Christianity and War in the Early Medieval West, 500-1100

By: Phillip Wynn

Christianity and War in the Early Medieval West, 500-1100, challenges the longstanding assumption that the First Crusade represents the culmination of a long process whereby Christianity gradually evolved from advocating pacifism to inspiring holy war. Phillip Wynn argues this is a misleading oversimplified of the role of the religion in shaping warfare during the earlier centuries of Western Christendom. Instead, the actual developments varied widely with time and place: there had been religiously-motivated wars for centuries before 1095, including wars of Christian expansionism. A Christianized culture of war emerged in Western Europe during the seventh century, in which political and ecclesiastical elites used Christian ideas and symbols to forge a collective identity in times of armed conflict. Rather than a ?Dark Age?, Wynn depicts a time of enduring relevance for later periods, especially concerning holy war, just war, nationalism, and the early medieval penitential practices for returning warriors.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1641892285
• ISBN13: 9781641892285
• Release Date: November 2020
• Publisher: Arc Humanities Press