[Rezension zu:] Bernhard Jussen. Die Macht des Königs: Herrschaft in Europa vom Frühmittelalter bis in die Neuzeit. Munich: C.H. Beck Verlag, 2005. 478 pp. EUR 38.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-3-406-53230-6

  • As Bernhard Jussen correctly stresses in his introduction to this essay collection, we do not need to rediscover kingship. Kings and queens have always been favorite subjects for historians--at least, one might add, as far as medieval and early modern history are concerned. But even for the premodern period, kingship has rarely been studied in long-term perspective. This lacuna is all the more striking as kingship, existent in one form or another since ancient times, seems ideally suited to such a study. A history of kingship--prescinding from specific rulers--would bring to light the very characteristics of this form of rule. Moreover, as kingship was a highly visible and politically relevant phenomenon, and thus comparatively well represented in the sources, such an approach would also allow insights into general social, political, and cultural developments. Jussen's essay collection, in filling the gap, strives for both goals. It does so in a form that, at least in the German context, is innovative. The book combines the characteristics of a single-author volume and essay collection in the sense that each chapter follows clear rules and--with some exceptions--the same structure, though written by different authors. In addition, the strict chronological order, with each of the twenty-six chapters focusing on one particular date and source, and the respective headlines in the form of general questions (for example, "How to Depose a King"), point beyond the scope of the chapter and at the same time make the process of historical analysis visible to the reader. ...

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Metadaten
Author:Martin Kohlrausch
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-480333
URL:https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=23830
Parent Title (English):H-net reviews. H-German
Publisher:Michigan State University Department of History
Place of publication:East Lansing, Mich.
Contributor(s):Bernhard Jussen
Document Type:Review
Language:English
Year of Completion:2009
Year of first Publication:2009
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2018/12/13
Issue:Art. 23830
Page Number:3
First Page:1
Last Page:3
Note:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
HeBIS-PPN:441108547
Institutes:Philosophie und Geschichtswissenschaften / Geschichtswissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:9 Geschichte und Geografie / 94 Geschichte Europas / 940 Geschichte Europas
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung 3.0