Introduction
The Rise of Nation-States

Joan of Arc
An artist's depiction of Joan of Arc,
the French military hero

In 1076 A.D. (C.E.), the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV knelt in the snow outside a castle in the Italian Alps. Pope Gregory VII, who had excommunicated Henry, was inside. The twenty-six year old German King earned himself excommunication for expressing his wish to appoint German Bishops, rather than the Vatican choosing the Bishops. While this was a devastating blow, in the end, Henry's display worked, and his excommunication was lifted.

Scenes such as this played out less frequently as monarchs consolidated their territories and citizenry, and conceived their own governments and political support without the Vatican's instruction. Although the Vatican still exercised considerable political power, the Late and High Middle Ages marked a time when nation-states arose in Europe.

Essential Questions

 

Warm-Up

warm-up iconAs you will learn in this topic, many of the European nation-states began forming around the same time during the late Middle Ages. Make a hypothesis about why all of them developed within such a close time frame. What might have caused one nation-state to form in response to the formation of another nation-state?