Give one reason why nationalism did not exist in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Answers
Answer:
Nationalism did not exist in Europe in the Middle Ages because at that time the European countries were ruled by monarchs and people were loyal to their king and not to their country. There was a lack of a strong national government. The concept of a 'nation' was absent them.
Answer:
A more pertinent question would be why did nationalism arise at a later period of history.
It is nationalism which is the historic aberration that we’ve been dealing with for absolute max 500 years. It is nationalism which is a deviation from the natural order.
When you think about it, nationalism really doesn’t make a lick of sense; why should you care so much about the people in one random down hundreds of miles away that you have nothing to do with whilst you absolutely detest the people in the town on the other side of the river?
How is the language people speak somehow the main thing that defines who is on your side rather than any other aspect of your life or beliefs?
A large part of the reason nationalism arose was as part of the centralising push of monarchs.
In the middle ages monarchs had to deal with feudalism. They tended not to be actually all that wealthy in themselves, rather they depended on the people below them who depended on the people below them. Personal relationships were everything. And this led to a very tenuous grasp on power for the monarch.
It was realised however, if they could reimagine their domain as a nation and redirect the people’s loyalty towards the country, of which they were the personification, then they could greatly boost their own power at the nobles expense.
The nobility of course didn’t much like this idea and resisted it as long as they could.