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Nation-State In Medieval Europe

Decent Essays

What is a nation-state? A nation-state is defined as a type of political organization in which a group of relatively homogenous people live in one area under one government, and its development actually traces back to the Middle Ages. Medieval Europe was unified by the Roman Catholic Church, a powerful, but corrupt, institution. This corruption, coupled with the Renaissance spirit, led to increasing dissatisfaction with the Church and sparked the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. These revolutionary ideas created conflicts between rulers, especially the triumph of the Protestant German princes over Charles V in 1555, which laid the foundations for the first true nation-states, France, Germany, and Italy, centuries later.

The Roman

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