John of Salisbury’s ‘Duel’ with the English Military Class: A Twelfth-Century Cleric’s Lifelong Obsession with Critiquing Martial Ethos and Identity

Abstract

This thesis uncovers pervasive critiques of milites (soldiers) in the writings of the twelfth-century English cleric, John of Salisbury (c.1110s-1180s). Previous scholarship has proposed John’s descriptions of the social function of milites were detached from his historical context. This study breaks from that theory by examining the development of these ideas across all John's works, revealing an ideology of social reform which responded to the role of milites in the contemporary disputes of the English Church and Crown. This thesis thus broadens understandings of medieval socio-political theories and presents a new legacy for a major figure of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance.