The Medieval State: The Tyranny of a Concept?

The power to pardon in late medieval and early modern Europe: New perspectives in the history of crime and criminal justice

“…Following Gabriella Erdélyi's observation, one may indeed remark that what has been discussed in the previous section follows the classical theory of the top‐down process of early modern State‐building, characterized by a public monopoly of violence by coercive means resulting in the pacification of society (Pinker, ; Tilly, ). This model has encountered numerous critics over the past 20 years, notably because of its semi‐determinist interpretation of State formation as a sui generis process that emerged from the central government (Davies, ). Historians also gave nuance to the role of State formation in the decline of violence, whether it was caused by the integration of self‐constraints by the population (civilizing process) or by the pressure of coercive external forces (social disciplining).…”

There were States in Medieval Europe: A Response to Rees Davies

“…Rees Davies's questioning of the current fashion for talking about medieval states (Davies, 2003) is characteristically stimulating and persuasive. Not surprisingly, in view of his references to my essay on the historiography of the medieval state (Reynolds, 1997), I nevertheless find it not persuasive enough 1 .…”

“…My conclusion was, and is, that a good many medieval polities, whether kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, other lordships, or city‐states, could be classified as states – not because I want to bestow “an almost endless elasticity on the word and concept” (Davies 2003, pp. 283–4), but because the evidence I have looked at suggests that they exercised a more or less successful control of the legitimate use of physical force within their borders.…”

“…Much more is known about the fourteenth‐century lordships of the Welsh March, partly because there are more records, but chiefly because of the illuminating way Davies himself has used them. I reckon that his Marcher lordships were states – and not just “virtual states” (Davies 2003, p. 294; Davies 1978, esp. pp.…”

“…We are both, in this context, primarily concerned with phenomena, that is, the existence or non‐existence of medieval polities that we would either of us call states. To object to the use of the word state for medieval polities because the Latin word status then had different connotations from the modern English “state” is worse than “obtuse academic pedantry” (Davies 2003, p. 283). It is an obtuse confusion of categories.…”