SOME HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS
A. Kings
Kings are a common choice for research projects because there
often tends to be a lot of information (both primary and secondary) on
medieval rulers. If you choose to work on a king, please keep in mind that
you must choose some relatively small aspect of that king’s life for your
study. It is impossible in 8-10 pages to do more than analyze a single
episode or a single set of documents, etc. Also keep in mind that
any king by himself is only the most general of topics; you will need to
pose a specific analytical question about his reign (hopefully one that
intersects the themes of our course). For instance, a topic such as “King
Henry II’s wars” is not a very good one. It is quite vague and entirely
descriptive. A better, more analytical topic would be “Given the evidence
of the Becket dispute, what did Henry II believe was the natural extent
of a monarch’s authority?”; or, perhaps better still, “How did Henry II
use law and administration to strengthen the English monarchy?”
I list some potential monarchs below. I have placed an asterisk
next to kings particularly important in the development of political institutions
and/or ideas:
Charlemagne
Alfred the Great (England)
William the Conqueror (England)
*Henry I (England)
Stephen (England)
*Henry II (England)
*John (England)
*Henry III (England)
*Edward I (England)
*Edward III (England)
*Richard II (England)
*Henry IV (England)
*Philip II Augustus (France)
*Louis IX (St Louis) (France)
*Philip IV (France)
*Charles VII (France)
*Louis XI (France)
*Henry IV (Germany)
*Frederick I Barbarossa (Germany)
*Frederick II Stupor Mundi (Germany)
B. Popes
There also tends to be lots of available information for (certain)
popes. The same caveats I provided for kings also prevail here. You need
to choose a very small aspect of the man’s pontificate for analysis and
you need to formulate a clear analytical question. Here are some possibilities
Gregory VII (investiture)
Alexander III (canon law)
Innocent III (everything!)
Gregory IX (law, inquisition, conflict with Frederick II)
Boniface VIII (conflict with Philip IV)
C. Authors, Theorists, and/or important treatises
These men (and a few women) are attractive because they wrote
material that had lasting importance for the development of politics and
political thought. You could examine an idea as it appears in their writing,
or could attempt to demonstrate the impact of some aspect of their writing
on their age. Lots of possibilities here.
Humbert of Silva Candida (investiture controversy)
Glanvill (English law)
Henry Bracton (important treatise on English laws)
John of Salisbury (political ideas, tyrants)
Sir John Fortescue (15th century English theorist, compared England
to France)
Dante (wrote a book on monarchy; also his famous Divine Comedy)
Thomas Aquinas (great theologian; wrote on everything)
St Augustine of Hippo (a bit early, but still significant - 4th
century theologian)
Marsilius of Padua (most important original theorist of Middle
Ages)
William of Ockham (political theorist)
Giles of Rome (Aegidius Colonna) (political theorist)
John of Paris (political theorist)
Christine of Pizan (only female political theorist of M.A.)
Peter Olivi (spiritual franciscan)
Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus) (political theorist)
Hugh the Chanter, History of the Church of York, 1066-1127 (on
conflicts of jurisdiction within church)
the Dialogue of the Exchequer (treatise on English royal finance)
Law codes from any country and every period
the Customs of Beauvais (vast compilation, c.1280, of regional
French law and custom)
The Etablissements of St Louis (law/customs from western France,
13th century)
judicial duels and/or ordeals
d. Specific Events worthy of analysis
Confrontation at Canossa (or other episode[s] from investiture
controversy]
Incident at Besancon (conflict between popes and Frederick I)
Becket dispute (tons of info!)
Magna Carta
John’s conflict with Innocent III
Loss of Angevin Empire by John, 1204
Barons’ War in England (1260s-1270s, barons fought king to retain
influence)
Deposition of Edward II (1327)
Deposition of Richard II (1399)
Deposition of Henry VI (1461)
Usurpation of Richard III (1483)
Joan of Arc’s role in politics
Joan of Arc’s trial
Avignon papacy
Great schism
conciliar movement (or any one council)
some of the specific English parliaments of the 14th century
(for example, 1377)
a comparative examination of parliaments over 14th and 15th centuries
in England
Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
Revolution of Cola di Rienzo (in Rome, 1340s)
Ciompi revolt (1378)
Patarini (urban revolts of 11th century)
Communal revolts (esp. Vezelay and Bruges, for which there
is much evidence; 11th- 12th centuries)
specific matters of law and custom (marriage, divorce, lordship,
wardship, etc.)
d. Letters and Letter collections
Although perhaps not really a separate category, letters often
provide a valuable window into the publicly proclaimed ideas of medieval
political figures. Most letter collections were compiled by churchmen,
but this doesn’t mean they aren’t filled with political content. Some of
the most useful of such collections are:
Letters of Thomas Becket (12th century)
Letters of John of Salisbury (12th century)
Letters of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury (11th century)
Letters of Pope Innocent III (d. 1216)
Letters and Poems of Fulbert of Chartres (early 11th century)
Letters of St Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (d.1109;
investiture controversy in England)
Letters of Pope Gregory VII
the Paston Letters (secular aristocratic letters from 15th century)