Irrelevant
Sir: Simon Sebag-Montefiore (Wafic? What about Basil?' 16 November) says I said, 'Mediaeval Church politics depended on the export of sophisticated weaponry to foreigners.' That conveys quite the wrong impression about the mediaeval Church and incidentally about me. Since 'high tech' played a smaller part in warfare then than now, being limited for most of the Middle Ages to the breeding of warhorses and the making of swords and armour, the arms trade played a much smaller part in the economy then than now. But there was some such trade, including a little to non- Christians. All responsible Christian pow- ers sought to restrain the latter export for obvious reasons, but, then as now, rogue merchants were commonly on the look-out for a chance to make illegal profits in this way. The Church as such had no reason to encourage arms exports to infidels who might attack Christendom and, in addition, sought constantly to reduce the endemic militarism of Christians themselves.
The subject came up, your readers will recall, because your correspondent men- tioned my opposition to the erection of a building on a protected playing-field in the middle of Oxford. He had asked me, by telephone, whether I was moved by the allegation that money for the proposed building had come from the arms trade. My reply was, and is, that I know no more of this matter, nor care more about it, than most of my fellow citizens. My objection to the building was on quite other grounds, and your correspondent's interesting dis- quisition on arms dealers is quite irrelevant to it.
Alexander Murray
University College, Oxford
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