Question

What are some of the common elements in the process of European state building? What specific measures did the national monarchies take in order to establish and maintain their authority? Who did they need to control?

Answer 1

In Western Europe (except in Spain, Italy and Portugal), as feudalism spread, kings lost political powers as a s result of losing control of the main means of wealth production at the time, lands. Even though feudal lords were legally under the king's authority, they were the actual holders of a great deal of the political power as they were in direct control of the economic production and wealth. The appearance of a new social class producing even greater amounts of wealth yet despised by the nobility, the bourgeoisie, offered the kings the opportunity to trade titles of nobility (not based on the possession of lands, though) for money in order to build up enough resources in order to wrest power from the nobles. The actions that most kings carried out were:

• depriving rebellious noblemen from their lands as a way to increase the crown's power and set an example for other noblemen
• creation of a  a new aristocratic class of free men who paid for their titles and strengthened the crown's finances
• enhancement or construction of lavish capital cities and ordering the noblemen to change their residence to the king's court, so that they could be kept under close surveillance and reduce the chances of rebellion
• raising of national armies under the direct control of the crown instead of depending on the nobles' levying armies loyal to the nobles and not the king
• a revival and enhancing of the traditional notion of the divine rule of kings which entitled the monarchs to claim absolute power in the land for "God wills it," thus, acting against the king would be the same as acting against God, the worst crime in medieval times