon migrated to Saint-Cybard, Angouleme, of
which he remained a monk until his death on pilgrimageto Jerusalemin lo34,
he was a lifelongzealot for Saint-Martial and its interests. For his chronicle,
completed c. 1028, see Ademar de Chabannes, Chronique,ed. J. Chavanon
(Paris, 1897). The principal collection of his other writingsis L. Delisle,
"Notices sur les manuscrits originaux d'Ademar de Chabannes", Notices et
extraitsdes manuscritsde la Bibliothequenationale et des autres bibliotheques,
xxxv (1896), pp. 241-358. See also J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina [hereafter
P.L.], cxli, cc. 79-124; E. Sackur, Die Cluniacenserin ihrerkirchlichenund
Wirksamkeit(Halle, 1892-4), ii, pp. 479-87, cf. i,
allgemeingeschichtlichen
pp. 392-6; C. de Lasteyrie,L'Abbaye de Saint-Martial de Limoges(Paris, 1901),
und TreugaDei, pp. 257-9.
pp. 422-6; Hoffmann,Gottesfriede
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NUMBER 46
47
48
NUMBER 46
THE ELEVENTH-CENTURY
49
natural
up a crumblingsocial orderand to mitigateoverwhelming
disaster,theylooked fora peace whichwas a deliverancefromall
mannerof scourgesthatdestroyedtheirwelfare- humanviolence,
of the cultus
storm,famineand epidemic.23 Hence theprominence
of the saintsand the bringingof relicsto the Peace councils. To
borrowsomewordsof ProfessorSouthern:
When the machinery of government was simple or non-existent,these
in publiclife
tangibleagentsofspiritual
power[i.e. relics]had an importance
in human
whichtheylost in a more complicatedage. The deficiencies
resources were supplied by the power of the saints. They were the great
power-housesin the fightagainstevil; theyfilledthe gaps leftin the structure
of human justice.24
50
NUMBER 46
to answerby obeyingthe
people. In returnit behovedtheprincipes
bishops', or ratherGod's, call to promise peace and justice.26
The
the sevenpenitential
church,beginning
psalms. Next he saysappropriate
and prayers
fortheabsolution
ofsinners. Then all,kneeling
down,
prayers,
bow in silence. Afterwards
theystandup and thebishopbeginsto givethe
thekissofpeace to one anotheras at mass,so that
peace,and theyall offer
concord,and that
theymayremainin the peace of Christand harmonious
peacemaybe uponthemall and uponall thepeople.27
51
30
52
NUMBER
46
53
III
If it be judged by its legislationand the ideas to whichit gave
themovement
forthePeace and theTruce ofGod up to the
currency,
councilofNarbonnewas a remarkable
one; butin faceoftheendemic
lawlessnessof French society,its practicaleffectiveness
was less
impressive. Underthe shadowof famineor of theignissacer,such
preachingas thatof Adhemarof Chabannescommandedattention,
and menpromisedto upholdpeace and justice;whensuch disasters
seemedremotetheyno doubtslippedbackintotheirformer
ways.
36
The extension of the Truce and its aspect as a religious discipline are
evidentin a council probablyat Arles (c. 1042): Mansi, xix, cc. 593-6.
37 Canon i, ibid.,c. 827.
54
NUMBER 46
55
56
NUMBER 46
THE ELEVENTH-CENTURY
57
58
NUMBER 46
to buildingup the
The Peace of God also made its contribution
of lay society. But whereasin the case of the churchit
structures
provideda milieuin whichthepopescouldasserttheirheadshipofan
summonFrench chivalryto the
existinghierarchyand effectively
was a more
its contribution
Crusade,in the case of lay government
drewupon
directone. As in theearlydaysofthePeace churchmen
and adaptedthemto meet
theexpedientsof Carolingiangovernment
theirown needs in protecting
clerks,churchpropertyand church
so in thecourseoftheeleventhcenturylayrulersbegan
dependents,
to claim fromchurchmenthe Peace and the Truce in orderto use
oncemore.
themto buildup theirownauthority
It becametheeasierforlayrulersto claimthem,becausefromthe
in manycountriesof Europe,theforms
end of theeleventhcentury,
robbersandthelike,
ofcriminaljusticebeganto change. Murderers,
in
suffered
whatevertheirsocial condition,increasingly
punishment
forseriouscrimesbecame
theirbodies,whilefinancialcompositions
unusual. Popularjusticetendedto giveplace to the justiceof lords
thesource
madethemselves
and lordsaccordingly
and theirofficials,
of peace in theirown lands. The traditionsof the Peace and the
forwhenlay lords
to such developments,
Truce of God contributed
own
of
their
name
in
the
crimes
serious
peace theyoften
punished
drew upon these traditionsin orderto justifythemselvesand to
providea sanctionforwhattheyweredoing.
assisted
In such waysas thisthePeace and the Truce increasingly
the process,sometimesepitomizedas "concentricconcentration",51
by which temporalauthoritywas slowlyrehabilitatedin western
the
Europe. Thus in France,thehomelandofthePeace movement,
the
of thepagusroundaboutthe yearIooo represents
disintegration
low-watermark of temporalauthority. From this conditionof
weaknessits politicalstructures
began to be renewedwhen growth
and
of
graduallyappearedin the lesser
jurisdiction
authority
points
and greaterfiefs,whoselordsused the resourcesthattheyfoundto
hand. The kingsin due coursefollowedsuitand so movedtowards
51See H. Mitteis, Lehnrechtund Staatsgewalt (Weimar, 1933), Pp. 282-3,
300-9; Der Staat des hohen Mittelalters,5th edn. (Weimar, 1955), PP. 136,
208-9, 240-I.
THE ELEVENTH-CENTURY
PEACEANDTRUCEOF GOD
59
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NUMBER
46
Never beforein the historyof the Peace of God had the temporal
rulerprovidedso strongand automatica sanctionforits observance.
Much, indeed,was stillleftin thehandsof thebishops. Moreover,
with the weakerrule of Duke Robert Curthose(lo87-IIo6), the
councilofRouen(Io96) imposedthePeaceandtheTrucein pursuance
of episcopal
of the decrees of Clermontwith a clear affirmation
tendencywas forthe duketo take
jurisdiction.57 But the prevailing
55 M. de Bouard, "Sur les origines de la trave de Dieu en Normandie",
Annales de Normandie,ix (1959), pp. 169-89.
66 Hist., v. 5, ed. le Prevost,ii (1840), pp. 315-6.
Norman bishops held placita treugae into the
67 Mansi, xx, cc. 921-6.
thirteenthcentury.
61
of
over the keepingof public peace. The Norman Consuetudines
et iustitiaeof the duchy as
Io91, which set in writingthe consuetudines
62
NUMBER 46
numerous
63
followedmoreresolutely
thepathofthedukesofNormandy. In the
demesne
used
the Truce to establisha peace whichwas
royal
they
essentiallythat of the king. As Capetian power grew,this peace
becamestronger
and morewidelydiffused.72
The Emperor,too, in the long run drewupon the legacyof the
Peace movement
to his own considerableadvantage. This was,it is
true,a fairlylatedevelopment. If thePeace of God as it was at first
inAquitaineandtheduchyofBurgundy
had quicklyspread
proclaimed
into the kingdomsof Burgundyand Italy, it had no appreciable
consequencestherefor the structureof temporalauthority.73In
oftheSaxonand earlySalianmonarchy
and its
Germanythestrength
and the place of the bishops in the imperialchurch
institutions,
vi.I7, ed. Caspar, pp. 423-4.
68 Register,
in Spanien (Heidelberg, 1933), PP. 351-9. I have not been able to see a textof
the Usatici.
70 Bouard, art. cit.,Annalesde Normandie,ix (1959), PP. 176-89.
71 At the councils of Rheims (1119): Mansi, xxi, cc. 236-7; Clermont(II30),
canon viii: ibid.,c. 439; and Rheims (1148), canon xi: ibid.,c. 716.
developmentsare traced by A. Grabois, "De la trove de
7" Twelfth-century
Dieu ia la paix du roi. Etude sur les transformations
du mouvementde la paix
au xiie siecle", Melanges offerts
a' Rend Crozet, ed. P. Gallais and Y.-J. Riou
(Poitiers, 1966), i, pp. 585-96.
i, nos. 419-21, 423, PP. 596-7, 602.
73 M.G.H., Constitutiones,
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NUMBER 46
385-6.
65
Cologne (lo83) and Mainz (1085).78 At the last of them the king
66
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84 Hoffmann, Gottesfriedeund
67
whichseemedto himmosteffective
thepeace (ad regni
in preserving
thePeace and the Truce of God werenotamong
pacemtuendam)",85
them.86 They wereand remainedas unimportant
upon the soil of
Englandas theywerevitalupon thesoil ofNeustria.87
But therewere differences
among the regionsof the sometime
itself:
the
Peace began in the west and only
CarolingianEmpire
later did it penetrateinto the east. This reflectedthe long-term
fortunes
of thedifferent
regions. The east,evenbeforetheimperial
churchsystemof the Ottos and Salians was establishedthere,had
- a discardingof manyof the
undergonean Entfrankungsprozess
ideas and institutionsof the Carolingianheyday - which was
energetically
pursued by Louis "the German" (843-76) and his
thedivisionsofthetreatyofVerdun,
successors. Roughlyfollowing
the Carolingianlands split into threeas regardstheirattitudesto
Carolingiantraditionsof government.88Only in Aquitaine and
Neustriadid the bishopstransmitthemin a fairlystraightline to
of the Peace of
eleventh-century
lay rulers,as by theirproclamation
God. So whenthe crisisof royalauthority
brokein latereleventhcenturyGermanyit was expedientto look westwardsformodelsin
devisingnew peace institutions.Yet the burgeoningcultus of
Charlemagnein high medieval Germanyis a reminderthat this
borrowingwas facilitatedby the commonCarolingianheritageof
east and west. Regardedin this light,the Peace movementof the
eleventhcentury
is evidenceofthepotencyofthisheritagein shaping
much of continentalEurope at its medievalapogee, and especially
theinstitutions
whichpromotedpeace, justiceand socialorder.
St. EdmundHall, Oxford
H. E. J. Cowdrey
Dialogus de Scaccario, xvi, ed. C. Johnson(London, 1950), p. 63.
But the procedure of inquiry which the duke of Aquitaine used at SaintMaixent in the Io30s may well have been used in France on otheroccasions and
could have been known to those who planned the vaster descriptioof England,
Domesday Book, of which Henry of Blois went on to speak.
English evidence is thatof the so-called Leges Edwardi
87 The only significant
Confessoris(c. 1135), which Maitland stigmatizedas "private work of a bad and
untrustworthykind". It speaks of a pax Dei et sanctae ecclesiae granted to
clerks and their possessions, and to the whole kingdom at certain seasons:
I.I-2.8a, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen,ed. F. Liebermann, i (Halle, 1903),
pp. 628-9. It is perhaps the result of an individual's revision in the light of
continentalpractice of Anglo-Saxon legislationwhich prescribeda special royal
peace at "holy tides" (e.g., v Ethelred 19, vI Ethelred 25, I Canute 17: Liebermann, op. cit.,i, pp. 243, 253-5, 296-7).
88 E. Ewig, in the course of a valuable discussion,has epitomizedthe situation
as " 'Entfrankung'im Osten, Fortbildungdes hochkarolingischenStaatsgedankens im Westen, Stagnation in der Mitte": Die mittelalterliche
Kirche, i, Vom
kirchlicheFramittelalterzur gregorianischen
Reform (Handbuch der Kirchened. H. Jedin,iii/i, Freiburg, 1966), p. 146.
geschichte,
85
88