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The Peace and Truce of God movement was a weapon in the Church's arsenal to Christianize and pacify the feudal structures of society through non-violent means. After the collapse of the Carolingian empire in the 9th century, France had degenerated into many small counties and lordships, in which local lords and knights frequently fought each other for control. At the same time there were often attacks from the Vikings, who settled in northern France as the Normans but continued to raid territory further inland.
In times such as this, when a region was suffering from disorder due to local conflicts, the local clergy, such as abbots, heads of monasteries, and bishops, would hold a town council. Invitations would be issued to nearby nobles demanding that they attend. Assuming the nobles showed up, the clergy would bring all the saints relics they had available. These relics could include bits of bone, vials of blood, clothing from saints - anything that had at one time come in to physical contact with a saint. These would often be heaped in a pile or displayed dramatically and the clergy would use these relics to induce fear of the saints, fear of spiritual retribution, to intimidate the nobility to pursuade them to promise to obey the Peace and Truce of God. The belief in the power of saints relics was very strong.
Often, however, nobles simply did not show up and would ignore the invitation. In addition, nobles would often not swear to obey, or if they did, they would later break their promise. If a promise was made, it had to be renewed and documents show a renewal decade after decade in certain regions. The movement was not very effective. "In trying to control warfare without the use of physical coercion it rapidly foundered on the rocks of a violent feudal reality." (Richard Landes). However it set a precedent that would be followed by other successful popular movements to control nobles violence such as medieval communes, and the Crusades.
In addition to the Peace and Truce of God movement other non-violent, although less direct, methods of controlling violence were used by the clergy. By adding the religious oaths of fealty to the feudal act of homage, and in organizing rights and duties within the system, churchmen did their utmost to Christianize feudal society in general and to set limits on feudal violence in particular. This can be seen as combining the spiritual (potestas) and secular authority (auctoritas) in a dual concerted action that had defined the idea of Christian government since the 5th century.
The Peace of God, or Pax Dei was a proclamation issued by local clergy that granted immunity from violence to noncombatants who could not defend themselves including clergy, children, women (virgins and widows), as well as farm animals. It prohibited nobles from invading churches, beating the defenseless, burning houses, and so on. Merchants and their goods were added to the protected groups in a synod of 1033. Significantly, the Peace of God movement began in BurgundyThis page is about the region of France. For information on the wine, see Burgundy wine. Burgundy ( French Bourgogne is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Celts, Gauls, Romans and Gallo-Romans, and various Germanic peoples, most importantly and LanguedocLanguedoc Lengadoc in Occitan) is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day regions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrenees in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrenees. The question of the limits, areas where central authority had most completely fragmented. It was decreed in the late 10th century9th century 10th century 11th century other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. Events The beginning of the Medieval Warm Period Viking groups settle in northern France N, specifically at the Council of Charroux in 989, and spread to most of Western Europe over the next century, surviving in some form until at least the 13th century12th century 13th century 14th century other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. Events Fourth through eighth crusades of western European kingdoms against Islam Fall of.
The 10th century foundation of the monastery of ClunyThe town of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day departement of Saone-et-Loire in the region of Bourgogne, in east-central France, near Macon. Cluny and Monasticism Founding William I the Pious, count of Auvergne and duke of Aquitaine, founded the Bened aided the development of the Peace of God. Cluny was independent of any secular authority, subject to the Papacy alone, and while all church territory was inviolate, Cluny's territory extended far beyond its own boundaries. A piece of land 30 km in diameter was considered to be part of Cluny itself, and any smaller monastery that allied itself with Cluny was granted the same protection from violence. This grant was given at a Peace of God council in Anse in 994Events Births Canute the Great (approximate) (+ 1035) Deaths 994.. The monastery was also immune from excommunicationExcommunication is religious censure which is used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means "out of communion. Catholic Communion Excommunication is the most serious penalty that can be imposed for Catholics.s, interdictAn Interdict usually refers to an ecclesiastical penalty in the Roman Catholic Church. The most common usage is a penalty which suspends all public worship and withdraws the church's sacraments in a territory or country. An interdict issued against a couns, and anathemas, which would normally affect an entire region. The abbey of Fleury was granted similar protection. Not coincidentally, many of the Cluniac monks were members of the same knightly class whose violence they were trying to stop.
"Peace of God" can also be used as a general term that means "under the protection of the Church" and was used in multiple contexts in medieval society. For example, pilgrims who traveled on Crusade did so under the "peace of God" ie. under the protection of the Church. This general usage of the term is not always related to the Peace and Truce of God movement.
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