The Rise of States

National Monarchies

• 200 years in the making-it was the rise of towns and the new middle class of the 1100’s that set the process in motion and prepared the foundation for the modern, political world

• European elites, whether nobles or burghers, grudgingly gave allegiance to ambitious monarchs- a single, strong ruler seemed the only alternative to the brutal pattern of war and civil strife so common during the era of feudalism

The “tools” of the new monarchies…

• Use of vernacular languages• Creation of a standing army• A system of tax collection to par for the army

and its ability to wage war -the two were inseparable

• Subjecting the church to its secular power• Marriage to reassert royal lands• Extending Royal justice• Promoting the interests of the new “middle class”

France: Hugh Capet, r 987-996

Philip Augustusr 1180-1223

• Solidified France by gradually establishing control over the Dukes and Counts of his land

• Defeated King John of England who held more territory as a feudal lord in France that King Philip did.

Louis IXr 1226-1270

• “Saint Louis”• Issued laws for

his entire realm• Prohibited private

warfare among his nobles

The Italian states

• The various Italian states never developed a national monarchy during this time…

• Dukes ruled in Venice, Genoa and Pisa

• After 1125, Normans (Vikings) controlled Naples and Sicily

• These states played a major role in the sea trade that connected the Byzantine and Arab world with Europe

Holy Roman Empire; Otto the Great, r 936-973

• 955 defeated the Magyars

• Established forts along the Slavic border

• 962 crowned Holy Roman Emperor

• Initiated the Ottonian Renaissance

England:Alfred the Great,

King of Wessex, 871-899

William, Duke of Normandy; The Battle of Hastings, 1066

William of Normandy aka William the Bastard

aka William the Conquerorr 1066-1087

• Salisbury Oath• Domesday Book

Henry II r 1154-1189> Traveling royal judges – common law> Trial by Jury> primitive Grand Jury

King Johnr 1199-1216

• Fought a costly and losing war against King Louis-Philippe

• Coerced his vassals to giving him more and more revenues

• Punished vassals without a trial by Jury

King John, at Runnymede, 1215

• King John signs the Magna Carta, 1215