The Crisis of the Twelfth Century

Power, Lordship, and the Origins of European Government

Bibliographic Data

ID9737782
AuthorsJ A Green (University of Edinburgh, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume125
Issue514
Pages680-682
Publication date2010-05-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe English Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ehr/ceq112
OpenAlexW2131530171
LanguageEN
Citations received11

Although used in connection with many centuries in European history, the word ‘crisis’ is not commonly associated with the twelfth. This was a century which, as the author points out, has more commonly been seen as a time of rebirth, or renaissance, of the flowering of literatures, both Latin and vernacular, of the rise of gothic architecture, and of schools, soon-to-be universities. It was an era of reform and renewal in the Latin church, and a time of strengthening governmental regimes, developments which in the past have often been equated with progress. Professor Bisson's new book sets out to challenge the presuppositions of past generations of historians on which these views have been based. Bisson argues that the experience of power in the twelfth century was not that of government, defined in the sense of public order, but was rather violent, coercive, and predatory. Following the year 1000, lordships were established by force and in increasing numbers, and kings and churchmen did not remain outside this process. Lord-rulership is here portrayed as a species of lordship, rather than as representative of public authority. The ever-increasing corps of clerks and laymen who served the powerful were not, it is argued, the servants of a commonweal but exploitative on their own account as well as on that of their masters. Only when their depredations got out of hand were they brought into line. Accountability was less a review of profit and loss than it was a check on officials’ fidelity; political, therefore, as much as fiscal

Accountability · Art · Economic history · Government (linguistics · Historiography · Literature · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Vernacular · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History

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