ABSTRACT
The roots of modern European states go back to the barbarian regna which arose in the period of the collapse of the Roman Empire and the concomitant migration of peoples. It is not surprising that the regnum had little resemblance to a state, for, in the early Middle Ages, it is doubtful that anyone had a concept of a state. Some memory of the state lingered among the better-educated members of the clergy, but even they were not able to express the idea very clearly. The process of building a state out of these unpromising materials took a long time, especially as it was done almost entirely with internal resources. The Byzantine model had little influence, and the Roman model was not very well known until the revival of legal studies in the twelfth century. The mass of the population suffered from petty wars and general insecurity; it wanted more and better government, especially better administration of justice.
