Introduction: The Peace of God movement was an attempt by the episcopate, at once novel and ambitious, to control the moral problem and the social threat posed by the growing power of the knightly class. The bishops’ chief weapon in their pacific campaign was the administra tion of oaths to the laity of their diocese. In these oaths the poten tially violent armed classes vowed, over the relics of the saints, to maintain the peace. The bishops thus employed sacramental power against a secular threat.
One of the most extraordinary episodes in the development of the Peace movement was the formation by Archbishop Aimo of Bourges of a militia, composed of both clergy and “unarmed” (that is under-class) lay people, to enforce the knights’ compliance with the oaths taken in that diocese. This was the only instance during the early phase of the Peace movement in which military force was employed to outlaw military force. Andrew of Fleury provided the main testimony about this “peace league” in his collection of Miracles of St. Benedict.
Andrew of Fleury and the Peace League of Bourges
By Thomas Head
Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, Vol 14:3 (1987)
Introduction: The Peace of God movement was an attempt by the episcopate, at once novel and ambitious, to control the moral problem and the social threat posed by the growing power of the knightly class. The bishops’ chief weapon in their pacific campaign was the administra tion of oaths to the laity of their diocese. In these oaths the poten tially violent armed classes vowed, over the relics of the saints, to maintain the peace. The bishops thus employed sacramental power against a secular threat.
One of the most extraordinary episodes in the development of the Peace movement was the formation by Archbishop Aimo of Bourges of a militia, composed of both clergy and “unarmed” (that is under-class) lay people, to enforce the knights’ compliance with the oaths taken in that diocese. This was the only instance during the early phase of the Peace movement in which military force was employed to outlaw military force. Andrew of Fleury provided the main testimony about this “peace league” in his collection of Miracles of St. Benedict.
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We thank the editors of Historical Reflections / Reflexions Historiques for their permission to republish this article.
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