Historical Dictionary

First posted on July 16th 2006

Narratives : Political Geography of Medieval Europe http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrpolgeo.html

click here for a series of maps featuring the political development of Europe in the Middle Ages

From 400 to 888 the political map of Europe saw frequent changes. The political entities established by the Germanic peoples which conquered part of the Roman Empire (Ostrogoth, Visigoth, Vandal, Burgundians), the empires set up by horse-riding conqueror peoples originating from Central Asia (Huns, Avars, Magyars, Khazars etc.), Slavic Poland, Kievan Rus, the christian principalities of orthern Spain and the Muslim Sultanates in Spain were notoriously instable, often the object of partition, some of conquest. In 887/888 the principle of indivisibility of the kingdom was established, almost simultaneously, in the West Frankish Kingdom (= France) and in the East Frankish Kingdom, which in contemporary sources soon became known as the Roman Kingdom and to Historians is better known as the Holy Roman Empire. The principle of indivisibility of the kingdom soon was adopted by other countries - christian England and Scotland; with conversion to christianity also by Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Bohemia. In Poland such an attempt was made, but traditional forces prevailed. Thus, by around 1000, the map of Europe stabilized. Now a new pattern emerged, that of dynasties holding several crowns simultaneously (Personal or Dynastic Unions). The Roman Kingdom / Holy Roman Empire absorbed the Kingdoms of Italy (1004) and Burgundy (1033); Croatia recognized the King of Hungary as King of Croatia (1102), Canute the Great was King of England and Denmark (1016-1035). Students of medieval history have to be aware of the fact that there was a secular map of Europe and an ecclesiastic map of Europe; within Catholic Europe, the archdiocesis were the units which counted, as only an archbishop had the right to crown a king. For a country to be fully independent, it had to have an archbishop of its own (National Church System). The feudal system was rather complex. In 1066, Duke William of Normandy (and, as such, vassall of the King of France) conquered England. He continued to hold on to Normandy; his successors even acquired more fiefs in the Kingdom of France. The territories the King of England held in France in the 11th to 15th century never were English; the Hundred Years War (1337-1459) was technically a war between England and France. It was more of a war between two contenders for the crown of France, with French nobles participating on either side, and English troops joining one side. After the fall of the Staufer Dynasty, the Holy Roman Empire became a hollow entity. While the institution was to last on until 1806, political power shifted from the Emperor to the territories, most notably the princes and princebishops. The authority of the King of France was, for a long period of time, limited to the royal domain; the powerful dukes pursued policies of their own, the Duchy of Normandy having been discussed above.

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