On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State [Paperback]

Joseph R. Strayer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1973 | ISBN-10: 0691007691 | ISBN-13: 978-0691007694

Examines the processes of statebuilding, concentrating on the development of governmental institutions in France and England from the twelfth to the seventeenth century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Precise, well-documented. . . . It is full of essential matter about how states as we know them came into being, and is particularly good on the root questions. . . . How and why did states begin to imagine themselves as sovereign? And: how does a policy maker get a bureaucracy to follow through? -- Review

About the Author

Joseph R. Strayer (1904-1987) was Dayton-Stockton Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. Charles Tilly is Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University. William Chester Jordan is Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (January 1, 1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691007691
• ISBN-13: 978-0691007694
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,522,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All State, No Nation, October 16, 2005

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S. Pactor "reader" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Paperback)

This is a classic, both for it's clarity and for its brevity(110 pages!). Strayer was a professor at Princeton and worked for the CIA on the side. In his book, "the invention of the middle ages", Norman Cantor describes his life as a graduate student at Princeton under Strayer. Apparently he was always running off to advise the government on one thing or another. It's an amusing thought.

Strayer's analysis is heavy on the bureaucratic development of france and england, light on everything else. Basically, he contrasts the centralist state of England with the "mosaic" state of France, and demonstrates how the heavy bureaucracy of france (and other contiental states of europe) can be attributed to the need of a weak central government to integrate provinces with their own "national" identities. This goal was accomplished by layering different sorts of councils and administrators on top of one another, with the King at the top.

This is contrasted with England, which functioned, in Strayer's mind as a "large french province", with the King at the top of an abbreviated hierarchy.

His institutional focus is on the development of law courts and the finance ministry- these were the first departments to come of age in the west. The law courts because the king's original power was as court of last resort, the finance ministry because... well, every prince needs money.

As the title says, this is a book about the state, not the nation. There is no mention of culture in here, so don't look for it.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent and clearly written scholarly treatise, December 9, 1998

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Willem Noe "scorpio-1" (Berlin) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Paperback)

This book, as is well known, is a small classic among history books on Medieval Europe since its publication in the early 19seventies. There is a clear and distinct approach of rational government building in 11-14th century England and France, and how the modern state has roots shaped by the lessons and experiences of that time. Although the treatise is short, it is very clearly and concisely written. Obviously, the writer has deep knowledge of what he is talking about, and reading the book gives a stong impression that there is much more behind the analysis that he gives. The idea of more-or-less rational institutional building of government functions in middle-to late Medieval times does leave out a lot of other human elements shaping human governance at that time, while i got a distinct impression of the smoothness of the whole process overall. This seems certainly very debatable. Nevertheless, perhaps the sharp focus is what makes the book so very clear, informative and enjoyable to read. A definite must for any serious Medieval history buff...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State, July 22, 2006

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James D. Doyle - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Paperback)

Strayer's depth of knowledge and simplicity of thought are seldom combined in books with a challenging thesis that is still debated today. For example, the recent President of the American Historical Associate(James J. Sheehan) presented a Presidential Address(AHR Feb.2006) that challenges Strayer's analysis of the origins of sovereignty in Western Europe and more than a few recent historians have criticized Strayer's Anglophile framework for analyzing the evolving types of governing entities found in France and England in the 1300's. Not bad for a book that is a little over 100 pages long and written nearly 40 years ago. A suberb example of concise and erudite scholarship!