Medieval Europe was far from democratic, but that didn’t mean tyrants got a free pass

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Mixed Factuality

Independent: John K. Byrne

Independent: Michael Rogers (Publisher)

Medieval Europe was far from democratic, but that didn’t mean tyrants got a free pass

My students tend to imagine the Middle Ages as something like the “Kingdom Come” or “Total War” video games: an age of utter political chaos, when swords and daggers ruled, and masculinity and physical strength mattered more than governance. As a historian of the Middle Ages, I believe this turbulent image has less to do with reality than with medievalism – a term for how modern people have reimagined life during Europe’s Middle Ages, from rough…