Sources of Military Law in Western Europe During the Early Middle Ages
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32631/v.2025.4.01Keywords:
Western European countries, sources of law, customs, military law, capitularies, medieval leges, canon law, city charters.Abstract
The article analyzes the sources of military law of the leading European countries of the early Middle Ages (5th – 12th centuries). It is found that the list of sources of military law of that time was quite extensive. It included customs, norms of customary law, laws of the Frankish and English kings, and interstate agreements. The main focus of the regulatory legal acts was to attempt to legitimize legal relations related to the conduct of hostilities. First of all, the law of medieval states regulates mobilization. All free people had to serve, it is noteworthy that the duties of landlords were very carefully defined, who had to arrive personally at the king’s summons and bring with them a certain number of armed men. Violation of this norm threatened with a large fine and loss of land ownership.
An interesting source of military law is considered to be the doctrinal provisions of philosophical and church authorities. Their works form the phenomenon of a “just war”. Within the framework of this phenomenon, on the one hand, war is considered a sinful act, on the other hand, war and its participants are justified if they fight for their own state, independence, law, faith, etc.
The legal sources that were available for study establish a system of requirements and prohibitions regarding the conduct of war. Among them are the following: a ban on the killing of civilians, as well as persons who use weapons solely for defense, a ban on the harsh treatment of prisoners of war, and a ban on looting from church buildings and the property of civilians.
We believe that over time, these norms have laid the foundation of international humanitarian law. Certain differences in the attitude towards military matters in the sources of continental law compared to Anglo-Saxon law are identified. For example, English legal sources pay more attention to the protection of military personnel who were close to the king.
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