The Crisis of Church and State and the Rise of Self-Government in Europe

• In Event: Religion and Social Institutions in Historical State Building in Europe

Abstract

A long line of research has argued that European state formation was affected by strong self-governing social groups that could balance rulers. This paper argues, first, that the roots of the development of medieval self-government are to be found in the 11th-century conflict of church and state, second, that being the seat of a bishop facilitated the spread of urban self-government after this juncture. The urban effect owes to two different mechanisms: power struggles between emperors and reform popes and urban associationalism created as a byproduct of the reform movement (a demonstration effect). We enlist new data on 680 medieval towns in the period 1000-1300 and use difference-in-difference designs to show that both the general effects and the individual mechanisms they reflect can be corroborated empirically. These results back the hitherto largely untested claim that the Catholic Church played a crucial role for the Rise of Europe.

Authors

• Jonathan Doucette, University of Copenhagen

• Jorgen Moller, University of Aarhus