ABSTRACT
If medieval kingdoms, principalities and lordships were states then the work must be part – and an important part – of the historiography of the state. The most striking aspect of the way that medieval historians write about polities from the tenth century on – whether or not they call them states – is the degree to which it varies in the different traditions of historiography that have developed within the boundaries of modern states. Historians of medieval Europe may in some ways have found their view of the state impeded by all the work that has been done on the origin of the modern state. Medieval ideas of justice and custom limited the rights of rulers, just as the practicalities of communication made it difficult for them to enforce their rights over those to whom they delegated local authority.
