On the road again: The rise and decline of itinerant rule

Modern states are centered on capitals. However, in the past many states lacked capitals and centralized government agencies. Instead, rulers governed by travelling around their realms with their advisors.

We ask why rulers engaged in this sort of “itinerant rule,” what functions it fulfilled, and why they finally gave up on it and started to reside permanently in capitals. We also ask what the long-term consequences of rulers’ itineraries were.

Our project builds on the Regesta Imperii database, which includes over 70 000 documents issued by German monarchs, including information on when and where they were issued. This data allows us to track monarchs by the day between 919 and 1519 AD. It also includes the text of the documents, which allows us to map and analyze monarchs’ governmental activities.

We believe itinerant rule is important to study for two reasons. First, itinerant rule is a mode of government that has dominated much of history. Without understanding it, we cannot understand historical state building processes.

Second, the fact that itinerant rule demanded the physical presence of the ruler makes it a very transparent form of government, which makes it easy to observe how rulers prioritized between agents and different parts of their states in a way that is difficult to do in contemporary authoritarian regimes, which are usually characterized by secrecy.

Hence, itinerant rule gives us a unique insight into the sinews of power in authoritarian regimes.