The concept of the state had been one of Rome’s great legacies to Western civilization, but for almost five hundred years after the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West, the state did not exist. Political authority was decentralized, with power spread among many lords, bishops, abbots, and other types of local rulers. The deeply fragmented political units that covered the early medieval European continent did not have the characteristics or provide the services of a modern state.

Beginning in the last half of the tenth century, the invasions and migrations that had contributed to European fragmentation gradually ended, and domestic disorder slowly subsided. Rulers began to develop new institutions of law and government that enabled them to assert their power over lesser lords and the general population. Although nobles remained the dominant class, centralized states slowly crystallized, first in western Europe, and then in eastern and northern Europe. At the same time, energetic popes built their power within the Western Christian Church and tried to assert their superiority over kings and emperors. Monks, nuns, and friars played significant roles in medieval society, both as individuals and as members of institutions. A papal call to retake the holy city of Jerusalem led to nearly two centuries of warfare between Christians and Muslims. Christian warriors, clergy, and settlers moved out from western and central Europe in all directions, so that through conquest and colonization border regions were gradually incorporated into a more uniform Christian realm. ■

Political Revival and the Origins of the Modern State

How did monarchs try to centralize political power?

Law and Justice

How did the administration of law evolve in this period?

Nobles

What were the roles of nobles, and how did they train for these?

The Papacy

How did the papacy reform the church, and what were the reactions to these efforts?

Monks, Nuns, and Friars

What roles did monks, nuns, and friars play in medieval society?

The Crusades and the Expansion of Christianity

What were the causes, course, and consequences of both the Crusades and the broader expansion of Christianity?