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28 - Just War and Crusades

from Crimen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2022

By
Frederick H. Russell  and
Ryan Greenwood
Edited by
Anders Winroth  and
John C. Wei
Anders Winroth
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Oslo
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Summary

The basic parameters for the just war, established by Augustine, were just cause, righteous intention, and proper authority. It was Gratian who first gave the concept sustained reflection. Causa 23 of his Decretum was a repository of earlier texts, including Augustine’s, to which he added his own thoughts. He concluded that warfare itself was not a sin, but rather that cruelty, fighting spirit, desire to harm, and libido dominandi were culpable. Gratian stressed the inward attitude of the warrior, particularly his patience, and compared war to paternal love, which corrected with benevolence and benign asperity. The soldier’s duty was obedience to his commanders, and he should be content with his wages and not fight for booty. Peace should be the goal of war, which should be fought only from necessity. Gratian offered the definitions of Isidore of Seville and Augustine before giving his own hybrid definition: a just war was waged by a public authority to avenge injuries. Gratian, however, did not specify the sorts of authorities or injuries.

Keywords

Clerics bearing armsClerics shedding bloodCrusading privileges
Type
Chapter
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The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law , pp. 537 - 549
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

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