Medieval Geopolitics: The Evolution of Positive Law
In this column I trace the next stage in the evolution of the ideas first laid out Innocent’s influential decretal, focusing in particular on the writings of the canonist Laurentius Hispanus.
Medieval Geopolitics: How a Pope shares in the divine power of God
At the end of the twelfth century, Pope Innocent III issued a document known as the Quanto personam. What kind of influence did it have on ideas about sovereignty and power in the medieval era?
Medieval Geopolitics: The Origins of Jihad and the Islamic Conquests
This short column will explain the historical context for the conquests and the three major transformations that made them possible.
International Relation’s Medieval-Sovereignty Debate: Three Rival Approaches
When did a recognizably modern concept of sovereignty first emerge in Europe? Historically, can we point to a medieval idea of sovereignty? If so, how did this historically specific idea of sovereignty differ from its modern counterpart?
The Middle Ages and the Modern State
Did the modern state emerge in the seventeenth century or in the thirteenth century?
Medieval Geopolitics: The Late Medieval International System
What does my string of columns suggest regarding the nature of the late medieval international system? To begin with, it tells us that this system was in fact an international system.
Medieval Geopolitics: How different are medieval and modern ideas of sovereignty?
Over the last couple of months I have been writing about the disputes between kings and popes over who was more powerful and who held ultimate authority. What is the significance of this string of columns?
Medieval Geopolitics: John of Paris on why Kings, not Popes or Emperors, Should Rule
In his view, the world was naturally divided into separate kingdoms, like France and England, all of which claimed supreme authority within their borders.
Medieval Geopolitics: Why Kings (and not Popes) should rule
Looking at two texts from the early 14th century that put forth the arguments for total regnal supremacy.
Medieval Geopolitics: James of Viterbo and More Papal Supremacy
James concluded that the Church must be considered a true kingdom – a regnum ecclesiae.
Medieval Geopolitics: Giles of Rome on why the Pope should rule the entire world
The early fourteenth-century would see the King of France and the Papacy fighting over who was the superior power. One of the leading scholars of that time would weigh on the matter – and provide the key arguments for Papal Absolutism.
Medieval Geopolitics: Questions of Power and Authority between Church and State
Were either the temporal and spiritual authorities supreme, in the sense that they had legitimate jurisdiction over the other? What was the source of supreme authority? In what ways was supreme authority limited?
Medieval Geopolitics: The Conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France
The clash between Pope Boniface VIII and the King Philip IV of France would lead to a consequential geopolitical question: where did the epicentre of supreme political authority lie in Medieval Latin Christendom?
Medieval Geopolitics: Crusades Against Christians
The most notable example of an ecclesiastical war waged against a heretical social movement was that waged against the Cathars or Albigensians in the Languedoc region in what is now southwestern France.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Iberian Crusades
The pre-history of the Iberian Crusades can be traced to the disintegration of Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031 and the subsequent emergence of a constellation of weak successor kingdoms.
Medieval Geopolitics: The High Phase of Northern Crusading
Examining the Prussian Crusades (1230-83), the Lithuanian Crusades (1280-1435), and the Novgorod Crusades (1243-16th century).
Medieval Geopolitics: The Northern Crusades as a “Penitential War”
In this column, I look at the next phase in history of the Northern Crusades: that of “penitential war.”
Medieval Geopolitics: What were the Northern Crusades?
I am going to sketch a very brief history of the so-called “Northern Crusades” – that is, the crusades undertaken by the Christian kings of Denmark, Poland and Sweden, the various German military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Crusades to the Holy Land, Phase Three
The third phase of crusading in the Holy Land – that of its “maturity” – began with the expiration of Frederick’s truce in 1239 and ended with the fall of the last remnant of Outremer, the city of Acre, in 1291.
The Crusades with Andrew Latham
Episode 4 of The Medieval Podcast – Danièle is joined by Andrew Latham to talk about the Crusades.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Crusades to the Holy Land, Phase Two
The history of the crusades from the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 to the city’s restoration to the Crusader States in 1229.
Medieval Geopolitics: The Counterfactual History of the Third Crusade
What would have happened if Richard had defeated Saladin and taken Jerusalem in early 1192?
Medieval Geopolitics: Could King Richard have captured Jerusalem during the Third Crusade?
What if Richard had pressed his attack in December 1191? Would the city have fallen to the crusaders? Or would the Christian host have smashed itself to pieces on the walls of the Holy City?
Medieval Geopolitics: Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade
Why did King Richard decide to abandon his attempt to liberate Jerusalem in 1192?
