political representation, based on the mandate bestowed on elected and responsible delegates, and applied at regional and national levels, can be considered as one of the major contributions of the western Middle Ages to world history. Some representative institutions, such as the English parliament, which developed from the thirteenth century onwards have functioned without interruption until the present day. The names given to others, such as the Spanish cortes, the Polish sejm, the German Reichstag, the Norwegian stender-møte or the Dutch staten-generaal, were applied to modern reformed institutions, obviously with the intention of justifying their new legitimacy. The connection of parliamentary with national history has therefore always been a very strong one, and has hampered attempts to explain the phenomenon on a general European basis. Where such endeavours have been undertaken, generally one national example, usually the English parliament, or a concept based on a more or less stabilised situation in the early modern period, has been too easily considered as the ‘normal’ pattern. Comparative history has largely remained a mere juxtaposing of national developments, with a strong emphasis on the large western states.