Royal Succession in Medieval Europe. A comparative approach

这本书将中世纪的王位继承问题放在欧洲比较的基础上进行讨论，从而为一个“老”的宪法史主题开辟了新的方法和研究成果。在过去的几年里，对中世纪的看法完全改变了。欧洲中世纪越来越多地被视为一个自成一体的时代，而不仅仅是现代时期的前奏。在某种程度上，这可以被称为中世纪研究中的人类学转向，对宪法史产生了重大影响。目前的研究越来越多地集中在以手势，仪式和游戏规则为中心的各种领主之间的个人关系。然而，同时代的人在多大程度上已经区分了国王作为一个社区的永久代表的公共职能和他作为凡人的条件或品质是有争议的。皇家的继承对于中世纪王国的建立至关重要。在最近的研究背景下，它再次需要一个详细的分析，只能通过大规模的比较来完成。由于它是不可能实现既不按时间顺序也不地理完整这卷集中在重要的议题，如女王的作用，统治者的神圣地位的功能和有争议的皇家继承的现象。

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.