Betegnelsen "stormagt" har kun været anvendt inden for historieskrivning og statskundskab siden Wienerkongressen i 1815. Lord Castlereagh, den britiske udenrigsminister, anvendte første gang betegnelsen i en diplomatisk sammenhæng i 1814 med henvisning til Chaumonttraktaten. Anvendelsen af betegnelsen i historieskrivningen om middelalderen varierer derfor fra forfatter til forfatter. I historieskrivningen om den førmoderne periode er det mere almindeligt at tale om riger.

Gerry Simpson skelner mellem "stormagter" som en elitegruppe af stater, der forvalter den internationale retsorden, og stormagter i betydningen imperier eller stater, hvis militære og politiske styrke karakteriserer en tidsalder.Gerry Simpson, Great Powers and Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns in the International Legal Order (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 68, uses the Vikings as an example of a great power that was not a Great Power.

Liste Følgende er en liste over riger, der er blevet betegnet som stormagter i middelalderen:

Kina (gennem hele perioden)William Eckhardt, Civilizations, Empires, and Wars: A Quantitative History of War (McFarland, 1992), p. 113: "Medieval Great Powers included China throughout, Persia (500-600, 900-50, 1400-50), Byzantium (500-1050), Tu Chueh (550-600), Tibet (650- 1250), Muslim (650-850), Turkey (650, 1050-1100, 1450-1500), Prati (850), Khazar (850-900), Kiev (900-1050), Bujid (950), Fatimid (950-1050), Liao (950-1150), Ghaznavid (1050), Al-mohad (1150-1250), Egypt (1250-1450), Mongolia (1250-1450), Khmer (1250), Mali (1300, 1450), Chagatai (1350), Lithuania (1450), Inca (1500) and Russia (1500)."Szabolcs József Polgár, "The Character of the Trade between the Nomads and their Settled Neighbours in Eurasia in the Middle Ages", Studia Uralo-altaica 53 (2019): 253, contrasts "the nomads of the Eurasian steppe with their settled neighbours", calling the former "steppe empires (that is, the greatest nomadic confederations)" and the latter "medieval great powers". He gives China, Sassanian Persia, the Caliphate and the Eastern Roman Empire as medieval great powers. Goguryeo (400–668) Indien (Pratihara-dynastiet, 800–950; Delhi-sultanatet, 1320–1351) Iran (Sassaniderne, 500–600; Samaniderne, 900–950; Timuriderne, 1400–1450) Det Byzantinske Rige (500–1050) Göktürk-khaganatet (550–600) Tibetanske imperium (650–1250) Kalifaterne (650–850) Frankerriget (751–843)Henry Davis: Medieval Europe. Williams and Norgate, London 1911, p. 55: "These crowded years of war leave the Frankish Empire established as the one great power west of the Elbe and Adriatic."Thomas Hodgkin: The life of Charlemagne (Charles The Great), London 1897, p. 11 Tyrkerne (Onoq, 650; seldsjukkerne, 1050–1100; osmannerne, 1450–1500) Vikingerne (800–1050) Første bulgarske rige (803–963)Daniel Ziemann: Das Erste bulgarische Reich. Eine frühmittelalterliche Großmacht zwischen Byzanz und Abendland. (German: An early medieval great power between Byzantium and the Occident) In: Online handbook on the history of South-East Europe. Volume I Rule and politics in Southeastern Europe until 1800. Published by the Institute for East and Southeast European Studies of the Leibniz Association, Regensburg 2016 Khazarriget (850–900) Kijevriget (900–1050) Buyid-dynastiet (950) Fatimide-kalifatet (950–1050) Liao-dynastiet (950–1150) Det Tysk-romerske Rige (950–1200)Frank Rexroth: Deutsche Geschichte im Mittelalter. C.H. Beck, Munich 2005, , p. 22 ("The special proximity of the Ottonian and early Salian rulers to the Imperial Church was to contribute quite considerably to the rise of the East Frankish Empire to a European great power, as was already noticeable in the 940s".)Johannes Haller and Heinrich Dannenbauer: Von den Karolingern zu den Staufern: Die altdeutsche Kaiserzeit (900–1250). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1970, p. 129 ( “It became apparent that the German leadership in the West“ [after the year 1200] “had ceased to exist and that the new French great power was rising in its place.” ) Ghaznavideriget (1050) Republikken Venedig (fra 1100) Republikken Genova (fra 1100) Almohadekalifatet (1150–1250) Ayyubide-dynastiet (1174–1250) Det mamlukkiske sultanat i Egypten (1250–1517) Mongolske kejserdømme (1250–1450) Khmerriget (1250) Maliriget (1300, 1450) Kongeriget Frankrig (fra 1300)Jürgen Miethke: Philipp IV. der Schöne (German: Philip IV of France) 1285 – 1314 In: Joachim Ehlers, Heribert Müller, Bernd Schneidmüller: Die Französische Könige des Mittelalters von Odo bis Karl VIII. (German: The French kings of the Middle Ages: from Odo to Charles VIII 888 – 1498), C. H. Beck Munich 2006, , p. 184: “France finally grew into a European great power, even defining in the first place what it means to be a European great power” Chagatai-khanatet (1350) Bengal-sultanatet (1352–1576)Rila Mukherjee: Bengal’s Maritime Trade in the Medieval Period. "The Bengal Sultanate was a medieval superpower in the Indian Ocean trade, eclipsing even Malacca and Hormuz in certain periods." Storhertugdømmet Litauen (1450) Det Spanske Imperium (fra 1479)Jack S. Levy: War in the Modern Great Power System 1495 – 1975. The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington 1983, , p. 20 Inkariget (1500) Storfyrstendømmet Moskva (1500)

Referencer

Kategori:Magter i international politik Kategori:Middelalder Kategori:Tidligere riger, stater, protektorater, kolonier og lande