Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PART I GOVERNMENT
- PART II ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS
- 4 The European Nobility
- 5 Rural Europe
- 6 Urban Europe
- 7 Commerce and Trade
- 8 War
- 9 Exploration and Discovery
- PART III SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC LIFE
- PART IV THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
- Appendix Genealogical Tables
- Primary Sources and Secondary Works Arranged by Chapter
- Index
- Frontispiece
- Plate section
- Map 1 European towns in the late Middle Ages
- Map 2 European commerce and trade
- Map 4 Winds and currents facilitating the discoveries
- Map 5 The universities o f Europe in 1400 and 1500
- Map 6 Germany and the Empire
- Map 20 The Roman Orthodox and Ottoman worlds in the fifteenth century
- References
8 - War
from PART II - ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- PART I GOVERNMENT
- PART II ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS
- 4 The European Nobility
- 5 Rural Europe
- 6 Urban Europe
- 7 Commerce and Trade
- 8 War
- 9 Exploration and Discovery
- PART III SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC LIFE
- PART IV THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
- Appendix Genealogical Tables
- Primary Sources and Secondary Works Arranged by Chapter
- Index
- Frontispiece
- Plate section
- Map 1 European towns in the late Middle Ages
- Map 2 European commerce and trade
- Map 4 Winds and currents facilitating the discoveries
- Map 5 The universities o f Europe in 1400 and 1500
- Map 6 Germany and the Empire
- Map 20 The Roman Orthodox and Ottoman worlds in the fifteenth century
- References
Summary
‘what a gratifying activity war is, for many are the splendid things heard and seen in the course of it, and many are the lessons to be learned from it.’ Such was the chivalric language, used by Jean de Bueil, author of Le Jouvencel, in the mid-fifteenth century, to describe the feelings of those who participated in military activity. War, however, was more than an opportunity for physical excitement or the chance to win reputation through deeds worthy of being recorded for the benefit of others. War was widely regarded as a way of securing peace and justice: ‘he who desires peace, let him prepare for war’, Vegetius had written in the late fourth century, an approach echoed by Jean de Bueil when he wrote that ‘when war is fought in a good cause, then it is fought for justice and the defence of right’ which might be legal, feudal, dynastic, in most cases ‘historic’ in some sense of that word. War was a last resort, a final, legitimate means of securing and maintaining justice. By the same token, victory was viewed as a sign from Heaven: God attributed victory to those whose cause was just.
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- The New Cambridge Medieval History , pp. 161 - 174Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998