Government and communities

The Medieval World HI127

Part 1: Political developments

Part 2: Methods of government

Part 3: Ethnicity and government

England• Precocious centralization

• Predominance of royal justice• Magna Carta of 1215 a sign of the

omnipresence of royal justice

France• Power of territorial princes places

limits on the king’s authority• 12th century sees the reassertion of

monarchical power• Capetian power develops from its territorial base in the Île-de-France• Capture of Normandy, Anjou, Poitou

and Brittany from 1180 to 1223

Extension of royal justice

• Monarchy grants privileges to towns, such as Soissons, Noyon, Corbie,

Beauvais• King is arbiter of disputes between major dukes and princes of the realm• Councils of peers of the realm integrate political elite and bring

them under royal supervision

Sicily• Muslims and Jews continue bureaucratic

functions under Norman ruler, Count Roger II

• Incomes from customs and rents controlled by an office largely staffed

by Muslims• Camera (another office for financial

administration) is run by Greeks• Exchequer office works according to

Anglo-Norman principles

Spain• Rulers of Castile-León and Aragon have to accept

co-existence of different peoples on the frontier

• James I of Aragon grants a charter (1250) to Muslims of the Uxó valley in Valencia allowing them to honour their marriage customs, instruct their children in the Qur'an and travel freely

in exchange for taxes • Knights from the rest of Spain (caballeros hidalgos) hope to profit from the reconquest

• Establishment of monarchical control over new territories is a slow process

Germany and ItalyDisintegration of imperial authority

Emperors are traditionally regarded as overlords in Italy

But they lack a sizeable territorial base in Italy and in Germany

Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII clash over ecclesiastical rights and also over political influence in ItalyPowerful Italian aristocrats, such as Matilda of

Canossa, try to limit Henry IV’s control German aristocrats, such as Otto of Northeim and Saxon nobility use Investiture Dispute to wrest power from

Henry

How is government carried out?

• Need for trained personnel• Royal justice – itinerant courts

(eyres)• Exchequer – manages royal accounts • French monarchy – development of bureaucratic class, including prévôts

and baillis• Local communities also integral to

maintaining order

Government and ethnicity

• Multilingualism on the frontiers• But ethnic and linguistic divisions

are starting to arise• Restrictions on the use of Slavic languages in German territories in

Eastern Europe• Wergilds illustrate ethnic dominance• Irish exclusion from English justice

• Anti-Semitism