ABSTRACT
The mid-thirteenth century saw the most important changes to the European body politic during the entire Middle Ages. For almost three centuries the German Empire had been the dominant power in Christendom. The authority of the German rulers rested upon three principal supports. The first was the scale of their resources. Second, the German rulers in the later twelfth century still exercised effective control over much of the Church within their kingdom. Third, there was the prestige and authority of the royal and imperial title. Whether the imperial coronation in Rome actually added anything extra to the ruler's authority in Germany is a moot point – although perhaps in Italy it did. The political crisis after 1198 revealed the fragility of the crown's authority – and not just in that the succession was disputed, and a lengthy civil war took place.
