The Just War in the Middle Ages

by Frederick H. Russell

The first systematic attempt to reconstruct from original manuscript sources and early printed books the medieval doctrines relating to the just war, the holy war and the crusade. Despite the frequency of wars and armed conflicts throughout the course of western history, no comprehensive survey has previously been made of the justifications of warfare that were elaborated by Roman lawyers, canon lawyers and theologians in the twelfth and thirteenth century universities. After a brief survey of theories of the just war in antiquity, with emphasis on Cicero and Augustine, and of thought on early medieval warfare, the central chapters are devoted to scholastics such as Pope Innocent IV, Hostiensis and Thomas Aquinas. Professor Russell attempts to correlate theories of the just war with political and intellectual development in the Middle Ages. His conclusion evaluates the just war in the light of late medieval and early modern statecraft and poses questions about its compatibility with Christian ethics and its validity within international law.

Genres: History

343 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 1975

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Just War in the Middle Ages
Frederick H. Russell
Read it in a glossy paper-back at 332 including Index, and Bibliography.

What a splendid tomb. In my readings the idea of the 'Just War' comes up often. This has several meanings and correlations to politics at the time. As the name suggest however, it's an attempt to control political violence against other Christians and justify violence against non-believers and other Christians alike. Law makers of the Middle Ages were attempting to cobble the remnants of old Roman Law with the teachings of the bible into a functional policy. This obviously had some hang-ups as the bible outright condemns violence in a time when violence came easily and expressed authority. Mr. Russell follows St. Augustine in his early attempt to limit warfare among Western Monarchs with the 'Peace of God' movement which detailed when it was acceptable for an engagement to be fought and who should be included/excluded, as well as the early ideas of who could fight (and keep their soul from going to hell). This last bit was particularly tricky for ecclesiastic's to outline. Nonetheless they did and The Just War continues down this route as the papacy attempted to broaden and continue to define with the Decretists and Thomas Aquinas.

I don't know that they were ever truly successful but they did provide the framework for authority against 'lessers', resolved jurisdictional issues and feuds, and in a way justified the Crusades. Mr. Russel does a fantastic job of outlining the doctrines carried over from Roman times and assesses the documents coming from the greatest ecclesiastic minds on the topic.

It's all fascinating and a must read for anyone doing heavy reading in the Medieval. In the end, there is an actual ruling from the papacy on two princes involved in a feud. This is super cool but unfortunately the text is in Latin and no translation is provided, making some laborious translation work necessary. Additionally, Mr. Russel doesn't give a summarization of this ruling and I'm lamenting that he didn't weight the merits and justifications of the decision for the reader but the rest of the text is spot on.

Highly recommend for anyone trying to cobble together law in the Middle Ages, a tumultuous time with little law or authoritative hierarchy.

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does a good job outlining medieval Just War theory, but focuses exclusively in ius ad bellum and only a few of the issues that writers in the Middle Ages worried about in war.