On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State by Joseph R. Strayer

Author:Joseph R. Strayer
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2013-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

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By 1300 it was evident that the dominant political form in Western Europe was going to be the sovereign state. The universal Empire had never been anything but a dream; the universal Church had to admit that defense of the individual state took precedence over the liberties of the Church or the claims of the Christian commonwealth. Loyalty to the state was stronger than any other loyalty, and for a few individuals (largely government officials) loyalty to the state was taking on some of the overtones of patriotism.54

Nevertheless, while the sovereign state of 1300 was stronger than any competing political form, it was still not very strong. Loyalty to the state might override all other loyalties, but in an age when other loyalties had been weakened, loyalty to the state could be dominant without being very intense. It took four to five centuries for European states to overcome their weaknesses, to remedy their administrative deficiencies, and to bring lukewarm loyalty up to the white heat of nationalism.

The first two centuries after 1300 were especially difficult. One might say that Europeans had created their state system only in the nick of time, for the fourteenth century saw a series of disasters which scarcely encouraged political innovation. A great economic depression, one of the longest in history, began in the 1280’s.55 Western Europe had reached its limits in agricultural production, commercial exchanges, and industrial activity. Until new techniques, new markets, and new sources of supply were developed, stagnation was certain and regression likely. Population was pressing heavily on the land, and the famines and plagues which eventually reduced the pressure did not improve the morale of the survivors. The Black Death, which struck heavily about the middle of the century and which returned several times before 1400, very nearly wiped out some local governments and killed many potential leaders. Economic and physical insecurity was reflected in political instability. However we define them, there were certainly more riots, rebellions, and civil wars in the fourteenth century than in the thirteenth century.

Depression, famine, and plague could not have been warded off by any fourteenth-century government; the necessary knowledge and techniques simply did not exist. Governments might have avoided the long and costly wars which aggravated the suffering and the demoralization of the people. But in a sense the wars were necessary to complete the development of a system of sovereign states. Sovereignty requires independence from any outside power and final authority over men who live within certain boundaries. But in 1300 it was not clear who was independent and who was not, and it was difficult to draw definite boundaries in a Europe which had known only overlapping spheres of influence and fluctuating frontier zones. The great kingdoms of the West might have solid cores, but on their fringes were areas which might or might not be incorporated in the state: Wales and Scotland in the case of England, Brittany, Guienne, Flanders, and the rubble of the old Middle Kingdom in the case of France.

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