Centralized Kingdom Case Study

The key of the development of centralized kingdoms was that the kings extended their power in more effective ways. During the High Middle Age, the kings started to had more source of power than the Lords, and the Kings used governmental institutions, marriage and alliance to extend their power. Some examples of centralized kingdoms are England, France and Spain. England started to emerge as a Kingdom in 1066 when William of Normandy arrived to the coasts of England. King Henry II had success in strengthening the power of the royal court. The royal courts stated to expand in all the territory and the local law codes were replaced for the common law. The English parliament merged as a representative government institutions. The house of Lords was formed by the
In the case of Spain, during the Middle ages Spain was under Muslim power until the final expulsion in the 15th century. In the 11th century, a small Christian Spanish Kingdoms started to take to offensive against the Muslim. By the end of the twelve century, Spain was consulted in four different kingdoms: Castle, Aragon, Navarre and Portugal. Castle and Aragon were the two strongest Spanish Kingdoms. In the other hand, Germany and Italy did not create a centralized kingdom because of their weak kings. In Germany, the kings had come to rely on their ability to control the church and elect bishops and abbots as royal administrators. Frederick I tried to create a new kind of empire where Italy might be added as a appendage. He wanted to incorporate Rome and the Papal States into his empire. He had difficulties and finally failed. Frederick II was King of Sicily and King of Germany, and his goal was to establish a centralized state in Italy. Italy was divided in three: the papal states, the kingdom of Sicily and the republic of Venice. The northern Italy cities and the papal states did not want to give their