Mann and Men in a Medieval State: The Geographies of Power in the Middle Ages |
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Authors: | Rhys Jones |
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Affiliation: | Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Llandinam Building, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DB email: |
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Abstract: | The state-making process represented a major institutional change, as societies moved from being organized according to notions of kinship to being ordered around the power exercised by kings over defined territories. The paper focuses on the medieval state-making process, primarily in a Welsh context; building on Michael Mann's notion of power networks, it is suggested that the mapping of the geographies of power within a society may offer a powerful tool for demonstrating the tentative and gradual nature of this process. Such a methodology also stresses the importance of geography in such a major change in human history. |
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Keywords: | Wales state formation power networks Middle Ages |
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