What are some of the common elements in the process of european state building? what specific measures did the national monarchies take in order to establish and maintain their authority? who did they need to control?

In Western Europe (except in Spain, Italy and Portugal), as feudalism spread, kings lost political powers as a s result of losing control of the main means of wealth production at the time, lands. Even though feudal lords were legally under the king's authority, they were the actual holders of a great deal of the political power as they were in direct control of the economic production and wealth. The appearance of a new social class producing even greater amounts of wealth yet despised by the nobility, the bourgeoisie, offered the kings the opportunity to trade titles of nobility (not based on the possession of lands, though) for money in order to build up enough resources in order to wrest power from the nobles. The actions that most kings carried out were:

confederacy: supported slavery, believed states should be able to nullify federal laws, supported low tariffs

union: everything else

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