Open classification: world history, European history

The history of Europe we see now usually begins in Greece.

As early as the tenth century BC, the dawn of civilization began to appear in ancient Greece, and it was at this time that some ancient Greek myths began to appear in the period when the slave city-states were scattered. About BC12nd century, Greek city-states jointly explored the Trojan Kingdom in Asia Minor (now Turkey). For details, please refer to the article about the Trojan War. Although the expedition to Troy won, the losses of the Greek allied forces were also considerable, especially when they encountered a hurricane at sea on their way back, but only 23/ 10 people returned to Greece and were soon conquered by Aryans from the north.

After the Aryan conquest, hundreds of years later, the Greek city-states reappeared and prospered, and some colonies were established on the west coast of Asia Minor. At this time, the Persian Empire in West Asia grew stronger. Persia first conquered the Greek colony in Asia Minor, and then failed to attack Greece three times. This is the Greek-Persian war. Later, a Greek wrote the history of the Greek-Persian war, from which the word "history" in the European language evolved. This time is about 492 BC to 449 BC.

After the Greek-Persian War, Persia gradually declined. In order to seize hegemony, another war-the Baltic-Pennisi War-was started within the Greek city-state. The two sides of the war were Athens and its supporting city-states and Sparta and its supporting city-states: Athens was a model of Greek democracy at that time, while Sparta was a military city-state completely ruled by northern conquerors. As a result of the Baltic War, Sparta won. This time is about 43 BC1~ 406 BC.

The Baltic-Pennisi War exhausted the strength of the Greeks, and Macedonia in the north began to become strong. King Philip II of Macedonia conquered the whole of Greece when he was in power, and his son Alexander later integrated the power of Greece and began to March eastward, establishing the famous Alexander Empire in history. Philip II finally conquered Greece in 338 BC, and established the "Greek Union" in the first 337 years, that is, the "Corinthian Union". Alexander Empire: 336-323 BC. After Alexander's death, the empire collapsed and was roughly divided into three parts. Among them, the European part, the Greek mainland, changed hands several times and was finally ruled by Antioch, and was destroyed by Rome in the middle of the second century BC.

In 753 BC, Rome was built on seven mountains near the present-day city of Rome. At the beginning of the second century BC, Rome unified the Apennine Peninsula and began to expand outward. After three Punic wars, he defeated his old enemy Carthage and gained the hegemony of the Mediterranean. Octavian defeated Anthony in 30 BC. In the first 27 years, the head of state system was established, and Rome entered the imperial period. The Roman Empire continued to expand, and it was not until the end of the second century A.D. that the map of the empire was finally determined: the Mediterranean became its inner lake, with west Asia in the east, Egypt in the south, Great Britain in the north and the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Rome was strong for more than a hundred years, and in the third century, the empire began to have a crisis of rule; At the beginning of the fourth century, the center of gravity of the empire moved eastward; In 395, the empire was formally divided into two parts: East and West.

The split period of Roman Empire was a famous period of Germanic migration in history. The rule of the Western Roman Empire lasted less than a hundred years, and Rome was broken by the Germans several times. In 475 AD, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire was abolished by the Visigoths, and the Western Roman Empire perished.

After the demise of the Western Roman Empire, the Germans established some small kingdoms on the ruins of the Western Roman Empire, the most important of which were the Visigoth Kingdom in Iberia Peninsula, the Frankish Kingdom in Western Europe and several kingdoms established by the Anglo-Saxons who crossed the sea to the island of Great Britain. In the 7th century, the Arab Empire in West Asia rose. In 7 1 1 year, the Arab army crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and entered Spain, and then began to conquer the Iberian Peninsula. Christians who did not want to be ruled by Arabs retreated to the northern mountainous areas to carry out resistance activities and began the seven-century recovery movement. After early development, the Frankish kingdom reached its heyday when Charles was in power. Shortly after Charlie's death, his three grandchildren signed a peace treaty in Aachen, which divided the empire into three parts, the west later developed into France and the east into Germany. At this time, England in the south of the British Isle was in the period of coexistence of the seven kingdoms, and soon it was unified. Later it was invaded by the Danes, but it was quickly recovered. The Anglo-Saxon dynasty lasted until the Norman Conquest 1066.

The Carolingian dynasty, which ruled France (the West Frankish Kingdom), died in 987. Some big noble elected Hugh Capet, the Earl of Paris, as king. He strengthened centralization and established the Cape dynasty. The Cape dynasty was followed by the Valois dynasty and the Bourbon dynasty. Bourbon dynasty was overthrown in the Great Revolution, and Napoleon was temporarily restored after being exiled.

In 962 AD, King Otto II of Germany (Eastern Frankish Kingdom) was crowned as "Emperor of Rome" in Rome, and the "Holy Roman Empire" was established, that is, the first German Empire. The Holy Roman Empire has long been divided by vassals, and there was a brief chaos after early dynasties such as Saxony, Sarian, Hohenstaufen and welf. Later, the seven emperors system was formed, and the throne finally fell into the hands of the Habsburg family and was controlled for a long time. The Holy Roman Empire perished in 1804 and was abolished by Napoleon. The more important vassal States in the Holy Roman Empire are: Austria (Habsburg family, centered on Vienna, later gained the rule of Bohemia, Hungary and other places) and Prussia (Hornsoren family, starting from the Brandenburg border, was called the kingdom in 170 1 year, and later unified Germany). Please refer to relevant materials for details.

Burgundy has been independent for a long time. /kloc-In the 5th century, duke of burgundy boldly killed Charlie, and Burgundy was the last heir. The territory was mainly inherited by the Habsburg family, and the Franche-Conte region was inherited by the French.

Poland, a kingdom established by Slavs, was a powerful country in Central Europe in the early Middle Ages. Later, due to big noble's too powerful domestic power and scattered kingship, Poland gradually declined and was divided up by Russia, Poland and Austria for the last three times.

Hungary, a kingdom founded by magyars, was a powerful country in Central Europe in the early Middle Ages and was briefly merged with Poland. 1526 After Louis died, the Hungarian crown fell into the hands of the Habsburg family.

Russians are a branch of Slavs. They got into a scuffle in the early Middle Ages. Later, they invited a group of Vikings from northern Europe as lords, that is, the Kingdom of Ross. After the Mongols' Western Expedition, the Ross area was controlled by the Mongols. Later, the principality of Moscow gradually developed, and in the16th century, it announced that it would inherit the crown of the Eastern Roman Empire, that is, tsarist Russia. Russia has long fought against Sweden in the north and Osman in the south, and expanded eastward. After the reform of Peter I and Catherine II, Russia reached its peak and became the largest country in the world at that time, but serfdom has been seriously hindering Russia's development.

Although the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire, that is, the Byzantine Empire, has briefly expanded, the overall trend is still decreasing. 1453 was destroyed by the emerging Ottoman Empire.

1066, William, Duke of Normandy, France, obtained the right of succession to the king of England, but the English nobles elected Khalid as king, and William led the army across the sea. In the battle, Khalid was shot to death by an arrow, William became the king of England, and founded the Normandy dynasty in England, that is, the Norman conquest. After Normandy, Britain experienced Plantagenet Dynasty (Anjou Dynasty), Lancaster Dynasty, York Family, Dodo Dynasty and Dodo Dynasty, and Elizabeth I never married. She passed the throne to her distant relative, King James VI of Scotland, who was called King James I of England. James I was the first king who unified Great Britain and became the Stuart dynasty. After James I's death, his son Charles I succeeded to the throne. Later, the bourgeois revolution broke out in Britain. After the Glorious Revolution, Britain experienced Stuart Dynasty, house of hanover and today's Windsor royal family.

After the Arabs invaded Iberia, there has been a Christian resistance movement in the northern mountainous areas. Later, these Christians integrated and established kingdoms such as Castilla, Leon, Navarra and Aragon. After the decline of Arabia, these Christian kingdoms began to expand, and Castilla and Aragon merged into the Kingdom of Spain, which had previously formed the Kingdom of Portugal in the southwest of Iberia. After the victory of Zionism, Spain and Portugal sought overseas expansion and began to open up new routes. Later they colonized America and engaged in the slave trade.

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King _ Duke _ Marquis _ Count _ Viscount _ Baron

The formation of feudal system in western Europe is a complicated topic in itself. Many scholars trace the germination of feudalism back to the social structure in the late Roman Empire and the initial military organization of Germanic barbarians. Among them, Frank's retinue system (or pro-soldier system) had a great influence on the formation of feudal system. In order to ensure the stability of his political power, the ruler of a field often "relies on his retinue composed of reliable soldiers to build a bridge between himself and the lower class people who are completely ruled", so he "gives them the land as a fief from the land management area he controls"; And his immediate vassal "often divided his fief into small pieces and awarded it to his retinue members". The enfeoffment of this land is a process in which barbarian rulers try to bring the framework of personal relations into the running ruling structure, with the ultimate goal of establishing "a national feudal society as an individual alliance is originally a" military society ". [5](p.249) With the expansion of Frankish rule in the 6th-8th century, this political operation mechanism gradually extended to the whole of Western Europe.

However, before the middle of the 9th century, what existed in Western Europe could only be regarded as a quasi-feudal country. After the collapse of Charlemagne Empire, feudalism in Western Europe came into maturity. [6] (page 353) The most fundamental difference between the so-called "quasi-feudal" country and mature feudalism lies in whether the feudal territory is hereditary. In the Frankish kingdom before Charlemagne's death, the ruler gave him vassal territory only as a reward for his personal loyalty. A vassal owns territory for a certain period of time, at most for life. After his death, his territory will be taken back by the ruler. [7](p. 160) In this way, the Frankish king avoided the division of political rule. In addition, in the prosperous period of the Frankish kingdom in the 8th-9th century, commerce, trade and currency were still prevalent, and the rulers could also pay the vassals with money. [8] (page 82) Therefore, fiefs are not the only means to gain loyalty. In fact, Charlemagne attached great importance to the integrity of state authority, and he was very cautious about the enfeoffment system. Charlemagne "never awarded more than one county to any earl, except for the earl who happened to be stationed at the border or in the inhabited area of barbarians". His reason is: "with that income or that property ... I can make a vassal loyal, and he will be as good as any bishop or earl, or even better." [9](p.50) The actual effect of this policy is to keep the aristocratic territory in a small range and stagger with the parish system of the Christian church, thus eliminating the danger of the aristocratic territory going its own way.

However, after Charlemagne's death, Caroline Empire was plunged into civil war, invaded by foreign enemies from magyars, Vikings and Arabs, and Charlemagne's efforts to curb big noble's separatist tendency were in vain. Cannibalism among Charlemagne's descendants led to the sharp decline of imperial power. In order to defeat their competitors, Charlemagne's grandchildren scrambled to win over some powerful big noble. However, with frequent wars and interrupted trade, currency lost its original value, and land became the main means for monarchs to buy off vassals. Therefore, they abandoned Charlemagne's strategy of limiting the size of aristocratic territory and began to allow the same person to own more than one county territory. When some nobles are strengthened by the expansion of their territory, the kings will naturally make new concessions to them and give them the hereditary right of their territory. The bald Charlie of the West Frankish Kingdom started this trend. In 877, he issued an imperial edict recognizing that his son would inherit his father's territory. In northern Italy, due to the weakness of Charlemagne's eldest grandson Rothel, the independence of aristocratic lords was more thorough. When Otto I and his descendants conquered the region, Rothel was forced to acknowledge the fait accompli of hereditary system of princes in northern Italy. The territory of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom was hereditary later, but in the period of Conrad II (1024- 1039), the aristocratic territory in the Holy Roman Empire was also hereditary, marked by the famous Milan Decree (1037). The principle established by Milan decree is that no Lord (whether bishop, abbot, marquis, earl or any other Lord) can be deprived of his territory unless he is collectively convicted of a crime by his peers, according to the laws of our ancestors; When the vassal thinks that he may lose his territory because of the unfair treatment of the Lord or the Lord at the same level, he can appeal to the Supreme Court of the Empire. The Lord's territory should be inherited by his son or grandson. If there are no children, they can be inherited by their brothers or half-brothers. [10] (pages 383-384)

The significance of hereditary territory is that the Lord regards his territory as his private property, and the kingship or government power is allocated to the powerful, and no kingship can be recovered. The grand hereditary lords can do their own thing in their own hereditary territory, manage all kinds of affairs in the territory with full power, and exclude the royal power from interfering in the internal affairs of the territory. They can further enfeoffment and obey their own princes, and set up a court to solve disputes between princes. [1 1] (page 45-50) Henry Haram summed up the privileges of French feudal lords in the heyday of feudalism: (1) coinage; (2) launching a private war; (3) Exempt from all public taxes except providing financial support to lords; (4) get rid of judicial control; (5) exercising judicial power within its own territory. "These privileges are so extensive and so opposed to all sovereignty principles that we can regard France as a consortium of many countries in a strict sense." [7] (page 205)

This situation that the authority of the central government is excluded from the local political field is related to the changes in European social and economic structure. During the process of hereditary territory in western Europe in the 9th-11century, with the extension of civil war and private war and the constant invasion of foreign countries, freemen were not effectively protected by kingship and were forced to rely on local powerful lords to survive in chaotic days. Freemen attached themselves to the Lord by dedicating their land to the Lord and then recovering it under feudal conditions; The more popular method is to force freemen to admit that they are vassals of a certain Lord, thus acknowledging the so-called "grant" of real estate that never existed; As a vassal of the Lord, freemen are sheltered by the Lord, but at the same time they have to fulfill their obligations such as providing labor to the Lord. Their personal freedom was greatly deprived and they became serfs. This process first developed in the West Frankish Kingdom, which was most invaded by the Vikings, and gradually spread to Italy and Germany. With the attachment of a large number of serfs, feudal owners mastered a more solid economic foundation, so feudalism expanded from the initial military mechanism to the organization of economic production. [12](p.38) The economy of feudal organizations is a closed natural economy, and castles are widely built in Western Europe (Note: the rise of castles occurred in West Frank earlier, but it did not appear until the late 20th century in Germany, about 165438+. See J.W. Thompson: Germany in Feudal Times. ) is a symbol of this economic form. With the maturity of feudalism, the castle structure in western Europe has gradually improved. In the West Frank area, the wooden fortress buildings in the 10 century gave way to the stone buildings after the 1 10 century. The castle emphasizes the state of affairs that "the authority of the Lord is based on the local reality of owning land"; It is a symbol of strength. Although it is sometimes used as a weapon of repression, it is also used as a means to protect surrounding villages. "Lords and bannermen, servants and farmers dine together in order in the tall hall of the castle, which reflects that these people have formed a society bound by two-way obligations and existing within the country.

Castle is the core of feudal society in western Europe, but between the highest kingship and the lowest serf, there is not only one layer of lords, but several levels. Each Lord can divide his territory into several pieces and seal them to his subordinates, thus forming a pyramid-shaped ladder network. The big Lord is a vassal relative to the king or emperor, and the king and emperor are his lords, but the small and medium-sized aristocrats who are enfeoffed by the big Lord are lords, and the people he enfeoffed are his vassals; And so on, until the lowest ordinary knight. Lords and princes at all levels bear responsibilities and obligations to each other according to the contract. In continental Europe, vassals are usually only responsible to their immediate lords, forming the principle that "my vassal is not my vassal". However, the situation in England is different. 1086, William the conqueror called all feudal lords, big and small, to swear allegiance to the royal family, and the lords at all levels were directly related to the king. [14] This is the characteristic of British feudalism. In fact, the specific responsibilities, obligations and modes of operation between lords and vassals in various parts of Europe are different, and there is no unified rule; The feudal system of the Holy Roman Empire is very different from that of Britain. The situation in France and Spain is very different, and the practices in Germany and Italy are not exactly the same. This is exactly one aspect of the "unsystematic" feudalism in Western Europe, as the famous historian Wells emphasized: "Feudalism in its heyday was just unsystematic. This is a roughly organized state of chaos. " (page 638)

However, the feudal system in western Europe still has some universal norms. Generally speaking, there is a two-way relationship between feudal lords and vassals, and they must bear a series of responsibilities and obligations for each other. In addition to giving vassals fiefs as resources for their weapons, food, clothing and other expenses, vassals also have the responsibility to protect them from any harm, while vassals must swear allegiance to the Lord and perform various obligations to the Lord. These obligations generally include fighting with the Lord at the call of the Lord, assisting the Lord in handling administrative and judicial affairs, and making donations when there are special things (such as ransom for capturing the Lord, marriage of children, etc.). ). [10] (page 367-368) The vassal must abide by all kinds of due obligations stipulated in the feudal contract, otherwise he will commit a "felony" and may lose his fief; And if he can fulfill his obligations, his fief can be passed down from generation to generation, and the Lord must not be absent without reason. Similarly, if the Lord fails to fulfill his duty to protect the vassal, or is unfair to the vassal, the vassal can declare the oath of allegiance to the Lord lifted. /kloc-In the late 20th century, some jurists expounded the feudal master-slave relationship. Influenced by Roman law, these fief jurists attach great importance to the difference between "direct dominator" and "user". [2] (page 220) They attach equal importance to the rights of both, and think that "feudal dependency is a right. [16] (page 98-99) The traditional oath of Aragon nobles to the king is the best evidence: "People who are as good as you swear to those who are not as good as us, acknowledging that you are our king and supreme Lord, as long as you obey our status and laws; If not, the above oath is invalid. "[17] (p.54)

Hereditary feudal owners cherish their rights, and safeguarding these rights is their sacred cause of maintaining honor; Compared with this cause, loyalty to superior lords-at the highest level, obedience to kingship (that is, state power) seems to be in a secondary position. 1022, the Duke of Blay sent a letter to his Lord, the French king Robert, which clearly showed the mentality of feudal lords. When the Duke of Blay learned that the king would deprive him of his fief through court trial, he refused to attend the trial, but believed that the king would protest. "He said in the letter ... anyone will think that I am worthy of inheriting [property]. As for the fief I got from you, it is obviously not owned by you as a king, but I thank you for your kindness, which I inherited from my ancestors ... Really, why can't I defend my self-esteem? I asked God to prove my own soul. I would rather die with honor than live without self-esteem. [4] (Page 36-37)

Based on this belief, disputes between lords and lords and between lords and vassals in the Middle Ages are common. Some disputes can be resolved through the collective ruling of the lords at the same level or the arbitration of the superior lords' court, but some disputes can only be resolved by force without ruling, which leads to a very common private war between nobles. /kloc-In the middle of the 3rd century, the French king issued imperial edicts for many times, forbidding princes to fight with each other in the territory directly under the royal family, which can prove the universality of this kind of private fighting. Another proof of the universality of aristocratic private wars is the Christian church's efforts to curb private wars: at the end of the 9th century, several religious conferences in France (989, 990 and 994) stipulated a convention called "Peace with God", calling on feudal lords and feudal warriors not to plunder church property, the old, the weak and the sick for a certain period of time. This custom became popular in other parts of Europe in the middle of 1 1 century, and its name was "Truce of God". The feudal warriors were required to support the church and stop all wars from sunset on Wednesday to sunrise on Monday every week. [10] (PP.412-417) However, from the opposite point of view, "God's Truce" means that feudal warriors can solve their disputes by force in the other three days of the week.

Disputes between feudal lords and emperors should also be included in the category of private struggles, because in the eyes of feudal lords, monarchs are not the highest holders of power, but also vassals in a sense, that is, vassals of God. Defender of feudal rights, the author of "Defending Rights against Tyrants" declared: "God granted a king to his kingdom, almost like a vassal was granted a fief by their Lord. We must come to the conclusion that the king is a vassal of God. If they commit a great crime, they will be deprived of the rights and interests obtained from the Lord ... Since God occupies the position of the supreme Lord and the king is a vassal, who can deny that we must obey the Lord of God instead of the king as a vassal? " [16](p.99) So who will exercise this deprivation of the monarch? Nature is a feudal Lord who thinks he acts according to God's will. They often collectively resist the monarch in the name of God. For example,/kloc-At the beginning of the 3rd century, the leader of the British aristocratic armed forces who rebelled against King John called himself "Commander-in-Chief of the Army of God and Holy Church". [18] (p.67) The battle ended with 12 15' s Magna Carta of Freedom, and the British nobles successfully restricted the king's power and protected many of their rights.

In Germany, feudal princes rebelled more resolutely against their Lord, the Holy Roman Emperor. The feudal separatist forces in Germany originated from the military leader system of Germanic tribes. Charlemagne strongly suppressed the power of the ancient Germanic duke, but he never completely eradicated it. After the death of Charlemagne, the separatist forces in the Eastern Frankish Kingdom gradually recovered. Since Otto I, the Holy Roman Empire has seen many emperors with great talents and martial arts, but in Germany, they can only be the first of several great rulers. Therefore, the crowns of Germanic kings and holy Roman emperors belonged to Saxon family (9 19- 1024), Frankish family (1024-125) and Saxon family (1/kloc) The leaders of several Germanic principalities can recognize the status of the king and emperor, and swear allegiance to the emperor from time to time, but they never want to admit that their principality was obtained from the king or their territory was obtained from the king. They claim that their territory is "Sonnenlehen", that is, the territory taken from the sun, to emphasize their complete freedom. [19] (pp. 293-294) Once the opportunity came, German vassals always resisted the authority of the emperor without hesitation and insisted on their independent rights.

In this way, the feudal political mechanism is based on the unstable behavior norms between lords and vassals at all levels. This set of norms essentially belongs to the category of private law and cannot be confused with the public law of modern countries. Public law in the modern sense hardly existed in medieval Europe. Therefore, some scholars say that "in feudal countries, private law replaced the status of public law." Wells added: "More precisely, public law has declined and disappeared, and private law has filled this vacuum; Public responsibility has become a private obligation. "[15] (page 640)

Because the ladder network between lords and vassals was destroyed, the boundaries of feudal countries were also chaotic. What the monarch rules is not the rule of a certain region, but the extension of "rights" in his hands. Among the so-called feudal "rights", dynasty inheritance caused by marriage has special significance. In medieval Europe and even early modern Europe, dynastic succession played a considerable role in international politics. Personal inheritance arranged by the dynastic hereditary system is a natural partner for the survival of a country, and the marriage between members of the royal family can lead to the merger or even division of the country like property. Therefore, "diplomats spend a lot of time on dowry, which is an international transaction about inheritance or potential inheritance." [2 1](p.94) This situation was well reflected in the Gaby Dynasty of France (987- 1328). Louis VI (1081-137) arranged for his son Louis VII (1137-1/80) and Alina, the heiress of aquitaine family. However, in 1 152, Alina's divorce from Louis VII suddenly wiped out this achievement, and then Alina's remarriage with Henry, Earl of Anjou (King Henry II of England) made the territory of the French vassal state expand to a terrible scale. [22] (page 107)

Based on the changing marriage inheritance system and uncertain private contractual relationship, the territory of feudal countries (if the territory of these monarchies is called "countries" for the time being) is extremely vague. For example, Henry II (1154-1189) ruled Britain and was also the Duke of Normandy, the Earl of Anjou, the Earl of Thuringia and the Earl of Mann. His power "extends from the Arctic Ocean to the Pyrenees", and England is only one of his provinces. But as the Lord of Normandy and other territories, he should also be the vassal of the French king, so he had to go to Paris to visit the French king to show his loyalty. [23] (PP 184, 187) At this time, the French king was nominally the Lord of Henry II, and he had no sovereignty over the English kingdom of Henry II, even over Normandy and other places, and actually could not exercise effective jurisdiction. Before deciding to control Normandy, King Philip II of France had to deprive King John of his fief as a Lord in France in 1202, and then sent troops to capture the Principality of Normandy. [24](p.7) And when Pope Innocent III deposed John and invited Philip II as king of England 12 13 years, the French king might even put England under his personal rule. [25](p.32) It is difficult to determine the ruling area of the French king. Although the Kingdom of France should include the territory roughly equivalent to the original Kingdom of West Franks, people at that time often only regarded the small piece of royal territory around Paris as France. By the end of 13, the power of the French king had been greatly expanded. Officials in some places in southern France, such as Toulon, used to say "send envoys to France", which means to send people to Paris. [26] (p. 388) Similarly, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was nominally the Lord of the governors of many places in northern Germany and Italy, but his rule over these areas was extremely weak. But as the king of Sicily, he can exercise extremely harsh rule in the periphery of this Christian country and deprive nobles, priests and cities of many rights. In addition, he was crowned king of Jerusalem in 1229, which extended his influence to the eastern Mediterranean. [27] (page 466)

The monarchs of these feudal countries in western Europe lack stable territory, so they can neither implement unified management internally nor communicate with each other as monarchs on an equal footing. A typical example is that King Edward III of England visited France on 1329 and was warmly received by King Philip V of France in Amiens. However, Edward III hesitated whether to surrender to the French king (traditionally a ceremony of shaking hands between the hands of the Lord), and his counselor suggested that he wait until he returned to England to consult the relevant ancient contracts before deciding the etiquette of the French king. After consulting the old contract, Edward III wrote a letter to Philip V, which said: "We have made it clear what etiquette is (English kings treat French kings), so we are writing to inform you that this should be a gift from our ministers in front of the House of Lords in Amiens. [10](p.366) This incident shows that the relationship between Britain and France mainly depends on the contractual norms concluded between the ancestors of two monarchs, rather than the equality law between countries. Nine years later, in order to fight against Philip V, Edward III actively sought an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire. His alliance with the German emperor was loyal to the Bavarian Emperor Louis, and he volunteered to be a vassal of the emperor. The emperor appointed Edward III as the emperor's agent in West Germany. Then Edward called the governor of West Germany and asked them to send troops to attack the French king for him. [28](p.22) It can be seen that the alliance between Western European countries in the Middle Ages is also based on personal contracts, and the nature of the relationship between countries is completely equal to that between people, but it is different at the level. It is in this sense that Carlton Hayes claimed that there was no "international relations" in medieval Europe.

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