ABSTRACT
To begin with a digression, a chapter devoted to examining whether or not the historian is entitled to use the category nation to describe a number of societies in the Middle Ages may tax the reader’s patience. The most obvious prejudice may be conveyed rather innocently, in the chronological sequence of the categories antiquity, Middle Ages, and modern times. There certainly were in antiquity markets, international trade, private property, contracts, laws, courts, and large metropolises. While there were numerous city-states and empires, there were also nations. Historical categories such as antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and modern times are tools to aid our understanding of an enormous amount of evidence. There are complications as to how one should understand what the historian might mean by the category of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the exercise of authority tended to be limited because it was fragmented.
