Selection of Kings. Much of the security and many of the problems faced by the largest and most populous kingdoms of the post-Carolingian Middle Ages can be traced to the ways they chose their kings and how they viewed those monarchs once they had been selected. In the case of Germany and France, the new era began when the last Carolingian king was replaced by a non-Carolingian ruler; for England it started with the succession to the monarchy after the death of William the Conqueror. (Scandinavian, Spanish, and eastern European kingdoms are not be considered here both because of their size and their frequent lack of stability.)

Election Method. Arnulf, the king of the East Franks and victor over the Vikings at the battle of the Dyle in 891, was succeeded by his young son, appropriately named Ludwig III...