Mass culture tells us that medieval political life was somewhat like ‘Game of Thrones’ – kings and dynasties fiercely fighting each other for power. This image is rather far from the complexities of late medieval politics, where institutions played at least as big a role as kings and queens. Some of these institutions, having survived disappeared states and borders, are still with us today. They can teach us a lesson or two about politics – and so can the great crisis to which late medieval Europe succumbed with the Reformation.
Maria Golubeva is a policy analyst and historian. She received her PhD in History from Cambridge University and has published a number of policy studies, as well as the book, Models of Political Competence, on the history of political ideas in late medieval Europe.
Two Lessons from Late Medieval Politics
Paper given by Maria Golubeva
Delivered at a TEDx Talk, Riga, May 2017
Mass culture tells us that medieval political life was somewhat like ‘Game of Thrones’ – kings and dynasties fiercely fighting each other for power. This image is rather far from the complexities of late medieval politics, where institutions played at least as big a role as kings and queens. Some of these institutions, having survived disappeared states and borders, are still with us today. They can teach us a lesson or two about politics – and so can the great crisis to which late medieval Europe succumbed with the Reformation.
Maria Golubeva is a policy analyst and historian. She received her PhD in History from Cambridge University and has published a number of policy studies, as well as the book, Models of Political Competence, on the history of political ideas in late medieval Europe.
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