War and Peace in the earlier Middle Ages
J. M. WALLACE–HADRILL
Men of the earlier Middle Ages knew what they meant by war and peace. Their definitions are not hard to find, even though, when found, prove be inconsistent. They that there were just unjust wars, good kinds peace bad, could envisage as two poles a single concept. My intention is survey this large ramshackle field but simply enquire how far some tallied with facts peace; whether, at end, pressures making for had affected nature war. To ask whether Western Europe in days King Alfred later Carolingians was more or less peaceful than it been four centuries very meaningful, since an entirely new situation created attacks Vikings, Arabs Magyars; meaningful additional experience caused men look different way.
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society