The Westernisation of Europe

pp. 30-47

in: Gérard Delanty, Inventing Europe, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1995

Abstract

This chapter is mostly concerned with the consolidation of the idea of Europe as a cultural framework and the formation of aEuropean identity in the Middle Ages. The counter-offensive, in the form of the crusades that the West launched against the Muslim Orient, failed to restore western fortunes, and, as a result, the identity of Europe as the Christian West found its focus of hostility in Islam. But the idea of Europe as a cultural model was mostly overshadowed by the rise of the Holy Roman Empire as the centre of Europe moved from the Mediterranean towards the Baltic. The foundation was thus provided for an enduring tension between the idea of Europe and the Holy Roman Empire, which sought to legitimate itself as the guardian of civilisation. Modern western Europe can be seen as the result of the failure of the empire to impose its rule over its vast territories.