Peace and Truce of God

peace movement in Medieval Europe

The Peace of God was a movement begun by bishops in southern France around 990 CE to limit the violence done to property and to the unarmed.[1] The Carolingian Empire had collapsed and the nobles were making war almost all the time.

The Truce of God extended the Peace by setting aside certain days of the week when violence was not allowed.[2] Where the Peace of God limited violence against the church and the poor, the Truce of God was about preventing fighting between Christians, especially knights.[3]

References change

  1. Thomas Head, The Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France Around the Year 1000 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992), p. 4
  2. Adriaan H. Bredero, Christendom and Christianity in the Middle Ages (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1994), p. 110
  3. Thomas Head, The Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France Around the Year 1000 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992), p. 7