List of figures                            ix
Preface                                            xi
    1 Introduction                                 1  (19)
      1.1 Organism into artefact                   3  (4)
      1.2 Fighting the modernist cause - a lost    7  (2)
      cause?
      1.3 Turning constructivism downside up       9  (4)
      1.4 The impact of Antiquity, or the power    13 (3)
      of anachronism
      1.5 Nationalism: promoter of historical      16 (4)
      scholarship?
    2 The modernist paradigm: strengths and        20 (14)
    weaknesses
      2.1 Nationalism without nationalists         22 (1)
      2.2 Strengths and shortcomings               23 (3)
      2.3 Fake communities by `fake'               26 (3)
      constructivists
      2.4 Modernist myopia and the `invention      29 (5)
      of tradition'
    3 Foundations of a new nationalism theory      34 (16)
      3.1 How to describe the nation?              35 (3)
      3.2 Equality and multipolarity               38 (2)
      3.3 The nation: a product of failed          40 (4)
      imperialisms
      3.4 Competing for honour and freedom         44 (3)
      3.5 Definitions                              47 (3)
    4 Killing and dying for love: the common       50 (28)
    fatherland
      4.1 Cicero and the construction of the       53 (5)
      ideal patriot
      4.2 Ascetic love                             58 (2)
      4.3 Patriotic distortions of politics        60 (2)
      4.4 Patriotism's smooth transition from      62 (2)
      republic to principate
      4.5 From earth to heaven and back: the       64 (2)
      Middle Ages
      4.6 A multitude of New Israels and New       66 (3)
      Romes
      4.7 Legal scholars: the King's patriotic     69 (2)
      citizens
      4.8 The downgrading of Empire and Papacy     71 (7)
    5 Competing for honour: the making of          78 (26)
    nations in late medieval Europe
      5.1 Corporative honour: `nationes' at        79 (2)
      medieval universities
      5.2 From concrete to abstract                81 (7)
      communities: the `nationes' at the
      Council of Constance
      5.3 The new dimensions of national honour    88 (7)
      5.4 National honour: symptom of an           95 (3)
      overheating economy of honour
      5.5 How to measure the standing of a         98 (3)
      nation?
      5.6 National honour: remedy for an           101(3)
      overheating economy of honour
    6 The nationalist transformation of borders    104(15)
    and languages
      6.1 `Tongue' as political space              106(2)
      6.2 `Adam was a German'                      108(2)
      6.3 Purifying the German language (and       110(6)
      the German people)
      6.4 The limited originality of Romantic      116(3)
      nationalism
    7 Humanist nationalism                         119(61)
      7.1 Renaissance humanism - an innovative     121(21)
      anachronism
      7.2 Barbarising the French or how Italian    142(10)
      humanists successfully fought reality
      7.3 The Emperor's independent supporters:    152(4)
      humanist nationalists in Germany
      7.4 The interdependence of nationalist       156(3)
      isolation and assimilation
      7.5 Germany - the (yet-to-be) civilised      159(8)
      nation
      7.6 Germany - the authentic nation           167(13)
    8 A German Emperor for the German people       180(16)
      8.1 The introduction of nationality as an    182(5)
      election criterion
      8.2 The impact of popular xenophobia         187(2)
      8.3 From German hero to Spanish invader -    189(7)
      the transformation of Emperor Charles V
    9 Nation and denomination                      196(16)
      9.1 Martin Luther's German nation            199(7)
      9.2 The authentic nation of Protestants      206(3)
      vs. the civilised nation of Catholics
      9.3 The continuity of a non-confessional     209(3)
      national discourse
    10 Conclusion                                  212(9)
      10.1 Nationalism and confessional            213(2)
      fundamentalism
      10.2 The modern legacy of the ancient        215(4)
      learned politician
      10.3 Coda                                    219(2)
  Bibliography of works cited                      221(14)
      Primary sources                              221(5)
      Secondary sources                            226(9)
Index                                              235