The Reuter Lecture 2016 Event

'Warfare, Christianity and the ‘Peace of God’: Non-Combatant Immunity in Medieval Reality and Theory'

For many historians of war and society it remains an article of faith that the medieval Christian church attempted to mitigate the horrors of war. The “Peace Movement” of the tenth and eleventh centuries is thought to have made a significant contribution to the early development of laws of war in the West on the grounds that it aimed at protecting not only ecclesiastical persons and property but also non-combatants in general, above all women and children. In this lecture I question and qualify this orthodoxy, in part by analysis of the provisions of early church councils, in part by considering the discontinuance in practice of ancient and early medieval ‘total war’.

This lecture will be chaired by Professor Peter Clarke, Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Director of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Culture.

The speaker is an eminent scholar of the political history of the Central Middle Ages, especially the Angevin Empire, and his many distinguished publications include a biography of Richard I (the Lionheart) in the Yale English Monarchs Series, published in 1999. He shared with Timothy Reuter, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Southampton (1994-2002), not only an interest in European politics of the Central Middle Ages but also a personal and professional friendship which makes him a highly suitable speaker to give a lecture in Reuter's memory. The lecture will be introduced by another close friend and colleague of Timothy Reuter's and a previous Reuter Lecturer, Dame Jinty Nelson, FBA, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, King's College London.

RSVP by 2 June

This event is free however you must register to attend and receive joining instructions. There will be refreshments served before the lecture and a drink reception to follow the lecture. To register for a place please email Tracy Storey