Princely Brothers and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100–1250

Jonathan R. Lyon

Published by Cornell University Press 2012

Princely Brothers and Sisters

The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100–1250

Jonathan R. Lyon

https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801467851

Overview
Contents

About this book

Offering a fresh look at sibling networks and the role they played in shaping the practice of politics in the Middle Ages.

Author / Editor information

Jonathan R. Lyon is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

Sean Gilsdorf, Harvard University, author of Queenship and Sanctity: The Lives of Mathilda and the Epitaph of Adelheid:

Jonathan R. Lyon's synopses of historical events and developments, and his evaluations of historians' debates on the same, are assured and magisterial. By integrating political history with issues of kinship and family dynamics, moreover, his book builds on and goes beyond the available scholarship in English on the German regnum as well as on the medieval family.

Constance Brittain Bouchard, Distinguished Professor of HistoryThe University of Akron, author of "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted": The Discourse of Opposites in Twelfth-Century Thought:

Jonathan R. Lyon uses the history of the medieval family, which all medievalists recognize as crucial, to give new life to medieval political history. Lyon's focus on family structures breaks free of paradigms about the patrilineal medieval family, while his focus on politics restores centrality to something that must have occupied medieval people themselves. Using German sources to address questions that have previously been addressed almost exclusively through French sources, he not only argues against received opinion but offers new models for aristocratic family structure. The result is a book that is both new and important.

Jitske Jasperse:

This book is useful for those interested in twelfth- and thirteenth-century nobility and family ties because it convincingly demonstrates the importance of sibling bonds in the formation of power. As a consequence Lyon touches upon matters important for the study of lordship in the Middle Ages, such as the division of patrimony, the proximity to the emperor, the absence of heirs and the effects of mobility.

Christof Rolker:

The results of Lyon's study are impressive, and they are clear.... The rarity of serious fraternal dispute is striking, and clearly contradicts what Duby and others have asserted concerning conflicts between brothers. Thanks to the large scope of Lyon’s study, this negative finding has considerable weight and cannot be dismissed as exceptional. Lyon’s Princely Brothers and Sisters is an important and interesting book that offers a refreshing view of both medieval politics and medieval kinship.

"Jonathan Lyon's outstanding new book turns several scholarly trends of the past several decades on their head. Taking insights about family and sibling relationships from current historical and social science literaturehe applies them not to a micro-historical case studybut to the high nobility of the German empire in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries... Lyon has offered here a substantial and tremendously important reappraisal of our models of kinshipthe familyand noble power relations in the medieval German empire." —John EldevikHamilton CollegeGerman Studies Review

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
List of Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Maps Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. The Origins of Twelfth-Century Princely Lineages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
2. Forging the Bonds between Siblings: Succession, Inheritance, and Church Careers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
3. Baby Boomers: The First Generation of the Staufen Upper Aristocracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
4. Frederick Barbarossa and Henry the Lion: Cousins in an Age of Brothers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
5. Cooperation, Conflict, and the Rise of a New Generation, ca. 1180–1210 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
6. From Bamberg to Budapest: Four Brothers and Four Sisters in the Early Thirteenth Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
7. The Uncertain Future of Lineages: Siblings during the Reign of Frederick II Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
Appendix: Genealogical Charts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 312
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 45
- Tables: 22
- Other: 11 charts, 4 maps
Keywords: medieval politics; medieval families; european political history; aristocratic family structure; german family structure; sibling networks; staufen period; family history

eBook

Published: January 15, 2013
ISBN: 9780801467851