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Thrilled that "Tilly Goes to Church" is now available in #FirstView @apsrjournal! The article argues that contrary to bellicist accounts, war did not consolidate states in Europe.
Link here: cup.org/3KSSbc3
Link here: cup.org/3KSSbc3
Instead, medieval popes launched wars, alliances, and crusades against secular rulers, to ensure their own autonomy and power. This papal conflict is closely associated with the rise in the number of states and statelets starting in the 12th century. 
This fragmentation was persistent: as rulers fought the papacy, towns and nobles grabbed authority, especially in the Holy Roman Empire. Even when the papacy weakened by the 15th century, the fragmentation remained.
As a result, secular conflict, which Tilly and others posited leads to the winnowing out of small states, is not associated with fragmentation—or the consolidation of fewer and larger states.
Tl;dr: War is bad for statemaking, m’ok.
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