Revenge as a “Medium Good” in the Twelfth Century

Abstract

This essay explores the moral register of revenge-taking in key twelfth-century sources. While a long tradition of legal history scholarship has cast medieval revenge practices as evidence of pre-modern lawlessness, this essay examines a particular moral register for good revenge that appears in certain twelfth-century canon law and narrative texts. According to this register, the man who pursued revenge on behalf of himself, his wronged dependants, or the Church did so both in the image of God and in imitation of an earthly ideal of lordship. In fact, the revenge-taker ultimately repaid evil with good and injustice with justice.