Philippe Contamine

C'est un très périlleux héritage que guerre

«A very perilous heritage is war» ; Philippe Contamine. ; The medieval millennium is perceived as a long era of violence, with punitive expeditions and private wars as the most spectacular feature of the feudal System. Despite the efforts of the Church and later of the royal power, public insecurity could long be confused with the state of war in the modem sense. The major conflicts of the Middle Ages, and particularly the Hundred Years War, caused real traumas among the people and disturbed the balance of society and power. Nevertheless, all things considered, the effects of the wars do not appear so negative. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the comparison between devastated France and better protected England is not so unfavourable to the country of Joan of Arc.