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Chapter 10 The Theory and Practice of Female Immunity in the Medieval West Anne Curry And if in war many evil things are done, they never come from the nature of war but from false usage, as when a man-at-arms takes a woman and does her shame and injury or sets fire to a church. My opening quotation comes from The Tree of Battles, a treatise on warfare written by Honoré de Bonet around 1387.1 Bonet begins his work with a fundamental question: what is war? “I answer . . . that war is nothing other than discord or conflict that has arisen on account of certain things displeasing to the human will, to the end that such conflict should be turned into agreement and reason.” In other words, war was, to use a modern phrase, conflict resolution. Bonet then asks “where did war first exist and why?” “It was in heaven when our lord God drove out the angels,” following Lucifer’s attempt to usurp His position. “Hence it is no great marvel if in this world there arise wars and battles, since they existed first in Heaven.” War was therefore seen as integral to human existence and to the Christian religion itself. Indeed, it is no coincidence that Bonet should write on the matter at the time he did, during the papal schism that had reinvigorated the Hundred Years’ War because the English and French supported rival popes. We should not be surprised that one of Bonet’s reasons for writing his Tree of Battles, as expressed in the dedicatory preface to Charles VI of France, read as follows: “I see all holy Christendom so burdened by wars and hatreds, robberies and dissensions that it is hard to name one little region, be it duchy or county, that enjoys good peace.” 174 Anne Curry The problem of war had vexed the Christian Church from its earliest days. While it was an underground movement, it had been easy to pursue a belief in nonviolence.2 Once it was the official faith of the Roman Empire and the barbarians were being converted, matters were less simple. While the waging of war against pagans, Muslims, or even Christian heretics was unproblematic because it was fought in the name of the faith, theologians had to justify war fought between Christians.3 They therefore defined circumstances under which it was “legal,” revolving largely around the notion that only properly constituted political authority could declare a “just war.” This is commonly known as the ius ad bellum. What followed naturally from this was a definition of proper conduct in war itself—ius in bello. It was this to which Bonet was referring in the opening quotation. War was not in itself evil so long as “right usage” was maintained. But there needed to be limitations. In this passage Bonet tells us of sexual violence against women, and attacks on churches. The same juxtaposition is seen in the disciplinary ordinances for the English army issued two years previously for a campaign against the Scots. “Item that no one be so bold as to rob or pillage a church, nor to kill a man of holy church, nor a hermit, nor a woman, nor to take any prisoner unless they carry arms, nor to force a woman against her will.”4 The penalty for all of these offenses was death by hanging. These quotations remind us of an important point when considering sexual violence in medieval warfare. Attempted limitations on soldiers’ behavior did not derive from concern for women but from a broader concern for noncombatants in general. While Christian apologists could justify war between soldiers fighting on behalf of legitimate political authority, they considered that a just war between Christians should neither involve nor damage civilians. In reality, such a situation was difficult, if not impossible , to achieve. Medieval warfare was characterized not by pitched battles between soldiers but by sieges of towns, raids through rural areas that aimed at devastation of crops and buildings, burning and looting of villages, and attacks on or abductions of civilians. What we have before us, as in so many periods of history and geographical contexts, is a gap between theory and practice. Indeed, were that not the case, there would have been no need for pronouncements on the limitations of soldiers’ behavior. To give a modern analogy, there would be no need for speed limits if no one ever speeded. Although women were only one of several categories...

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