6 - Nationality and the Medieval “State” in France

Summary

With Chapter 6, the analysis moves from the German Empire to France, examining the claim that the gradual emergence of independent territorial monarchies from the fourteenth century led to the identification of nation and polity and the formation of proto-nation-states. The chapter shows that Pierre Dubois, Nicole Oresme, and Christine de Pizan – key figures in conceptualizing the nature and self-understanding of the late medieval French monarchy – all reject the ideal of world government and begin to theorize some of the elements of independent statehood. However, they do not (yet) think of the territorial kingdom or “state” in national terms. Dubois’ proposal for the recovery and settlement of the Middle East is especially revealing in this regard. In his work, the Holy Land functions as a conceptual blank slate for the projection of an ideal political order, and he envisions a multinational settlement where expatriates from all parts of Europe would live under a common legal and jurisdictional system. The chapter thus shows that the inevitable alternative to the empire was not the nation-state.