War and Peace

The mountains of the Auvergne are where the earliest vestiges of the later Peace of God can be seen. As Carolingian government in the region fell apart between the mid-ninth and mid-tenth centuries, so the dominant picture has it, disorder increased and the proto-Peace of God was developed as a response. This article argues that such a picture takes account neither of the patchy evidence for what Carolingian ‘government’ in the region actually involved, or the political realities of the decades around 950. Consequently, this piece examines the evidence for how Carolingian Auvergne was actually ruled up to the middle of the tenth century, highlighting the informality and disruptiveness of the rule of large-scale hegemons up to and including the kings, and arguing that large-scale hegemony continued to be in place in the region up to the reign of Bishop Stephen II of Clermont, who filled this role. It gives an account of the wars of the 950s and 960s, replacing older narratives and examining the ideological strategies of the actors in these wars, locating the suite of elements that would go on to form the basis of the Peace of God within the context of their time. The final result is to argue that, even though the proto-Peace of God was not revolutionary and came firmly from a mid-tenth century context, it was nonetheless disruptive from its inception.