Politics

The central Middle Ages witnessed dramatic political change. Within a few centuries, Latin Europe was transformed from a society deeply rooted in the Carolingian revival of classical Roman values and institutions into one that, despite its many fundamental differences, foreshadowed the concerns, the organizational mechanisms, and the ideologies of the early modern period. At the same time, underneath this rapid change, continuities remained. The aim of this chapter is to highlight this complexity, and it will do so by sketching out some common norms of political life in Latin Christendom during this period.