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Watts, John. The making of polities: Europe, 1300-1500

Watts, John. The making of polities: Europe, 1300-1500

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Watts, John. The making of polities: Europe, 1300-1500.

There is no doubt that the medieval period was marred with a lot of conflicts. However,

cooperation and piece had to be reinstated through the use of different resolutions. In the

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, European jurisdictions that were potentially poised for

clashes resolved their differences through two means; treaties and hegemony of power.

The first method of brokering peace between warring territories was the “negotiation

treaties, charters or other agreements between powers that essentially wished to exclude each

other, or at least determine their common boundaries” (282). The island of Sicily is an example

of a fourteenth century territory which used this approach in the 1302 Treaty of Caltabelotta.

One characteristic of formal treaties were the short spans in events that the signatories of such

treaties have more independence. Watts notes that the failure of this type of settlements was due

to the reluctance of the parties to commit. The parties are said to be “merely suspending the

pursuit of their rights which they intended to resume when the circumstances changed” (Watts

283).

Other than treaties, resolutions were made in the form of recognition of the “hegemony of

one power over another” in return for compromise (Watts 283). One flaw of this type of

settlement revolved around the fact that the parties tend to reshape the agreement as their status

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changes. It is usually threatened if the subordinates in the settlement are autonomous. This

approach to solution of potential conflict between jurisdictions only saw more ‘regnal polites’

acquire substantial hegemony by the turn on the sixteenth century.

Other than the Treaty of Caltabelotta, medieval territories and jurisdictions used treaties

such as the 1360 Treaty of Bretigny-Calais, the 1937 Union of Kalmar, and the 1374 statute of

Koszyce. These treaties form great examples of this resolution mode as they exhibited all the

differing characteristics of a treaty.

Treaty of Bretigny-Calais is perhaps the best example of how treaties can be used to solve

conflict between states. At the height of their majestic powers, England and France were greatly

dominant in the European religion, governance and finance. Their powers and influence created a

strong rivalry that was common for all great empires. King John II of France and King Edward

III of England were the parties responsible for the signing of the treaty on 25May 1360. With its

signing, the first phase of the Hundred’s Year’s War was ended. The genesis of the treaty,

however, can be traced to 1356 when France started to loosen its grip and influence over its

territories.

In the 1356 Battle of Pointers, the King John II of France was captured by the English.

The imprisonment of its King and the conflicts in Paris considerably weakened the hand of the

French influence in Europe. This situation forced their hand to enter resolution to end its war

with England. With the English harboring reservation about the ability of the French to honor the

treaty after their 1359 Treaty of London, the negotiations dragged on for longer than anticipated.

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Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Watts, John.?The making of polities: Europe, 1300-1500. There is no doubt that the medieval period was marred with a lot of conflicts. However, cooperation and piece had to be reinstated through the use of different resolutions. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, European jurisdictions that were potentially poised for clashes resolved their differences through two means; treaties and hegemony of power. The first method of brokering peace between warring territories was the "negotiation treaties, charters or other agreements between powers that essentially wished to exclude each other, or at least determine their common boundaries" (282). The island of Sicily is an example of a fourteenth century territory which used this approach in the 1302 Treaty of Caltabelotta. One characteristic of formal treaties were the short spans in events that the signatories of such treaties have more independence. Watts notes that the failure of this type of settlements was due to the reluctance of the parties to commit. The parties are said to be "merely suspending the pursuit of their rights which they intended to resume when the circumstances changed" (Watts 283). Other than treaties, resolutions were made in the form of recognition of the "hegemony of one power over another" in return for compromise (Watts 283). One flaw of this type of settlement revolved around the fact that the parties tend to reshape the agreement as their status changes. It i ...
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