The complicated sixteenth century: Difference between revisions
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=== ''Enchiridion militis Christiani'' === | === ''Enchiridion militis Christiani'' === | ||
In 1501, Erasmus | In 1501, Erasmus issued, ''Enchiridion militis Christiani'', or "Handbook<ref>The word "handbook" may be an incomplete translation of ''Enchiridion'', which suggests a more complete "manual" or set of instructions rather than a "handbook".</ref> of the Christian Soldier." The work was at the quest of the wife of an errant soldier who begged a friend of Erasmus to help change her husband's behavior. The medieval notion of "chivalry<ref>From French "''chevalerie''" for horseman and ''chevaler'' for knight; the English term, ''cavalier'', is drawn from the same Latin root, ''caballarius'' for horseman. A warrior who owned a horse was of a higher social and economic class from regular soldiers, thus its conneciton with nobility.</ref>" arose in the 12th century as a code of conduct for knights and noblemen and inspired a literary genre (such as the legend of King Arthur) as well as formal codes of behavior for military orders and for court life, generally. Chivarly was deeply intwined with Christianity, perhaps best seen in the Teutonic Knights who venerated the Vigin Mary as patroness. By the time of Erasmus, and with the avent of gunpowder and large state armies, chivalry had morphed into ritualistic expressions of knighthood such as jousting, hunting, and heraldry, which consisted of displays of rank and pedigree through emblems, flags, and banners. | ||
As a civilizing code, chivalry focused on duty to country, duty to God, and duty to protecting the weak, especially women. Its origins lay in the very real necessity for controlling behaviors in feudal society that lacked controlling centrol authority outside of the Church, especially in the political vacuum following the collapse of the Carolingian Empire. In 989, a Church assemby at Charroux, France, declared the ''Pax Dei'', or "Peace of God" to protect unarmed clerics or innocent noncombattants, especially virgins and widows (i.e. who lacked the protection of a male partner) from both targeted and random violence. The ''Pax Dei'' declared churches, monestaries and cemeteries protected, consecrated places, as well as Sundays and feast days<ref>The prohibition on violence on the Sabbath and Feast Days were especially important to protect clerry, religious and congregants travelng to worship.</ref>, and used excommunication for enforcement.While not widespread, the ''Pax Dei'', inspired another prohibition on knightly wilding, as it were, the ''Treuga Dei'', or "Truce of God", this time at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The ''Treuga Dei'' expanded the periods of truce to include Advent and Lent through Easter (up to Pentecost) and protected larger groups, including merchants, who were themselves amidst their large role in the creation of modern Europe.<ref>Affirming the importance of mediveal church and cathedral building, as well as the growing cult of Saints, pilgrims were also given permanent protection from violence. Again, it was religion, not self-interest of combattants, that guided.</ref> | As a civilizing code, chivalry focused on duty to country, duty to God, and duty to protecting the weak, especially women. Its origins lay in the very real necessity for controlling behaviors in feudal society that lacked controlling centrol authority outside of the Church, especially in the political vacuum following the collapse of the Carolingian Empire. In 989, a Church assemby at Charroux, France, declared the ''Pax Dei'', or "Peace of God" to protect unarmed clerics or innocent noncombattants, especially virgins and widows (i.e. who lacked the protection of a male partner) from both targeted and random violence. The ''Pax Dei'' declared churches, monestaries and cemeteries protected, consecrated places, as well as Sundays and feast days<ref>The prohibition on violence on the Sabbath and Feast Days were especially important to protect clerry, religious and congregants travelng to worship.</ref>, and used excommunication for enforcement.While not widespread, the ''Pax Dei'', inspired another prohibition on knightly wilding, as it were, the ''Treuga Dei'', or "Truce of God", this time at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The ''Treuga Dei'' expanded the periods of truce to include Advent and Lent through Easter (up to Pentecost) and protected larger groups, including merchants, who were themselves amidst their large role in the creation of modern Europe.<ref>Affirming the importance of mediveal church and cathedral building, as well as the growing cult of Saints, pilgrims were also given permanent protection from violence. Again, it was religion, not self-interest of combattants, that guided.</ref> | ||
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Erasmus continues, | Erasmus continues, | ||
"God made man unarmed. But anger and re- venge have mended the work of God, and furnished his hands with weapons invented in hell. Christians attack christians with engines of destruction, fabricated by the devil, A cannon ! a mortar! no human being could have devised them originally; they must have been suggested by the evil one."<ref>Erasmus, [https://archive.org/details/complaintofpeace00eras/page/66/mode/2up?q=prosperous "The Complaint of Peace" (Internet Archive)], p. 66. </ref> | "God made man unarmed. But anger and re- venge have mended the work of God, and furnished his hands with weapons invented in hell. Christians attack christians with engines of destruction, fabricated by the devil, A cannon ! a mortar! no human being could have devised them originally; they must have been suggested by the evil one."<ref>Erasmus, [https://archive.org/details/complaintofpeace00eras/page/66/mode/2up?q=prosperous "The Complaint of Peace" (Internet Archive)], p. 66. </ref> | ||
By then, chilvary, had become a lifestyle or status measure more than a military strategy, with armies coming to be run by professional strategists using trained soldiers in wars between states. | By then, chilvary, had become a lifestyle or status measure more than a military strategy, with armies coming to be run by professional strategists using trained soldiers in wars between states. Chivalry had not devolved into the ridiculousness that Cervantes portrayed in ''Don Quixote'' a hundred years after Erasmus penned "Handbook," as knights on horses were formidable, especially against the unarmed, who, with or without Church rules offered plentful opportunity for mischief, such as that carried on by the husband of the woman who pleaded for help to Erasmus' friend. | ||
=== Handbook of the Christian Soldier === | |||
''Handbook'', as we will call it, was enormously popular | |||
=== Erasmus' influence upon Loyolla === | === Erasmus' influence upon Loyolla === | ||
>> to do | >> to do | ||
which gave him, according to scholar Terence O'Reilly, "enormously popularity in Spain durng the 1520 not, primarily, as a satirsist, nor as a scholar, but as the author of ''Enchiridion militis christiani."''<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23961674 ERASMUS, IGNATIUS LOYOLA, AND ORTHODOXY], Terence O'Reilly, The Journal of Theological Studies, NEW SERIES, Vol. 30, No. 1 (APRIL 1979), pp. 115-127 (13 pages) Published By: Oxford University Press; </ref> | which gave him, according to scholar Terence O'Reilly, "enormously popularity in Spain durng the 1520 not, primarily, as a satirsist, nor as a scholar, but as the author of ''Enchiridion militis christiani."''<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23961674 ERASMUS, IGNATIUS LOYOLA, AND ORTHODOXY], Terence O'Reilly, The Journal of Theological Studies, NEW SERIES, Vol. 30, No. 1 (APRIL 1979), pp. 115-127 (13 pages) Published By: Oxford University Press; </ref> | ||
* [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23961674 ERASMUS, IGNATIUS LOYOLA, AND ORTHODOXY on JSTOR] | |||
* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Handbook-of-a-Christian-Knight Handbook of a Christian Knight | work by Erasmus | Britannica] | |||
----References | ----References | ||
[[Category:Church History]] | [[Category:Church History]] | ||