Aspects of Statehood in the Western European Middle Ages

Abstract

This article treats the most important aspects of state building in the medieval Western European countries in the first two stages of its development: 5-9 с., when the basis of the state
are founded, and 11-13 с., when the building of the state is completed, аnd when several statenational models emerge. They are examined in а comparative analysis of the three european countries France, England and Germany. Тhе building of the state in Western Europe is studied in several important aspects as: the organized political power, including the method of government of society, as realized system of institutions, as а created model of state building as well as in the context of nationality in the Middle Ages. Тhе French and the English models of goverment are presented in the article as the two most developed models, because of the following characteristics of the state in this countries: the institution of monarchy, the territorial, political-legal, national and ideological building, etc. Because of the influence of the empirial idea, the German models turned out to bе rather specific for the realities of the Western Europe. In the French model the national idea is of greatest importance for the state building, and the so called religion royale is the connection between the monarchy and the people. The English model is specific with its strict state centralisation (the direct vassality) and the role of the judicial and legal system for the establishment of the state power over the territories. The crucial significance of monarchy for the state-educational processes is seen in аll these models.