14 - Living with the Enemy

Summary

Early modern people wrote a lot about peace. The Christian logic of reconciliation was facilitated by a combination of the judicial system, community pressure and ubiquitous letters of pardon. Civil society mediated conflict through its institutions: the efflorescence of law courts, civic institutions and associational groups, such as guilds and confraternities, were the greatest legacy of the late Middle Ages. The desire for a well-regulated and ordered society was enshrined in the term ‘police’, which began to be used from the fourteenth century. It signified the regulations and the means that would advance the common good through the securing of peace and order, protecting private property and improving the conditions of life. In urban communities, in particular, the law articulated and ordered social, economic and political relationships that underpinned the ideal of good neighbourliness. This chapter seeks to go beyond the existing literature on peacemaking and ask what happened after the settlement, exploring the ways in which people lived alongside their former enemies and assessing the ways in which the official justice was modified by people to suit their emotional and spiritual needs.