council · 989 · Charroux
At the abbey of Charroux in Aquitaine, bishops facing a violent countryside anathematized those who plunder churches, strike unarmed clergy, or rob the poor of their beasts. The Peace of God movement — councils, oaths and relic processions — became medieval Europe's first mass peace movement.
The Council of Charroux was held on June 1, 989 at Charroux Abbey in Charroux, Vienne, southeast of Poitiers, where relics of the True Cross were preserved. Meeting under the patronage of William IV, Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitiers, under the authority of Gombald, Archbishop of Bordeaux and in the presence of the bishops Gislebert of Poitiers, Frotaire (Frotier) of Périgueux, Abbon of Saintes, Hugues I of Jarnac d'Angoulême and Hildegaire of Limoges, it established for the first time the peace of God: its canons anathematized (excommunicated) "the violators of churches", "thieves of the goods of the poor" and "those who brutalize the clergy".
The Peace of God: the church throws its anathema around the unarmed.