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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS

XIX. EUROPEAN NATIONS DURING THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

Em. Macron, Rediscovering the Path to Europe

» Contents of this Chapter

Growth of the Nations   * England under William the Conqueror, 1066-1087 A.D., the Norman Kingship   * England under Henry II, 1154-1189 A.D., Royal Justice and the Common Law   * The Great Charter, 1215 A.D.   * Parliament during the Thirteenth Century   * Expansion of England under Edward I, 1272-1307 A.D.   * Unification of France, 987-1328 A.D.   * The Hundred Years' War between England and France, 1337-1453 A.D.   * The Unification of Spain (to 1492 A.D.)   * Austria and the Swiss Confederation, 1273-1499 A.D.   * Expansion of Germany

GROWTH OF THE NATIONS

THE NEW NATIONALISM

The map of western Europe, that is, of Europe west of the great Russian plain and the Balkan peninsula, shows this part of the continent at present divided into no less than thirteen separate and independent nations. Most of them arose during the latter part of the Middle Ages. They have existed so long that we now think of the national state as the highest type of human association, forgetting that it has been preceded by other forms of political organization, such as the Greek republic, the Roman Empire, and the feudal state, and that it may be followed some day by an international or universal state composed of all civilized peoples.

THE NATIONAL STATE AND FEUDALISM

These national states were the successors of feudalism. The establishment of the feudal system in any country meant, as has been seen, its division into numerous small communities, each with a law court, treasury, and army. This system of local government helped to keep order in an age of confusion, but it did not meet the needs of a progressive society. In most parts of Europe the feudal states gradually gave way to centralized governments ruled by despotic kings.

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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents

url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp

IN PRINT

Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy