These sections are from The Tree of Battles of Honoré Bonet, translated by G.W. Coopland (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1949).

Chapter LIV. WHY THERE ARE SO MANY WARS IN THIS WORLD I ASK why there are so many wars in this world. To this I reply that they are all on account of the sins of this world, so that to punish it our Lord allows wars ; and this the Scripture maintains. And soldiers are the flail of God, who, with His permission, punish sinners and sins, and do judgment on them, as in the other world do the devils of hell. And if sometimes wars oppress the good and the just, it is for the increase of their glory ; and for their little sins it pleases our Lord that they should do penance in this world, so that in the other they may not have to purge themselves in the fires of hell, or in purgatory. So it is my opinion that in all ways soldiers arc the instruments of our Lord ; but that is not to say that they are loved of God if they are not so loved for other reasons, as for good works, or for maintaining just quarrels, or for a worthy manner of conducting their wars and battles. And I speak similarly of unjust wars, which come from the sins of the world, and the pride of this fife, such as those carried 'on by a company which has neither lord nor head nor discipline as, for instance, in Lombardy, the division of the White Rose against those who support the Red Rose and know not why they do so. Again, there is, along with others, a division of Guelphs against Guibelines, through which the father is against his own child, and the son against the father. But this comes only from mere excess and without any good reason. Along with these divisions there come sometimes great wars through covetousness of great dominations and lordships ; for there are plenty of people of such kind that if they had gained the whole world they would still not be content, and through their avarice would want to seize the cities and towns, the kingdoms and lordships, of another ; as did King Alexander, who thought that no man should hold land except himself. So you must understand that of this avarice are born all tyrannies.

Sometimes, indeed, wars come from the sin of disobedience ; for there are some vassals and subjects who take no account of obedience, and who think that they have nothing to do with it, and who are so outrageous and full of pride as to think that they owe submission to no one in the world ; and from such foul disobedience comes the sin of disloyalty. And for the above reasons I prove to you that all wars come from sin.