Pamela Kalning. Kriegslehren in deutschsprachigen Texten um 1400: Seffner, Rothe, Wittenwiler mit einem Abdruck der Wiener Handschrift von Seffners "Ler von dem streitten". Studien und Texte zum Mittelalter und zur frühen Neuzeit. Münster: Waxmann Verlag, 2006. 268 pp. $34.90 (paper), ISBN 978-3-8309-1665-9.
Reviewed by B. Ann Tlusty (Department of History, Bucknell University)
Published on H-German (July, 2009)
Commissioned by Susan R. Boettcher
Just War and the Reception of Knowledge in the Late Middle Ages
This dissertation examines three texts from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries that share a concern with the doctrines of war. The author chose to focus her analysis on Johann Seffner's Ler von dem streitten, Johannes Rothe's Ritterspiegel, and Heinrich Wittenwiler's Ring as the earliest known German-language texts that treat the subject of war. The approach is philological rather than historical, concentrating primarily on various influences that shaped the texts, with particular attention to the inherited doctrines of the Christian Middle Ages. More technical military matters, however, also make an appearance, as do questions of honor and virtue, relations of social status, and treatment of prisoners of war. The style of the book is very much that of a German dissertation, presenting modest but interesting conclusions based on solid philological groundwork. It speaks primarily to scholars in the field of language and literature, but the results are also relevant to the study of intellectual history and theories of war during the late Middle Ages.
After a brief introduction, the book begins with a chapter summarizing the received knowledge on the subject of war by the late fourteenth century. The first of three thematic sections that make up this chapter describes the development of a Christian doctrine of war that was related to the ascension of Christianity as a political power. Although the earliest Christians interpreted the teachings of Christ as a pacifist doctrine, Christian theorists by the fourth century were accepting violence as a means of protecting against injustice and defending the faith. A bridge between ancient tradition and new Christian concepts of authority in justifying war was provided by Flavius Vegetius Renatus's Epitoma rei militaris of the late fourth century. Following Vegetius, other Christian theorists including Augustine of Hippo, Isidore of Seville, and Thomas Aquinas eventually articulated a comprehensive doctrine of just war in which war could be a necessary means to achieve peace. By the time Aquinas addressed the question in the thirteenth century, the concept of virtue had become a central factor in the equation. War could be justified in order to right a wrong or win back something unjustly taken, but only when declared by legal authority and only if the intentions of the warriors were pure.
The second section of this chapter treats legal arguments coming out of the traditions of both Roman and canon law. Roman law placed greater emphasis on traditional rights of self-defense, with war a last resort after other options had been exhausted. Under canon law, certain populations were considered off-limits for attack (clerics, pilgrims, women, and unarmed men). Both traditions were aimed at limiting wars and feuds between Christians, and came to advocate recourse to an accepted, accessible, and affordable court system as an alternative. Of particular importance to this legal concept of just war was fourteenth-century legal scholar Giovanni da Legnano, whose De Bello, de repressaliis et de duello (1360) provided legal opinions on a variety of specific questions of military doctrine as well as on the practice of judicial duels (trial by combat).
Crusade doctrine, covered in the third section, provided a contrast to theological and legal efforts to limit war if possible. Theoretically, the crusades fulfilled the requirements for a "just war." In the minds of their advocates, they were fought in the interest of a just cause; they were declared by a legal authority (in this case the pope, or perhaps even God himself); and ideally, the intentions of the crusaders were pure. Crusade tracts placed a great deal of emphasis on the mindset of the knight, whose only reasons for going to war were supposed to be to serve God and to fight evil. If the crusader's intentions were truly untainted, victory would be assured, and if he died in battle he would find a place in heaven. Thus, the soldier of Christ could kill in good conscience. If, however, a knight entered battle with thoughts of glory, material gain, or hate, he would die as a murderer and forfeit salvation. Unlike theories of just war between Christians, crusade doctrine did not seem aimed at limiting war, but at providing motivation for it. At the same time, it demanded an even greater standard of moderation and modesty from its warriors.
The next three chapters of Kalning's book analyze each of the three selected texts in turn. The texts are arranged chronologically, which coincidentally serves to present them in ascending order of complexity. After briefly explaining what is known about the individual manuscripts and their authors, Kalning then examines the relationship of each to the received knowledge of the Middle Ages by identifying passages that reflect the work of earlier authors. To her credit, Kalning looks beyond the realm of military doctrine; she establishes connections to a wide range of medieval literature in other genres as well, from chronicles and political tracts to belles-lettres. To support her analysis of Seffner's and Rothe's texts, Kalning includes tables in an appendix that quantify their use of earlier authorities, as well as a detailed topical synopsis specifically summarizing Rothe's applications of Vegetius.
According to Kalning, the first German-language text to consider the doctrine of war systematically was Viennese theologian Johann Seffner's late-fourteenth-century Ler von dem streitten, the subject of her second chapter. Because this brief and little-known work exists in two slightly different manuscript versions, only one of which has previously been published, Kalning includes the text of the second manuscript (unknown when Joseph Seemüller first published the tract in 1909) in her appendix with explanations of the variations between the texts. Although often dismissed by scholars as merely a compilation of existing ideas with little new perspective, Kalning finds the text interesting in that it provides a case for learning from history and using biblical and historical examples, as well as examples taken from nature, to provide concrete illustrations of abstract theories. She interprets the tract as a direct response to problems encountered in the Battle of Sempach (between Duke Leopold III of Austria and the Swiss Confederation in 1386). Its intended audience, the author assumes, would have been primarily those associated with the Viennese court.
Next to be considered is Ritterspiegel by Johannes Rothe, a cleric, teacher, and city secretary (Stadtschreiber) in the town of Eisenach. Although it draws on some of the same authorities as Seffner's work, Ritterspiegel is a very different type of text. Central to this tract is concern with knightly virtue in a period of declining feudal values and a challenge to its audience of young noblemen to return to the ideals of true knighthood. According to Kalning, other scholars have suggested that Rothe's examples from past authority are not systematic, instead drawing on irrelevant examples to support conclusions that do not follow from the originals. This use of evidence has led some to conclude that he had depended on compilations by other authors rather than reading his sources in their original forms. After a detailed exploration of Rothe's use of Vegetius, however, Kalning concludes that Rothe's choice of examples from received authority was neither arbitrary nor slavish, but carefully calculated to support his own ideas. As a man of the cloth with probable ties to the Thuringian landgrave (an office that, in turn, shared historical ties with the Teutonic order), Rothe also incorporates crusade doctrine into his tract, with the fight against unbelievers represented as part of the duty of the Christian knight. The text, which appeared shortly after the great losses of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald (1410), might have been intended as a propaganda tool for rehabilitating the order.
In her fourth chapter, Kalning considers part 3 of jurist Heinrich Wittenwiler's Ring, which uses a complicated combination of didactic text and humorous fiction to educate and entertain the reader. The subject of this part of Wittenwiler's story is a fictional war between two villages that might be seen as an illustration of points made by the didactic text. The extent to which the lessons provided by this piece are meant to be taken seriously, however, is a matter of debate among scholars, some of whom see the entire work as a satire. Viewed in this light, the text would appear to present a general critique of war, no matter how it is fought. Kalning argues against this view, identifying in Wittenwiler's allegory not a critique of war, but a critique of persons of low status who aspire to roles above their stations. Peasants, after all, are not supposed to declare war on their own or demonstrate the requisite noble virtues required in battle; thus, their efforts become ridiculous. Kalning's analysis of this enigmatic text is the most detailed of the three, not only placing Wittenwiler's work into the broader context of military doctrine but also demonstrating its relationship it to a wide spectrum of other works of medieval literature. In matters relating to war, she suggests, Wittenwiler did not attempt to distance himself from received authority or even to enter the moral debate, as Rothe did, but only to cover all of the teachings in an encyclopedic fashion. These teachings appear grotesque in the accompanying farce, not because the peasants did not apply them properly, but rather because they did. Their village milieu was not an appropriate stage for an epic battle in the name of noble virtue. Thus, the peasants fail in the end because their precise application of the teachings of Vegetius on siege warfare is directed against a haystack rather than a castle. The resulting message in support of the society of orders would have been appropriate for Wittenwiler's probable intended audience among the nobility.
While Kalning's individual chapters are interesting and their arguments well supported, she does little to tie them together in her conclusion beyond stressing that they all treat the same material in very different ways. In this respect, she does make a case for flexibility among these writers in their application of canonical knowledge. Otherwise, the book's final chapter is limited to a summary of the findings, with a few general observations on where the approaches overlap and where they diverge. The work thus fulfills its goal of analyzing the influences that shaped each of these texts without making claims for creating a new analytical frame of reference. The book is repetitive at times, in some cases repeating points nearly word for word. In general it would have benefited from the efforts of an experienced line editor. But in sum, this volume is a solid and thorough philological analysis of a well-selected set of important texts that adds to our understanding of how late medieval writers received and used the knowledge of previous authority. It also provides a useful summary of medieval thought on the doctrines of war.
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Citation:
B. Ann Tlusty. Review of Kalning, Pamela, Kriegslehren in deutschsprachigen Texten um 1400: Seffner, Rothe, Wittenwiler mit einem Abdruck der Wiener Handschrift von Seffners "Ler von dem streitten".
H-German, H-Net Reviews.
July, 2009.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24206
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