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John Wyclif on War and Peace (Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series, 90)
New investigation of John Wyclif's writings on the theory of the "just war" shows him to be the first genuine pacifist of medieval Europe.
John Wyclif (c. 1330-84) was the foremost English intellectual of the late fourteenth century and is remembered as both an ecclesiastical reformer and a heresiarch. But, against the backdrop of the Hundred Years War, Wyclif also tackled the numerous ethical, legal and practical problems arising from war and violence.
Since the fifth-century works of St Augustine of Hippo, Christian justifications of war had revolved around three key just cause, proper authority and correct intention. Utilising Wyclif's extensive Latin corpus, the author traces how and why Wyclif dismantled these three pillars of medieval just war doctrine, exploring his critique within the context oflate medieval political thought and theology. Wyclif is revealed to be a thinker deeply concerned with the Christian virtues of sacrifice, suffering and charity, which ultimately led him to repudiate the concept of justified warfare in both theory and practice. The author thus changes the way we understand Wyclif, demonstrating that he created a coherent doctine of pacifism and non-resistance which was at that time unparallelled.
Dr Rory Cox isa Lecturer in Late Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews.
John Wyclif (c. 1330-84) was the foremost English intellectual of the late fourteenth century and is remembered as both an ecclesiastical reformer and a heresiarch. But, against the backdrop of the Hundred Years War, Wyclif also tackled the numerous ethical, legal and practical problems arising from war and violence.
Since the fifth-century works of St Augustine of Hippo, Christian justifications of war had revolved around three key just cause, proper authority and correct intention. Utilising Wyclif's extensive Latin corpus, the author traces how and why Wyclif dismantled these three pillars of medieval just war doctrine, exploring his critique within the context oflate medieval political thought and theology. Wyclif is revealed to be a thinker deeply concerned with the Christian virtues of sacrifice, suffering and charity, which ultimately led him to repudiate the concept of justified warfare in both theory and practice. The author thus changes the way we understand Wyclif, demonstrating that he created a coherent doctine of pacifism and non-resistance which was at that time unparallelled.
Dr Rory Cox isa Lecturer in Late Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews.
214 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 7, 2025
A fascinating overview of historic views on just war theory, making a convincing case for Wyclif as the first pacifist of medieval Europe.
October 23, 2016
Medieval writers’ attitudes towards war are relatively understudied. This is especially troubling considering that much of our understanding of the conduct of medieval war is based on narratives and treatises. What did writers think of the widespread devastation of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453)? How did they deal with the seeming contradictions of pervasive violence and the tenets of Christianity? How might such attitudes affect the writing of war? These problems are mostly sidestepped when sources are drawn upon to recreate tactics and strategy. Cox’s study of the prominent English intellectual John Wyclif (d. 1384) is therefore a refreshing change. Wyclif wrote and moralised on many subjects, but his concerns with war are manifest in much of his writing.
Cox argues that Wyclif rejected the reasoning of just war despite dominant political theory and should therefore be considered the first pacifist. He begins by showing how much scholarship on Wyclif’s attitudes to war has been generated within the dichotomy of just war versus pacifism. He argues that previous scholars hold unfair definitions of pacifism and fail to investigate all Wyclif’s writings. These scholars accordingly reject Wyclif’s pacifism. Cox reassesses the boundaries of ‘pacifism’ and ‘pacificism’, largely through modern pacifistic treatises, to better support his argument.
[... followed by chapter by chapter discussion and some of the book's drawbacks ...]
Overall, Cox’s book is interesting, informative, and will surely serve as the starting point for engaging with Wyclif’s attitudes towards war in the years to come. It fills an important gap in late-medieval attitudes towards war, a topic all too understudied. This study is a model of how to unpackage and understand challenging philosophical attitudes across several texts, despite its problems. But the lack of proper contextualisation harms our understanding of Wyclif’s attitudes. Indeed, the reader will have trouble understanding the significance of these arguments without having first read widely on the conduct of war, attitudes of combatants, and writing on war in the period. Cox’s interpretation of contradictions as an intentional paradox is perhaps most troubling. One cannot help but wonder if such terms as ‘just war’ and ‘pacifism’ are more distracting and limiting than helpful in studies of medieval war. Despite all this, Cox’s book provides a useful starting point for investigating English attitudes during the Hundred Years War.
Full review: http://deremilitari.org/2015/10/rory-...
Cox argues that Wyclif rejected the reasoning of just war despite dominant political theory and should therefore be considered the first pacifist. He begins by showing how much scholarship on Wyclif’s attitudes to war has been generated within the dichotomy of just war versus pacifism. He argues that previous scholars hold unfair definitions of pacifism and fail to investigate all Wyclif’s writings. These scholars accordingly reject Wyclif’s pacifism. Cox reassesses the boundaries of ‘pacifism’ and ‘pacificism’, largely through modern pacifistic treatises, to better support his argument.
[... followed by chapter by chapter discussion and some of the book's drawbacks ...]
Overall, Cox’s book is interesting, informative, and will surely serve as the starting point for engaging with Wyclif’s attitudes towards war in the years to come. It fills an important gap in late-medieval attitudes towards war, a topic all too understudied. This study is a model of how to unpackage and understand challenging philosophical attitudes across several texts, despite its problems. But the lack of proper contextualisation harms our understanding of Wyclif’s attitudes. Indeed, the reader will have trouble understanding the significance of these arguments without having first read widely on the conduct of war, attitudes of combatants, and writing on war in the period. Cox’s interpretation of contradictions as an intentional paradox is perhaps most troubling. One cannot help but wonder if such terms as ‘just war’ and ‘pacifism’ are more distracting and limiting than helpful in studies of medieval war. Despite all this, Cox’s book provides a useful starting point for investigating English attitudes during the Hundred Years War.
Full review: http://deremilitari.org/2015/10/rory-...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews