State and Nobility in Early Modern Germany: The Knightly Feud in Franconia, 1440-1567 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History): The Knightly Feud in ... (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)

One of the most striking features of late medieval and early modern German was the countless feuds carried out by nobles. A constant threat to law and order, these feuds have commonly been regarded as a manifestation of the decline - economic and otherwise - of the nobility. This study shows that the nobility was not in crisis at this time. Nor were feuds merely banditry by another name. Rather, they were the result of an interplay between two fundamental processes: princely state-building, and social stratification among the nobility. Offering a new paradigm for understanding the German nobility, this book argues that the development of the state made proximity to princes the single most decisive factor in determining the fortune of a family. The result was a violent competition among the nobility over resources which were crucial to the princes. Feuds played a central role in this struggle that eventually led to the formation of an elite of noble families on whose power and wealth the princely state depended. This book offers a new paradigm of the history of the German nobility in the early modern period. It shows that, contrary to the prevailing view, the nobility was not in a period of crisis that facilitated the rise of the state. Rather, the nobility underwent a process of social stratification in the wake of the growth of the state. This process led to the formation of an 'elite of wealthy noble families on whose co-operation the state depended. This alliance, and not a presumed partnership between rulers and bourgeoisie, was the driving force in early modern Germany. 'All Germany is a gang of bandits and, among the nobles, the more grasping the more glorious' - a Roman cardinal thus summed up the state of the German nation in the late Middle Ages. A new and revisionary account of how the nobility grew and developed in late medieval and early modern Germany Hillay Zmora. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 204-228) And Index.