The Papacy and War against the ‘Saracens’, 795–1216

Abstract

recent years numerous studies have appeared on the Western ethic of war and soldiering, some of which have extensively explored the concept of the just war and its roots in Christian thought, especially as expounded by St. Augustine of Hippo (d. 430) -1 These studies have treated at length the problem of the relationship between just war, holy war, and crusade, but their conclusions are not altogether convincing. They overemphasize the role of the eleventhcentury popes, particularly Gregory VII and Urban II, and they distinguish too sharply between holy war and crusade. Accordingly, the received opinion requires some modification. Building upon the magisterial thesis of Carl Erdmann, historians seem to agree that, from the fifth to the eighth century, given the special conditions in the West, the Augustinian doctrine of the just war could not take root.2 In the disorder created by successive waves of Germanic invasion and settlement, the Church viewed the profession of arms

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