[OT] Re: Are the FSE and NSL natural enemies?

> John Leary wrote:

> Chad,

A certain animosity existed long before that, with French and Germans
skirmishing from the Mediterranean to the North Sea during the entire
Medieval period - except when the Duchy of Burgundy controlled the
borderlands <g>

> France as a state has existed far longer than Germany.

Hm? Both are successor states to Charlemagne's empire that split up into a
western and an eastern half in 888 AD; the eastern half kept the Imperial
title (and thus became the Holy Roman Empire of German nation <g>) whereas the
western princes called themselves "kings" instead. Both suffered a lot from
very independent feudal lords, though the situation was generally worse in the
Empire than in France. OK, Germany has functioned as a single state for fewer
of the past 1100 years than France, but they are just as old.

Later,