Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany

Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany
Author: Benjamin Arnold
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2004-01-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521521482

A powerful analysis of regional power, filling a major gap in English language writing on medieval Germany.

The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100-1350

The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100-1350
Author: Graham A. Loud
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2017-07-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317022009

The history of medieval Germany is still rarely studied in the English-speaking world. This collection of essays by distinguished German historians examines one of most important themes of German medieval history, the development of the local principalities. These became the dominant governmental institutions of the late medieval Reich, whose nominal monarchs needed to work with the princes if they were to possess any effective authority. Previous scholarship in English has tended to look at medieval Germany primarily in terms of the struggles and eventual decline of monarchical authority during the Salian and Staufen eras – in other words, at the "failure" of a centralised monarchy. Today, the federalised nature of late medieval and early modern Germany seems a more natural and understandable phenomenon than it did during previous eras when state-building appeared to be the natural and inevitable process of historical development, and any deviation from the path towards a centralised state seemed to be an aberration. In addition, by looking at the origins and consolidation of the principalities, the book also brings an English audience into contact with the modern German tradition of regional history (Landesgeschichte). These path-breaking essays open a vista into the richness and complexity of German medieval history.

A Source Book for Mediæval History

A Source Book for Mediæval History
Author: Oliver J. Thatcher
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2019-11-22
Genre: History
ISBN:

A Source Book for Mediæval History is a scholarly piece by Oliver J. Thatcher. It covers all major historical events and leaders from the Germania of Tacitus in the 1st century to the decrees of the Hanseatic League in the 13th century.

The Social Politics of Medieval Diplomacy

The Social Politics of Medieval Diplomacy
Author: Joseph Patrick Huffman
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2009-11-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0472024183

Late nineteenth- and twentieth-century political and intellectual boundaries have heavily influenced our views of medieval Germany. Historians have looked back to the Middle Ages for the origins of modern European political crises. They concluded that while England and France built nation-states during the medieval era, Germany--lacking a unified nation-state--remained uniquely backward and undeveloped. Employing a comparative social history, Huffman reassesses traditional national historiographies of medieval diplomacy and political life. Germany is integrated into Anglo-French notions of western Europe and shown to be both an integral player in western European political history as well as a political community that was as fully developed as those of medieval England or France. The Social Politics of Medieval Diplomacy offers a study of the social dynamics of relations between political communities. In particular, the Anglo-French political communities do not appear as state and constitution builders, while the German political community is not as a state and constitution destroyer. The book concludes by encouraging medievalists to integrate the German kingdom into their intellectual constructs of medieval Europe. This book is an essential history of medieval Germany. It bridges the gaps between Anglo-French and German scholarship and political and social history. Joseph Huffman makes available German-language scholarship. Both English and German history is integrated in an accessible and interesting way. The historiographical implications of this study will be far-reaching. Joseph P. Huffman is Associate Professor of History and Political Science, Messiah College.

The Birth of Territory

The Birth of Territory
Author: Stuart Elden
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 506
Release: 2013-09-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 022604128X

Political theory professor Stuart Elden explores the history of land ownership and control from the ancient to the modern world in The Birth of Territory. Territory is one of the central political concepts of the modern world and, indeed, functions as the primary way the world is divided and controlled politically. Yet territory has not received the critical attention afforded to other crucial concepts such as sovereignty, rights, and justice. While territory continues to matter politically, and territorial disputes and arrangements are studied in detail, the concept of territory itself is often neglected today. Where did the idea of exclusive ownership of a portion of the earth’s surface come from, and what kinds of complexities are hidden behind that seemingly straightforward definition? The Birth of Territory provides a detailed account of the emergence of territory within Western political thought. Looking at ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and early modern thought, Stuart Elden examines the evolution of the concept of territory from ancient Greece to the seventeenth century to determine how we arrived at our contemporary understanding. Elden addresses a range of historical, political, and literary texts and practices, as well as a number of key players—historians, poets, philosophers, theologians, and secular political theorists—and in doing so sheds new light on the way the world came to be ordered and how the earth’s surface is divided, controlled, and administered. “The Birth of Territory is an outstanding scholarly achievement . . . a book that already promises to become a ‘classic’ in geography, together with very few others published in the past decades.” —Political Geography “An impressive feat of erudition.” —American Historical Review

German Knighthood, 1050-1300

German Knighthood, 1050-1300
Author: Benjamin Arnold
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1985
Genre: History
ISBN:

This is a thorough and original study of German knighthood as a class in its medieval heyday. Arnold draws on a rich array of descriptive detail from the lives of individual knights, their families, and various groups to examine knightly customs and practices, the impact of knighthood in the political world of the German Empire, and the curious status of most knights as at once noble and unfree. These unfree knights, argues Arnold, were above all professional warriors in an empire where violence for political ends prevailed--a harsh reality that dictated the structure and development of their class.

Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities

Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities
Author: Timothy Reuter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2006-11-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139459546

This is a collection of influential and challenging essays by British medievalist Timothy Reuter, a perceptive and original thinker with extraordinary range who was equally at home in the Anglophone or German scholarly worlds. The book addresses three interconnected themes in the study of the history of the early and high Middle Ages. Firstly, historiography, the development of the modern study of the medieval past. How do our contemporary and inherited preconceptions and pre-occupations determine our view of history? Secondly, the importance of symbolic action and communication in the politics and polities of the Middle Ages. Finally, the need to avoid anachronism in our consideration of medieval politics. Throwing light both on modern mentalities and on the values and conduct of medieval people themselves, and containing articles, at time of publication, never previously been available in English, this book is essential reading for any serious scholar of medieval Europe.

The Holy Roman Empire [2 volumes]

The Holy Roman Empire [2 volumes]
Author: Brian A. Pavlac
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 839
Release: 2019-06-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1440848564

Reference entries, overview essays, and primary source document excerpts survey the history and unveil the successes and failures of the longest-lasting European empire. The Holy Roman Empire endured for ten centuries. This book surveys the history of the empire from the formation of a Frankish Kingdom in the sixth century through the efforts of Charlemagne to unify the West around A.D. 800, the conflicts between emperors and popes in the High Middle Ages, and the Reformation and the Wars of Religion in the Early Modern period to the empire's collapse under Napoleonic rule. A historical overview and timeline are followed by sections on government and politics, organization and administration, individuals, groups and organizations, key events, the military, objects and artifacts, and key places. Each of these topical sections begins with an overview essay, which is followed by alphabetically arranged reference entries on significant topics. The book includes a selection of primary source documents, each of which is introduced by a contextualizing headnote, and closes with a selected, general bibliography.

Three Political Tales from Medieval Germany

Three Political Tales from Medieval Germany
Author: Brian Murdoch
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2024
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1640141855

"Fresh, accurate, and accessible translations of three texts that reveal much about medieval political thought and are surprisingly relevant to the precariousness of present-day political systems. Recent political events around the world, not least January 6, 2021, have shown that political systems long thought to be resilient can be surprisingly at risk. This edition offers an introduction to and prose translations of three texts that demonstrate just how precarious things can be even in a rigidly structured society (here the medieval Holy Roman Empire). The texts, the anonymously authored Duke Ernst, Konrad of Wèurzburg's Henry of Kempten, and Heinrich's Reynard the Fox, are also literary works, designed to entertain. Two of them are adventure stories, but carry a message about the care needed to prevent the escalation of violence; the third is a bleak warning against unscrupulous advisors. As works of literature they are varied. The first moves from recognizable history to develop into an early fantasy novel, as the central character goes boldly to distant places outside the known world and meets, fights with, and learns from strange and alien creatures, before returning to the "real" world. The second, a novella, is ostensibly about chivalric bravery, but it is set in a pre-chivalric period, and shows how (then as now) a trivial incident can escalate towards disaster. The third is an animal fable, part of the extensive tradition of Reynard the Fox, initially familiar, but developing into a violent and dark tale that ends with the death of a king"--

Do Ut Des

Do Ut Des
Author: Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld
Publisher: Uitgeverij Verloren
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2007
Genre: Belgium
ISBN: 9065509585