Jørgen Møller is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark, where he teaches Comparative Politics and International Relations. He has a PhD from the European University Institute, Italy. His research interests include conceptualization of democracy and the rule of law, dynamics of democratization, conflict and democratic stability, patterns of state formation, regime change and international order, and comparative methodology. Most of his recent work revolves around the medieval origins of the modern state and modern democracy. His work has been published in journals such as International Studies Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Politics, International Organization, and Sociological Methods & Research and in books with Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, and Oxford University Press. Since 2015, he has been a member of The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Jonathan Stavnskær Doucette is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark, where he teaches Comparative Politics. He has a PhD from Aarhus University, which was awarded in 2020 and concerned the roots of medieval urban self-government. His research interests include democratization, the influence of religion on regime change, and the consequences of state building. His work has been published in journals such as International Organization, British Journal of Political Science, and Perspectives on Politics. It examines the religious causes of urban regime change, and the role of the state in determining democratic success.

• Introduction: Bringing the Church Back In


• 1: The Conflict of Church and State


• 2: A New Dataset of Ecclesiastical and Lay Institutions in the Latin West


• 3: The Reform Movement and Urban Self-Government


• 4: The Invention and Spread of Representation and Consent


• 5: The Church and the Multistate System


• 6: Corollaries of the Hohenstaufen Collapse


• Conclusions: Taking Stock and Looking Forward