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Generations of social scientists and historians have argued that the escape from empire and consequent fragmentation of power-across and within polities-was a necessary condition for the European development of the modern territorial state, modern representative democracy, and modern levels of prosperity. This book inserts the Catholic Church as the main engine of this persistent international and domestic power pluralism, which has moulded European state formation for almost a millennium. It argues that the 'crisis of church and state' that began in the second half of the eleventh century fundamentally reshaped European patterns of state formation and regime change. It did so by doing away with the norm in historical societies-sacral monarchy-and by consolidating the two great balancing acts European state-builders have been engaged in since the eleventh century: against strong social groups and against each other. The book traces the roots of this crisis to a large-scale breakdown of public authority in the Latin West, which began in the ninth century, and which at one and the same time incentivized and permitted a religious reform movement to radically transform the Catholic Church in the period from the late tenth century onwards. Drawing on a unique dataset of towns, parliaments, and ecclesiastical institutions such as bishoprics and monasteries, the book documents how this church reform movement was crucial for the development and spread of self-government (the internal balancing act) and the weakening of the Holy Roman Empire (the external balancing act) in the period AD 1000-1500.

Church and state --- Catholic Church. --- Europe --- Catholic Church --- Papal States --- History.

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International relations - Textbooks --- International relations

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"The problem of leadership succession is perennial; the death of the ruler poses a significant threat to the stability of any polity. Arranging for a peaceful and orderly succession has been a formidable challenge in most historical societies, and it continues to be a test that modern authoritarian regimes regularly face and often fail. There is in practice no optimal solution to the problem of who should succeed the ruler, at least not when power is vested in one person. The absence of a successor causes uncertainty and plotting; the existence of one creates another centre of power, with dangerous implications. This book documents how successions have historically been moments of violence and insecurity: The succession wars known from European history are simply the tip of the iceberg. But the book also shows that the development and spread of primogeniture--the eldest-son-taking-the-throne--mitigated the problem of succession in Europe in the period after AD 1000. Primogeniture presented a reasonable compromise that in 'normal' circumstances allowed for an orderly transfer of power while minimizing threats to the incumbent ruler. In a long-term historical perspective, father-to-son successions--in the context of hereditary monarchy--therefore created political stability and facilitated state-formation. Today, representative democracy does the same, but in a very different way where frequent rotations in power and guarantees against the misuse of power are used to lessen the stakes of leadership succession" --

History of Europe --- anno 1000-1099 --- anno 1200-1799 --- anno 1100-1199 --- Monarchy --- History. --- Europe --- Kings and rulers --- Succession. --- Politics and government. --- 34 <09> --- Kingdom (Monarchy) --- Executive power --- Political science --- Royalists --- 34 <09> Rechtsgeschiedenis --(algemeen) --- Rechtsgeschiedenis --(algemeen) --- History --- Council of Europe countries --- Eastern Hemisphere --- Eurasia --- Succession --- Politics --- Kings and rulers. --- Monarchy. --- Europe.