Countries That Used To Exist In Medieval Europe
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Published 2023-08-11
▶ In this video I talk about countries that used to exist in Medieval Europe. To do this, I use a fantastic map made by reddit user ratkatavobratka, available at: www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/nd10ka/oc_europe… . Through looking at this map we are able to identify some of these "countries" or at least personal domains (duchies, counties, kingdoms) that used to exist in the year 1444, but that no longer do today. Examples of such are the Kingdom of Algarve, the Kingdom/Crown of Aragon, the Emirate of Granada, the Duchy of Brittany or the Duchy of Burgundy. At his point in history, France was not yet unified, neither was Spain, and this fragmentation of what are today the territories of modern countries was also seen elsewhere: Ireland, Russia (which saw the independent states of the Republic of Novgorod or the Grand Duchy of Moscow), Italy (where the maritime Republics of Venice and Genoa were tremendously important, even having overseas domains throughout the Mediterranean), Florence, Milan, Naples, or the Papal State). But also the Holy Roman Empire, completely fragmented, with hundreds of semi-independent domains, such as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg which was larger at the time, or the Kingdom of Bohemia, or Moravia. On the other hand, many "countries" back then held more territory than their modern counterparts. Norway held Iceland, Sweden held Finland, and Denmark held Southern Sweden - all of them temporarily united through the Kalmar Union. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was also tremendously large, occupying parts of Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine - where an independent Crimean Khanate also existed in the Peninsula and Eastern part of the modern country. In addition to Hungary, that held a significant larger territory, as did Moldova, or the Ottoman Empire - when compared to modern Turkey. Some of these old countries were destroyed through conquest, as is the example of the Republic of Novgorod. Others evolved into modern versions of themselves, as is the case of the Grand Duchy of Moscow which became the Russian Tsardom, or the Teutonic Order which eventually transformed into Prussia, leading the way to German Unification. And others which were also eventually unified, as is the case of the Italian Republics.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:50 The Concept of A Country
01:21 Kingdom of The Algarve
01:59 Divided Spain
02:14 Emirate of Granada
03:01 Kingdom of Aragon
03:31 Fragmented France
04:06 Duchy of Brittany
04:51 Kingdom/Duchy of Burgundy
06:06 Map Overview
06:20 Countries That Had More Territory Back Then
07:22 Countries That Didn't Exist Yet Due To Fragmentation
07:34 Fragmented Ireland
07:55 A Divided Russia
08:08 Republic of Novgorod
08:23 Grand Duchy of Moscow
08:45 Teutonic Order
08:52 Italy Fragmented
09:15 Republic of Venice
09:50 Republic of Genoa
10:00 Crimean Khanate
10:44 Milan, Florence, & The Papal States
10:54 Kingdom of Naples
11:06 Duchy of Savoy
11:18 The Holy Roman Empire
11:36 A Larger Luxembourg
11:40 Kingdom of Bohemia
12:13 Fate of HRE States
12:47 Summary
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All Comments (21)
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Should I do this for other continents too? If so, do you have any suggestions of old countries?
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EU4 players finally having a moment where their video game based knowledge of history is finally relevant
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Kingdom of Bohemia is to the Czech Republic what Kingdom of France is to French Republic or Kingdom of Poland to Polish Republic. Bohemia and Moravia are two separate regions, but both have been part of the same realm - both historically and currently.
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In France there is a little state who is always forgotten : the viscounty of Bearn. This state "declared" his independance in 1347 under the rule of Gaston III of Foix-Bearn, also known as Febus. This independance de facto lasted until 1620 when Louis XIII invaded this territory. For fun fact, Louis XIII was the son of Henri IV, who was viscount of Bearn before becoming king of France (he gave the Bearn to his sister).
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Bohemia/Czechia should be rather in the "Countries that had more territory back then" section. Those tiny Silesian duchies belonged to Bohemia/Czechia from the 14th century until 1742. Also, Moravia was not a separate sovereign state, it has been part of Bohemia since the 11th century until today. Its degree of autonomy varied over time but it never ceased to be part of Bohemia/Czechia.
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I find Burgundy to be particularly interesting: a kingdom from the time of the Merovingians, then the powerful duchy as was described in this video and finally being absorbed into France. Plus there was the county of Burgundy that existed along side the duchy. I'd love to see a video dedicated to the history of this state.
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Czech lands didn't actually become a part of Habsburg monarchy after the dissolution of the HRE, but were, along with Austrian lands (duh) and parts of modern day Italy and Slovenia, part of both "states" for quite a while. Bohemian crown was inherited by Ferdinand I. Habsburg in 1564. It was also somewhere around this time when the Habsburg dynasty became the de facto ruling dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. The membership of many Habsburg held lands in the HRE later became one of the reason why Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy battled it out over who would unite Germany.
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Fellow Portuguese here, great video! Very informative and easy to follow. Não diria que eras português pelo sotaque, inglês muito fluente!
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Czech and Bohemian were used in English the same. Kingdom of Bohemia was always also called Czech Kingdom. Bohemia is also one of 3 regions of the Czechia today. Prague was the capital of Bohemia since always like its capital of Czechia today. Czechia=Bohemia, its just two names for one land. If you look at Kingdom of Bohemia borders, its literally identical to Czech Republic borders today.
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Fantastic video! I needed this so much. Being a Pole from Silesia myself I have long had a hobby of reconstructing as much as possible from my local history, including "getting passed around" between fragmented dominions, duchies, countries etc. and the impact this had on the culture. Truly fascinating stuff.
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Medieval republics always fascinate me. The stereotypical view of medieval times is of kingdoms and duchies and the like, but in the likes of Venice we have "countries" that are like hybrids of the old Roman Republic and the more typical medieval realms. I think sometimes people wrongly think of them as akin to the later French Republic, but the classical Roman Republic is a much better comparison.
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I absolutely love your videos! I have collected maps and Atlas's since I was 4 ( 20 now) and always wanted to know more about the states that could have been! Also, I am learning to speak Portuguese and have visited Portugal! 🇵🇹🇧🇷
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You’re pronunciation of the Ireland’s current and historical provinces was excellent, well done 🇮🇪
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Interesting how modern czechia looks nearly exactly on this map but split into Bohemia and Moravia. Please make a part 2 for this video. Also a video on Lithuania would be amazing, very interesting how it went from this big to what we know it today
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Technically, kingdom of Sicily didn't changed its name to Naples, but still keep the name "Sicily", however said kingdom no longer control Sicily, the people tent to refer it as kingdom of Naples or citra Pharum to distinguish it with the "actual" kingdom of Sicily or ultra Pharum. And since there were 2 kingdom that both called themself "Sicily", we had a thing called "kingdom of 2 Sicilies" when European powers tried to redraw Europe post-Napoleonic wars
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Dude, I genuinely enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work.
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It is great to have a portuguese making this type of content, because finally someone mentions Portugal regularly on this contents Great work rei do caralho🇵🇹
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Bulgaria is one of the few early medieval countries that continues to exist today. Was founded in 681 AD.
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Thanks for the link to this map. It contains so much information and answers so many of my questions.
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Fantastic video! I salute you General Knowledge sir!
