This article points to some key elements in the process of the building of the modern State at the end of the medieval period, among which we find the notion of sovereignty. This new reality, which did not take shape at the same moment nor through only one type of process throughout all of Europe, did however develop some common characteristics. We argue that the conflicts between the various actors involved in this process were, simultaneously, of political and juridical nature, and that through them the legal and ideological pillars of State power were built, at the same time determining its scope.
State; sovereignty; Law; Medieval Political Theory; History of Political Thought