Had it ever been fully effective, the Truce of God would have severely limited feudal
warfare, since any sustained campaign could only operate half the week, and the
warriors’ traditional Fields of March would be transformed into the pilgrims’ Lenten
road. Even when frequently transgressed, the Truce maintained an important place in
public opinion and discourse, and many a ruler could clothe his rivalry with the
aristocracy in the rhetoric of enforcing the peace. In fact, by permitting the use of
designated armies (comital, ducal, royal) to enforce the Truce, the movement directly
contributed to a distinction between public and private rights to the use of violence that,
mutatis mutandis, would lead to the formation of that institution with a monopoly on
violence: the modern state.
Richard Landes
[See also: PEACE OF GOD]
Cowdrey, Herbert E.J. “The Peace and the Truce of God in the Eleventh Century.” Past and
Present 46(1970):42–67.
Erdmann, Carl. The Origin of the Idea of Crusade, trans. Marshall W.Baldwin and Walter Goffart.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977.
Grabois, Aryeh. “De la trêve de Dieu à la paix du roi: étude sur les transformations du mouvement
de la paix au XIIe siècle.” In Mélanges d’histoire médiévale dédiés à René Crozet, ed. Pierre
Gallais and Yves-Jean Riou. 2 vols. Poitiers: Société d’Études Médiévales, 1966, Vol. 1, pp.
585–96.
Hoffmann, Hartmut. Gottesfriede und Treuga Dei. Munich: Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des
Mittelalters, 1964.
TUCHINS
. See BRIGAND/BRIGANDAGE
The Encyclopedia 1771