Royal Succession in Medieval Europe. A comparative approach

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The volume at hand puts the succession to the throne in medieval times up for discussion on a European comparative basis, thus opening an "old" subject of Constitutional History to new methods and research findings. During the last few years, the view on the Middle Ages has changed altogether. More and more the European Middle Ages are regarded as a self-contained era instead of simply a prelude to the Modern Period. In a way this could be referred to as an anthropological turn in medieval studies, that has had a major impact on Constitutional History. Current research increasingly focuses on personal relations between the various lords centring on gestures, rituals and rules of the game. However, it is controversial to what extent contemporaries already distinguished between the king¿s public function as permanent representative of a community and his condition or quality of being mortal. The royal succession is crucial to the constitution of medieval realms. Against the background of recent studies it once more needs a detailed analysis which can only be accomplished by a large-scale comparison. Since it is impossible to achieve neither chronological nor geographical completeness this volume focuses on important topics such as the queen¿s role, the function of the ruler¿s sacred status and the phenomenon of disputed royal successions.