"During the central Middle Ages (c.950-1200) kingship became the natural form of government in Latin Europe. In addition to the erstwhile parts of the Carolingian empire and parts of Britain, new kingdoms emerged in Central Europe, Scandinavia, Iberia and the Mediterranean. In some ways, this truly was an age of kings. Yet what did kingship actually mean to contemporaries? The book answers this question by following the stages of the king-making process: from the creation of royal title, through succession and election to the extended inauguration of a new monarch and his first few years on the throne. As a result, the book offers the first transeuropean exploration of royal lordship. It further breaks new ground by shifting attention away from the ruler to the wider community of the king's leading subjects - princes and earls, bishops and abbots. What did they expect kings to do? How could they prevent tyrants, grifters and the untrustworthy from seizing the reins of power? And how did they deal when confronted with the inevitable clash between norm and reality, between what should be and what actually was?"--