From Medieval Multinational Empire to Early Modern National States (Holy Roman Empire and Central Europe during the 14th–16th centuries)

Abstract

The emergence of nation states in Europe is associated in contemporary historiography with the French Revolution and the development of national movements in the 19th century. The author draws attention to an earlier phase of the formation of nation states, which was related to the power-political crisis of the Holy Roman Empire in the second half of the 15th century. The medieval Empire crossed the boundaries of three major language groups that were mutually unintelligible (Germanic, Romance and Slavic languages). At the time of the creation of the Estates' monarchies at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, the question of linguistic identity became an important state-forming element.