Feudal Monarchy and secular power:
the Growth of European Kingdoms


1. Introduction: What is "feudal" and what is "monarchical"? Three case studies, Germany, England and France

2. Germany and the Holy Roman Empire

Otto I, "The Great" 936-973:

  • A Saxon king
  • Battle of Lechfeld (955)
  • Otto revives the Roman empire, but a vastly different empire than Charlemagne's
  • Feudalism slow to arrive in Germany; use of church to govern the state
  • 962 Pope grants him the imperial title
  • "Ottonian Renaissance"

Conrad II begins Salian dynasty 1024-1039

Henry III, r. 1039-1056

Henry IV, r. 1056-1106

Frederick I, "Barbarossa", r. 1152-1190

  • asserts power over wealthy Norther Italian towns in Lombardy
  • Lombard League defeats Frederick 1176

Frederick II, r. 1212-1250:

  • Roman emperor and king of Sicily
  • Stupor Mundi "Wonder of the World"

Role of semi-autonomous princes and territorial lords in Germany:
 why does Germany remain a fragmented and loose confederation of states from the 14th to 19th centuries?


2. England

"Anglo-Saxon/ Danish" England in 9th-11th century

William the Conqueror, r. 1066-1087

Anglo-Saxon and Danish rule:

Henry I, , r. 1154-1189

Henry II, first of Plantagenet dynasty 1154-1189 (married to Eleanor of Aquitaine); also called Angevin dynasty

King Richard I, The Lion-Heated, r. 1189-1199

King John, r. 1199-1216

Runnymede, Magna Carta 1215
Parlaiment

Edward I, r. 1272-1307:

3. France

Capetian monarchy succeeds the Caroligians

Hugh Capet, count of Paris, becomes king 987

Philip II "Augustus", r.  1180-1223

Louis IX, St. Louis 1226-1270

Philip IV, "the Fair" 1285-1314:

How did the English Parlaiment and the French Parlement differ? How were they similar? How did they both grow within the context of "Feudal Mondachies"?

4. Church State Relations

Germany: The Investiture crisis, Pope Gregory v. Henry IV

England: Murder in the Cathedral, King Henry II vs. Thomas Becket

France: The Avignon Papacy