Is there ever a Right Excuse for War?
Justifying Military Intervention in the Castile of Pedro I
by Lorena Bolaños
The American presidential debates these past few weeks have not only been painful to watch at times, but also surprisingly apropos of my current, medieval readings on Pedro I of Castile. From the Republican candidate’s denials of ever being in favor of the US intervention in Iraq, to Clinton’s regrets for having supported the war, theirs is a recent example of a conversation that dates back centuries: foreign military intervention and its often more difficult aftermath. In the case of fourteenth-century Castile, the struggle for the crown between Pedro I,…read more