The Medieval Christian Commonwealth: A theoretical approach

Abstract

This thesis will shed light on theory-change in the international relations subfield through an examination of the "international politics" of the Middle Ages--an epoch with analogies to the post-Westphalian international system that may be emerging. It will take seriously recent contributions to international relations theory that avoid impediments to theory. By examining the way in which authority patterns and their attendant human loyalties have interacted, overlapped, and evolved throughout the Middle Ages, and the manner in which different polities have competed for those loyalties, this thesis will provide an interpretation of political change that can assist scholars in understanding the transformations currently underway in the world today, contributing to the spare literature on the "international relations" of the Middle Ages by taking seriously a recent product of the more reflexive intellectual environment in international theory.