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APEH Take Home Essay
Topic 1 Essay – The Modern Nation State and Crises of the High Middle Ages
1.
Modern nation states began their uniform development in Europe by the 11 th century and had overcome most barriers in
feudal-medieval times by the 13th century. Discuss the validity of this statement.
Intro/Thesis
 Definition of Modern Nation State (1) fixed boundaries, (2) recognized central authority, (3) efficient bureaucracies
 begins in England following Norman Conquest, France, and HRE using courts, soldiers, laws, information, and
tax collection
 Yet, by the 13th C many obstacles to central, royal authority remained  church influence, lord-king competition
still significant
 THESIS  Due to political and historical conditions, England’s advancement into a modern nation state proceeded
much more quickly and efficiently than other comparative powers in Europe.
Body
France (1 paragraph)
 begins under Capetians: Philip Augustus – Ile de France
 unlike England local areas have own customs, laws, language
 Methods
o cult of Saint-Denis  French king = saint figure
o baillis/seneschals  paid, not from area: king’s voice
o finances  taxes (towns, military obligation, Jews removed from property = $)
o law/courts  Parlement of Paris (Louis IX), local appeals court
 Estates General as representative body, but more a tool of King’s propaganda (Chambers)
 Yet limited control by 13th C
Holy Roman Empire
 attempts made, but even less successful
 “sandbox of northern Europe” (J. McKay), decentralized
 Methods
o royal court of traveling king
o philosophy of regular taxation successful
 Yet Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II have weak hold
o chosen by 7 electors = weak confederation
o kings involved in N. Italy, ignore Germany, give German princes many concessions
o lay investiture: Gregory VII/Henry IV  church power/influence destroys King’s hold on the
confederation
 Bishops side with King, Nobles side with Pope (power/influence)
England
 most successful due to political/historical conditions
 initial unity  Danish/Norse invasions unite Anglo-Saxon shires under one king
 Reinforced central control
1. William (1066) – Battle of Hastings
o keeps sheriffs – local, unpaid
o Norman inquest, Domesday Book, accurate taxes!
2. Henry I
o Exchequer – 1st English office, taxes
o sheriffs collect/give to king
3. Henry II
o uses Common Law to centralized control
 circuit judges
 juries (grand)
 call for real evidence (witness, written)
4. Magna Carta (1215)
o even the King is subject to the law, nobles gain influence due to warfare/need for taxes
5. Edward I
o “Model Parliament” – 2 reps from each shire = representation and taxation
o Parliament = “power of the purse”
Conclusion
 Due to historical conditions England most advanced nation-state
 HRE kings distracted to other areas, concessions, or weakened by 7 electors
 France slowly expanding royal authority by 13th C but still considerable local control
 Even England’s kings have limits  Magna Carta
2. Chambers states, “despite all the signs of crisis, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were not merely an age
of breakdown. The failures of the medieval economy and its governments drove the Western peoples to
repair their institutions.” Discuss the validity of this statement.
Intro/Thesis
 According to Francis Oakley, the late middle ages were afflicted by crises including problems within the
Church, wars, and economic difficulties.
 Each crisis had catastrophic effects for the secular and religious institutions of Europe.
 Despite multiple and varied crises, the people of Western Europe worked to reform and repair their
secular and religious institutions.
Body
Famine/Plague
 Oakley  major problems for pop., economy, food, and the Church already present before the arrival of
the Black Death in 1347
 Causes of famine  “little ice age,” problems for farmers/agriculture, 3:1 harvests to famine
 Famine makes population more susceptible to disease
 Plague  bubonic (rats from Genoese ships), pneumonic (kills quickly person to person)
 Effects?
o Boccaccio  effects on the populations, course of the disease
o Langer  psychologically damaging, leads to widespread pessimism
 flagellants, Dance of Death, orgies
o Triumph of Death  no one safe
Church
 difficulty meeting the people’s needs in time of crisis
 Avignon papacy
 heretical movements
o Conciliarists
o Waldensians
 Church response  Pisa (ineffective), Constance (halts schism, est. councils, but widespread reforms still
lacking)
 Effect  efforts towards repair, but falls short
Secular Institutions
 Even more chaos created by civil unrest and warfare
 Peasant revolts
o Effects of plague on peasantry = short-lived abundance, but doesn’t last  Meiss
o Desire for more  Froissart
o State response  Statute of Laborers (1351)
 Will directly influence the outbreak of a mass peasant rebellion in 1381 in England
 Hundred Years’ War, War of the Roses
o HYW = civil war for France
o WofR = civil war for England
o Effects
 France  power slips away from Estates General, moves toward monopolization of
power in the monarchy
 England  more power to Parliament, “power of the purse”
Closing  summarize as time allows, return back to your thesis!!
 Despite the significant state of disarray and chaotic consequences of plague, war, and religious
uncertainty, the people of Western Europe were able to rebuild, repair, and reform their secular and
religious institutions.