AHC: Medieval Democracy

There is a very enjoyable, informative and serious documentary by Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) about medieval England. If anybody ever wanted to know were the syndicalist commune joke in Monty Python and the Holy Grail comes from watch this video on the on peasants revolt of 1381 which almost ended in a English peasant republic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg3YDN5gTX0

Then there is also this thread:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=198054
about the possibility of a successful peasant republic.
 
Well, there's Veliki Gospodin Novgorod as the largest Republic of Medieval Europe. Not sure what their percentage in electoral terms was.

I think we have to count the percentage, regarding Novgorod proper population, as it's not really technically the largest republic : just a republic with a really large condado/countryside dominated by the Novgorod, and having vassals cities just like Venice had without allowing them to participe in Novgorod's business.

For the population of Novgorod, you had not only the urban population, but as well the free peasants participating into the vietche. Probably representating a large part of the population, more than the 10% asked by the OP.
 
I think we have to count the percentage, regarding Novgorod proper population, as it's not really technically the largest republic : just a republic with a really large condado/countryside dominated by the Novgorod, and having vassals cities just like Venice had without allowing them to participe in Novgorod's business.

For the population of Novgorod, you had not only the urban population, but as well the free peasants participating into the vietche. Probably representating a large part of the population, more than the 10% asked by the OP.

Right. Most of that countryside was direct holdings by the boyars (like Kem or Borok), but the city population itself and the free peasants could participate. They just had to be physically present.
 
Something might have been possible in the Gaelic part of Ireland. If a ruler of one of the smaller kingdoms was overthrown, he could have been replaced by a tribal kind of democracy. The absence of a strong central authority would give it a chance of survival.
 
Your challenge is to establish in Europe, before the year 1450, a state with democratic institutions in Europe where 10% at minimum of the population has the right to vote and alter their government. I was thinking Flanders, personally.

San Marino already satisfies this challenge but I am assuming you want something a little bigger.
 
San Marino already satisfies this challenge but I am assuming you want something a little bigger.

Indeed. Apparently, Venice already fits the bill :) . And by 10% of the population, I mean just back. Men and women, just men, or even just women, if you can manage it.
 
Indeed. Apparently, Venice already fits the bill :) . And by 10% of the population, I mean just back. Men and women, just men, or even just women, if you can manage it.

Really, as said, you can search everywhere in Europe and found little medieval democracies autonomous if not independent.

In Spain (as the "Republic" of Cordoba during the Fitna, or spanish fueros), in Occitania (consulates/capitoulats), in France (communes, echevins), in England, in HRE (usual city-states), in Flanders, in Russia...
 
In Spain (as the "Republic" of Cordoba during the Fitna, or spanish fueros), in Occitania (consulates/capitoulats), in France (communes, echevins), in England, in HRE (usual city-states), in Flanders, in Russia...

How much do we know about Cordoba anyway? I've seen it referred to as a Republic, but wasn't it more of a typical strongman state?
 
Really, as said, you can search everywhere in Europe and found little medieval democracies autonomous if not independent.

In Spain (as the "Republic" of Cordoba during the Fitna, or spanish fueros), in Occitania (consulates/capitoulats), in France (communes, echevins), in England, in HRE (usual city-states), in Flanders, in Russia...

Most of my readings on those things didn't bring democracy up. Got sources for things, I'm curious.
 
Most of my readings on those things didn't bring democracy up. Got sources for things, I'm curious.

Well, depends of your definition of democracy. It wasn't more a democracy than Athens was by our standard of course.

Still, having head of families (whatever man or woman) or all the population (again, sometimes without differenciation of gender) participating into institutions is quite close of a democracy.

By exemple, if you search a democracy based on individual like in Greece or today, you'll search for long. But if you search as well representative and "communauties-based democracy as Rome or medieval republics...

Furthermore, if you consider Venice as a democracy, I think you'll be forced to acknowledge the others as we have the same system of a city institutions ruling over a condado.

For sources, a file I already gave in this thread.
http://pedagogie.ac-toulouse.fr/art...ture-occitane/Les_republiques_consulaires.pdf
For the occitan consulates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_commune
is a more or less correct introduction

For other sources, I can give you some in French, but I don't know any in english for this precise subject.

And I'm not talking of the process of new cities as the sauvetés/salvetats or bastids.
 
How were the Frisians Islands?

Actually, I saw some mentions about it not long ago. Allegedly, Charlemagne granteed to the Frisian to choose their own leaders among their people.

Whatever it's true or not, Frisian councils choose a ruler named (in order to imitate italian republics) a podestate.

You had aslo, from probably higher origin, rural democraties among the Frisians, but I'm not sure it wasn't comparable to anything you could found in other rural communauties.
 
Which was only the nobility....

The Polish had a lot of nobility. How could all that nobility fit? How was that even possible?

Well, it's because Polish nobility was partly non-dynastic, as in, territorial, and all the knightly and retainer classes were also counted as nobility.

I'm sure you can find higher proportions elsewhere in Europe, maybe Ireland, certainly in the Caucasus.
 
Well, it's because Polish nobility was partly non-dynastic, as in, territorial, and all the knightly and retainer classes were also counted as nobility.

I'm sure you can find higher proportions elsewhere in Europe, maybe Ireland, certainly in the Caucasus.

Also Spain and Portugal, around 10%. After that you fall at 3/4% of the population in France, less elsewhere in the west.
 
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