Tilly Goes to Church: The Religious and Medieval Roots of European State Fragmentation
Anna Grzymała-Busse
The starting point for many analyses of European state development is the historical fragmentation territorial authority. dominant bellicist explanation formation argues that this was an unintended consequence imperial collapse, and warfare in early modern era overcame by winnowing out small polities consolidating strong states. Using new data on papal conflict religious institutions, I show instead political outcome deliberate choices, it closely associated with conflict, persisted longer than explanations would predict. medieval Catholic Church deliberately effectively splintered power Europe forming temporal alliances, funding proxy wars, launching crusades, advancing ideology to ensure its autonomy power. roots are thus more religious, older, intentional often assumed.
American Political Science Review