On the topic of nationalism, I agree with Jules. In the Middle Ages,
most people (read: the lower classes) prolly never left town, and if
they did, they only went as far as the next town or city.
Therefore they identified more with the "province" (in BR terms) they
lived in. It took a long time until the idea of a national state took
hold (18 cent.). It was only in 1861 that Germany was defined as a
national state and reunited.

In the general discussion about peasants and medieval life I agree
with Kenneth in that we cannot judge the people from our modern POV
but must instead try to think as they did.
Kenneth, I don't know how many peasant uprisings there were in
France, and I won't argue the point, but there wer considerably less
in the HRE.
It might also be interesting to mention that the king of the Holy
Roman Empire Germany was *elected*. According to the word of the law,
he was elected by the people, but in reality he was elected by the
upper nobility. When the old king died, the nobles gathered and
elected a new king from among their number. In fact, some kings (such
as Friedrich Barbarossa) were powerful enough to force the nobles to
designate their son as the new king during their lifetime. Some
weren't, and the regency passed to another line.
Later, at the end of the 12 century, the circle of electors was
thinned down, until around the middle of the 13 cent. only 6
remained, three spiritual rulers (the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne
and Trier) and three temporal rulers (the Pfalzgraf on the Rhine, the
duke of Saxony and the duke of Brandenburg) remained. These
electors were know as "Kurfuersten" (sg. Kurfuerst, pron. something
like KOORfyrst). 100 years later, the king of Bohemia was added to
this number, for a total of 7. Originally the vote had to be by
consensus, but later this was changed to a majority vote, with the
archbishop of Mainz having the finla, and often deciding, vote.
Of course, there was a lot of political maneuvering and bribing
involved in the election.
IMC I see the Anuireans as being in the early Renaisance
technologically, but culturally in the High Middle Ages, since I like
the feudal system and its feel. I think the HRE makes a great model
for Anuire, not culturally but politically.

laters

Kai