RULING ELITE OF FRANCE AND GERMANY IN THE BEGINNING OF THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD: COMPARATIVE ASPECT
The paper presents the comparison of the ruling elite of France and Germany in the beginnings of Early Modern period (first half of the 16 <sup>th</sup> century) based of the material published in research literature. The author analyses: the parity of political forces of the supreme governor and powerful feudal lords (French grants, German princes), examples of interpersonal conflicts and specificity of their resolution, the structure of the court as the basic institution and domain of the studied social group.