History of civilization to 1500

History Of Civilization: To 1500

Central Authority

There are a number of key factors which contributed to the development of centralized kingdoms throughout parts of Europe by the 14th century, while it may be argued that these same factors were responsible for a dearth of the implementation of centralized kingdoms in other countries on the continent due to specific conditions within those countries. One of the most important determinants for the development of centralized government is the degree of isolation in which a particular country may develop in. Of the factors that may either aid or hinder the enabling of a social isolation that has often played valuable to the development of centralized authority, geography can certainly play a substantial role in implementation of structured government.

In many regards, this factor may be illustrated best via the examples of England and Germany, the former of which was able to become centralized in its government much more quickly than the latter was able to do so. Due to the fact that England was widely protected by the English Channel, it was able to form a centralized government, particularly after some of the civilizing influences of the Norman Invasion. In a region such as Germany, however, its geography -- which was significantly forested and encompassed in parts by the Rhine, which could readily be traversed by invaders -- was not conducive to social isolation.

Additionally, it becomes important to understand that historical tradition also was an eminent determinant in which countries were able to organize a central development by the 14th century. To a large degree, the proclivity to centralized authority in parts of Europe may be attributed to the Holy Roman Empire, which spread through vast portions of the Continent and encompassed a number of different nations such as France and Spain under its rule. Due to the history of having once been governed by a centralized authority, although in this instance one which was decidedly foreign to the indigenous populations in the aforementioned countries, the peoples of France and Spain were more likely to accept such forms of government again, certainly more so than in other areas such as Germany which, although having been invaded several times, largely suffered from a lack of history of formal bureaucratic state.

The degree to which a state could develop a sense of solidarity revolving around homogenous factors contributed to the development of a centralized government in certain countries and the lack thereof in others. Homogenous factors can be found in areas of race, nationality, and in religion in particular, all of which contributes to a sense of a national identity that a centralized authority of government both represents and reinforces. The influence of Catholic Christianity, which was widely based upon the Holy Roman Empire, had the effect of organizing certain countries in Europe under similar forms of authority which were, of course, manifest in a central branch of government. Due to the fact that Christianity as it is widely practiced today, spanned from the authority of the Roman Empire in Italy, the Italian country has frequently had this influence as a centralizing agency upon it government (although it should be noted that this same influence was also responsible for numerous conflicts between church and state in this country).