Abstract

For popes of the High Middle Ages, peace-making was considered an essential function of their office. Peace, a central part of the Christian message, was particularly necessary within Christendom for the success of the Crusades. The papacy was deeply involved over a long period in attempts to bring about peace between France and England. This study, exploring Gregory IX's attempts to secure peace between Henry III of England (1216–1272) and Louis IX of France (1226–1270), demonstrates the manner in which the process of peace could be manipulated by the parties involved and contributes to the debate concerning whether the papacy was proactive or responsive in its government.

Keywords: Peace, Truce, France, England, Papacy

Gone are the days when the biographers of medieval popes, even of such exalted figures as Gregory VII or Innocent III, could write of them as ‘Leaders of Europe’, let alone as men who ‘shook the World’. It is increasingly acknowledged that a large part of the business of even the most autocratic of medieval popes was transacted in answer to petitions submitted to the Curia by those seeking favours. Save when specific circumstances persuaded particular popes to reshape policy, papal government was responsive rather than dynamic. In the case of Gregory IX, this would allow us to view the high politics of Church and state, especially the relations between Pope Gregory and the Emperor Frederick II, as subject to direct papal control, but much of the rest of papal policy as responsive routine.

Where, between these two extremes, active or passive, are we to place the pope's commitment to the establishment of peace as a prerequisite for the salvation of souls? Peace-making was one of the functions of the papacy, from at least the time of Leo I, and his supposed defence of Rome against Attila. However, whilst historians have paid lip-service to papal peace-making activities, very little has been written on the effects of papal diplomacy within any particular peace initiative. A notable exception is Michele Maccarrone's study of Innocent III's dealings with England and France, focused upon the decretal Novit ille and the pope's claims to jurisdiction over breaches of the peace as a matter of sin rather than of feudal jurisdiction.