A Weak Reich? European Perspectives on Medieval Germany in Conversation PER

Modern statehood is often seen as the ‘natural’ result of a march towards centralization. From this perspective, the complex territorial patchwork and opaque political entanglements of the Holy Roman Empire appear as strikingly different, if not outright dysfunctional. This round-table brings together medievalists from the UK, Germany, and France to discuss popular and academic views on the Holy Roman Empire as well as the question of (de-)centralization in the Middle Ages and its implications in the present. While contemporary opponents of European integration take the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire as a warning against federalism, others identify the ‘openness’ of the Holy Roman Empire as something for the European Union, for example, to aspire to.

Host or Publisher German Historical Institute London