본문 바로가기
  • Home

The Two Neighboring Kingdoms in the Middle Ages: From a Divisive History to a “History without Demarcation”

  • Korean Review of French History
  • Abbr : KRFH
  • 2008, (19), pp.73~104
  • Publisher : KOREAN SOCIETY FOR FRENCH HISTORY
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

Baik-Yong Sung 1

1한남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article deals with the question: when the national history of France and Germany began. The focus is put on the terminological and politico-diplomatic aspects. By the late eleventh century, in the terminological aspect, there was no distinctive and current designation for each kingdom and its people in general, the one which evoked the common origin of the Frankish Kingdom no longer. By the same age, in politico-diplomatic aspect, the relationship between both kingdoms was not the external or inter-state one but essentially the internal one in the name of franternitas or amicitia. It can be accepted that the peoples’ identity was defined by the dual levels of the small regna roughly fitting with the provinces and Regnum Francorum representing an imperial order. Consequently the so-called “national monarchy” in the medium level did not constitute a political entity. The disruption of the two kingdoms was a result of the gradual “estrangement”, which was produced by their domestic and foreign situations, not by the certain consistent policies or the national sentiments. It must be kept in mind, however, that the subsequent political and military conflicts between both kingdoms were only marginal when they are compared with the frequent cultural interchanges between them.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.