Military Chaplains and the Religion of War in Ottonian Germany, 919-1024.

The Ottonian kings of Germany (919-1024) inherited from their Carolingian predecessors a tripartite system of pastoral care for the army. At the most basic level, the Ottonian kings provided chaplains to their soldiers to hear their confessions before battle. At the army-wide level, priests and bishops serving with the army celebrated intercessory masses to gain divine favour for the army, preached to the soldiers in order to encourage bravery in the face of battle and carried sacred relics onto the field. Finally, priests and bishops also helped to mobilise the 'home front' on behalf of the army, by leading the population as a whole in intercessory prayers, as well as in fasts and other acts of penitence that were intended to gain God's favour for their fighting men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]