ABSTRACT
This volume contributes to ongoing debates on the nature and character of territory as a meaningful spatial category and analytical tool for historical studies on power relations in late medieval and early modern Europe. As a concept, territory is often associated with state-formation processes and (perhaps unwittingly) with modern ideas of the nation state. This association makes it difficult for historians of pre-modern Europe to use the term without risking an ahistorical approach. Inspired by the historical geographer Stuart Elden, who in his work shows the usefulness of the concept of territory as an analytical tool, we invited several historians and literary historians to tackle these conceptual and methodological challenges via analyses of the ways in which different political actors were involved in the construction and representation of (feudal, judicial, fiscal, and military) territories and boundaries. The idea central to this volume is that the concept of territory allows us to grasp pre-modern relations between power, people, and space, as long as its meaning is not narrowed down to simply an enclosed geographical area. Moreover, to grasp territorial practices and the perception of territory by different political actors in society, it is important not to limit case studies to administrative sources, but also to include narrative texts, heraldic images, and cartographic sources.
