Kleinstaaterei in the context of "Composite monarchy"

A composite monarchy (or composite state) is a historical category that describes early modern states consisting of several countries under one ruler, sometimes designated as a personal union, who governs his territories as if they were separate kingdoms, in accordance with local traditions and legal structures. The composite state became the most common type of state in the late medieval and early modern era in Europe. Koenigsberger divides composite states into two classes: those, like the Spanish Empire, that consisted of countries separated by either other states or by the sea, and those, like Poland–Lithuania, that were contiguous. The term was introduced by H. G. Koenigsberger in 1975 and popularised by Sir John H. Elliott in 1992.

A medieval example of a composite monarchy was the Angevin Empire. Theorists of the 16th century believed that "conformity" (similarity in language and customs) was important to success of a composite state. Francesco Guicciardini praised the acquisition of the Kingdom of Navarre by the King of Aragon in 1512 on account of their conformità. Yet, differences could be persistent. Navarre retained its own law and customs separate from the rest of Spain down to 1841. In France, a far more unified state than Spain in the early modern period, the state was divided into different customary tax regimes, the pays d'élection and pays d'état. This was abolished during the 1789 Revolution. The Holy Roman Empire consisted of hundreds of imperial immediate states nicknamed Kleinstaaterei. Most sovereign kings in Europe hold fiefs in the HRE in a personal union at some point. The different holdings of a dynasty are called Hausmacht and were in most cases not contiguous.