A Primary Study On The Private War Of Medieval Western Europe

Private war was an ancient tradition. Medieval private war not only inherited some contents and features from the ancient society, but also get labeled of a strong Germanic mark. Under the push of feudal system, it developed to the peak in the tenth and eleventh century and became a significant distinction of this period. For a long time private war had been considered to be negative and illegal by Western scholars. Domestic researches on private war were mainly constructed on the basis of Western studies. However, single value judgments were not conducive to form scientific understanding of medieval private wars. Besides, some historians had put up with some different viewpoints; therefore,my article aimed to rely on previous studies in order to set some concepts right and meanwhile supply, deepen and comprehend these new insights as soon as possible.The article is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is to introduce the conception of the private war. What will be discussed in the second chapter are private wars in the western countries of early medieval ages. I lay my emphasis on three periods, intending to explore the relations between private war and kingship and law. The third chapter is the key of this article. Here I seek to analysis private war and society in high middle ages. Four sections are in structurally parallel, but there is a causal logic. The first two sections introduce the private war and its characteristics under the feudal system, the other two sections focus on analysis of responses of kings and their counter-measures. In the process of asking and answering, the situation of monarchy, law and political development of medieval Western countries laid bare. The differences between them just provide some evidence to explain the details. The fourth chapter describes the decline and end of private war. The fourth chapter ends with the decline of the private war. While analyzing the overall situation, it also turns attention to the new changes and regains in the late middle ages. This may seem contradictory. in fact, it is intended to illustrate that the private war has been boom-bust and its root has been shaken, so kings’ counterattack just happens that way. Besides, from the perspective of civilization, the end of medieval private war doesn’t mean the dead of the custom of private war. Even now, it still exists in some countries and regions.This paper argues that medieval private war of Western Europe was originated in Germanic customary law and it was not one-size-fits-all. Its development process was also the outcome of strife and fusion of Germanic factors, Christianity factor and Roman factors within Western civilization. In the early middle ages, it was the duration of Germanic heritage with a vague concept. After entering into feudal society, it mingled with the feudal system and witnessed the development of politics and laws. Later Christian Church, powerful monarchy and rising nation-states jointly contributed to the decline of private war, eventually leading private war quitting the historical stage in the late 15th century.