Political organisation in the early medieval period varies quite widely: for example in Ancient Greece there were city states whereas in the Roman period there were senates as well as tyrants and dictators. Furthermore, the successor states to Roman Empire were barbarian that have their own interpersonal chieftain, big man systems of political organisation. Another characterisation of political organisation in the Medieval world is that borders were constantly shifting which along with this flux goes governmental shift and change as ideas and ideologies change and so do the systems by which polities are governed.
In this post, I will briefly analyse 3 maps which highlight how Europe was politically organised in 1300.
Kingdoms:
- main empire countries are differently bordered to how countries are bordered today
- no Germany or Italy
- in centre there are lots of little states
- political units don’t necessarily map cohesively onto geographical areas
- Portugal looks roughly the same whereas France is completely different
- Dalmatia and Corfu are bracketed with Venice - assertion of political influence - Venice is not necessarily congruent with the Dalmatian Coast or Corfu but it holds political power
- on Naples there is Aragon but Aragon is in Spain - kingdoms/political units don’t necessarily map neatly onto geographical spaces
Lordships and Cities:
- zoomed in version of the kingdom map
- a lot messier
- broken up/split into duchies - under Dukes counties that are undercounts
- main cities are visible - emerge around 1200 but doesn’t mean cities didn’t exist before but major cities as concentrations of political power and with populations sometimes in the tens of thousands as political units started to appear roughly about 1200
The Church:
- even messier
- ecclesiastical map means map relating to the Church
- shows provinces - larger provinces are equivalent to kingdoms whereas smaller ones are equivalent to counties
- this is where the Church holds power and the way in which it organises itself
- Church and the state are intertwined
- political organisation of the Church and the political organisation of the more secular parts of these kingdoms are in negotiation with each other throughout this period
- Church possesses both formal power but also influences power informally - Canterbury is a tiny little place in England now but in the medieval period it held land power