
Medieval Law and the Foundations of the State
Alan Harding(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 3. January 2002
Book
Hardback
350 pages
978-0-19-821958-3 (ISBN)
Description
The state is the most powerful and contested of political ideas, loved for its promise of order but hated for its threat of coercion. In this broad-ranging new study, Alan Harding challenges the orthodoxy that there was no state in the Middle Ages, arguing instead that it was precisely then that the concept acquired its force. He explores how the word 'state' was used by medieval rulers and their ministers and connects the growth of the idea of the state with the development of systems for the administration of justice and the enforcement of peace. He shows how these systems provided new models for government from the centre, successfully in France and England but less so in Germany. The courts and legislation of French and English kings are described establishing public order, defining rights to property and liberty, and structuring commonwealths by 'estates'. In the final chapters the author reveals how the concept of the state was taken up by political commentators in the wars of the later Middle Ages and the Reformation Period, and how the law-based 'state of the king and the kingdom' was transformed into the politically dynamic 'modern state'.
Reviews / Votes
Medieval Law and the Foundations of the State is a substantial and scholarly study of medieval law, political theory, and political practice, which engages with a vast body of source material in very close argument in tracing the 'pre-theoretical understanding' (p.v) of the medieval state. * Medium Aevum *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
769 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-821958-3 (9780198219583)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Alan Harding
Medieval Law and the Foundations of the State
E-Book
01/2002
1st Edition
OUP Oxford
€192.59
Available for download
Person
Author
, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History and Honorary Fellow of History at the University of Liverpool and Honorary Fellow in History at the University of Edinburgh
Content
1. Introduction: State - Word and Concept ; 2. Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Justice ; 3. The Courts of Lords and Townsmen ; 4. The Spread of Organized Peace ; 5. The Judicial Systems of France and England ; 6. New High Courts and Reform of the Regime ; 7. The Legal Ordering of 'the State of the Realm' ; 8. The Monarchical State of the Later Middle Ages ; 9. From Law to Politics ; 10. Conclusion: Law and the State in History ; Bibliography