Communities and Networks in Late Medieval Europe (c. 1300 ...
Government and communities The Medieval World HI127.
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Transcript of Government and communities The Medieval World HI127.
Government and communities
The Medieval World HI127
Part 1: Political developments
Part 2: Methods of government
Part 3: Ethnicity and government
England• Precocious centralization
• Predominance of royal justice• Magna Carta of 1215 a sign of the
omnipresence of royal justice
France• Power of territorial princes places
limits on the king’s authority• 12th century sees the reassertion of
monarchical power• Capetian power develops from its territorial base in the Île-de-France• Capture of Normandy, Anjou, Poitou
and Brittany from 1180 to 1223
Extension of royal justice
• Monarchy grants privileges to towns, such as Soissons, Noyon, Corbie,
Beauvais• King is arbiter of disputes between major dukes and princes of the realm• Councils of peers of the realm integrate political elite and bring
them under royal supervision
Sicily• Muslims and Jews continue bureaucratic
functions under Norman ruler, Count Roger II
• Incomes from customs and rents controlled by an office largely staffed
by Muslims• Camera (another office for financial
administration) is run by Greeks• Exchequer office works according to
Anglo-Norman principles
Spain• Rulers of Castile-León and Aragon have to accept
co-existence of different peoples on the frontier
• James I of Aragon grants a charter (1250) to Muslims of the Uxó valley in Valencia allowing them to honour their marriage customs, instruct their children in the Qur'an and travel freely
in exchange for taxes • Knights from the rest of Spain (caballeros hidalgos) hope to profit from the reconquest
• Establishment of monarchical control over new territories is a slow process
Germany and ItalyDisintegration of imperial authority
Emperors are traditionally regarded as overlords in Italy
But they lack a sizeable territorial base in Italy and in Germany
Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII clash over ecclesiastical rights and also over political influence in ItalyPowerful Italian aristocrats, such as Matilda of
Canossa, try to limit Henry IV’s control German aristocrats, such as Otto of Northeim and Saxon nobility use Investiture Dispute to wrest power from
Henry
How is government carried out?
• Need for trained personnel• Royal justice – itinerant courts
(eyres)• Exchequer – manages royal accounts • French monarchy – development of bureaucratic class, including prévôts
and baillis• Local communities also integral to
maintaining order
Government and ethnicity
• Multilingualism on the frontiers• But ethnic and linguistic divisions
are starting to arise• Restrictions on the use of Slavic languages in German territories in
Eastern Europe• Wergilds illustrate ethnic dominance• Irish exclusion from English justice
• Anti-Semitism