Violence and War in the Middle Ages
Since the earliest time of written human records, violence, however defined, has been a topic of universal concern. In his Sermon 302: On the Feast of St Laurence, St Augustine (354-430) tackles the question of violence and clearly states that even violence done in the name of revenge engenders new violence.
He asks his audience: ‘Why do you treat those who are bad violently?' and immediately responds himself: ‘As soon as you treat them violently, you add yourself to them.'[1154] Augustine was not so naive as to believe that goodness would automatically lead to goodness in other people as well, and he refers to the martyrs as an example of the tragic death of good people. Those who have to die an unjust death gain praise and admiration from posterity, whereas those who are considered evil will find their own judge.[1155] True Christians should stay away from any blood shedding, even when the person on trial proves to be extremely evil, as he would face double punishment: ‘you should grieve for him twice as much, because he is dead twice over, once in this temporary life, and once in eternal life'.[1156] In a way already anticipating Mahatma Gandhi, Augustine appealed to his listeners: ‘I urge you, please, by the Lord and his gentleness, to live gently and peaceably; and to allow the authorities to do their job in peace.'[1157]Almost a thousand years later, Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1175), following Augustine's teachings, observed that only few people display a natural tendency towards virtue, whereas the majority need external discipline and education to combat their ‘evil disposition' and ‘vice', requiring the authorities to impose penalties and punishments in order to instil fear in them: ‘When they are thus kept from doing evil, a quiet life is assured to others; and they are themselves led eventually by force of custom to do voluntarily what once they did only from fear and thus to practise virtue.'[1158] Deeply distrustful of human nature, Thomas Aquinas supports the use of strict laws to combat the dangers resulting from the human monster in man: ‘Man, if perfect in virtue, is the best of animals; but if he becomes separated from law and justice, he is the worst of animals. For man, unlike other animals, has the weapon of reason wherewith to exploit his base desires and cruelty.'[1159]
Aquinas was obviously not blind to the real conditions of human society and explicitly warned against the dangers of unchecked violence by the individual.
Moreover, he raised his voice even against unjust wars and wanted the authority of launching any military action being limited to the legitimate rulers. Those, in turn, had to have a just cause for such action, a mainstay of theological arguments since the days of St Augustine, whose sermon Against Faustus XXIII, 73 Aquinas quotes as a corroboration: ‘To maintain peace within the natural order of men, rulers require the power and decision to declare war.'23 Moreover, parallel to John of Salisbury's (c. 111580) teachings, tyranny is condemnable and could justify an entire people to rise up against its ruler: ‘Therefore the overthrow of such government is not strictly sedition, unless perhaps when accompanied by such disorder that the community suffers greater harm than from the tyrannical government.'[1160]In other words, violence, however defined, appears to rest in the heart of human society and will never disappear, irrespective of how much suppressive forces might be applied, which would be regarded as violence again by those affected by it.[1161] We return hence to medieval literature as a highly effective platform for the investigation of this universal phenomenon, not in the hope of overcoming and controlling it, but in the firm conviction that the literary analysis will make it possible for us to comprehend better how and why people in the past have turned to violence and how this was subsequently viewed by the various audiences.
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