The Frankish state was initially a kingdom on the territory of the Roman province of Gaul (modern France, Western Switzerland, Belgium), then - during the era of the empire - on the territory of almost all of Western and part of Central Europe.
481-511 Reign of the Frankish king Clovis I of the Merovingian dynasty. He conquered almost all of Gaul and united all the Franks under his rule, which laid the foundation for the Frankish state, which after the death of the king was divided among himself by his sons.
507 At the Battle of Poitiers, Clovis I defeated the Visigoths and captured the entire southwest of Gaul (Aquitaine).
534-536 The Franks conquered Burgundy and Provence.
613-629 Reign of Lothar II. Under him, the Frankish state again became unified.
714-741 Reign of the last Merovingians. Actual power is concentrated in the hands of the mayordomo (highest official at court) Charles Martell. Suppressed military unrest in the kingdom. He confiscated part of the church lands and distributed them to feudal lords, strengthened the military forces of the state.
732, October 4 In the battle of Poitiers, the Frankish army under the command of Charles Martel defeated the Arabs invading from Spain. The further advance of the Arabs into Western Europe was stopped.
741–768 Reign of King Pepin the Short, son of Charles Martell. In fact, as mayor, he ruled the country from 741. He founded the Carolingian dynasty. He united the entire country under his rule - from the English Channel to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
768-814 Reign of King Charlemagne (Charlemagne), from 800 - Emperor of the West. His conquests (in 773-774 of the Lombard kingdom in Italy, in 772-804 of Saxony, etc.) led to the formation of a vast empire. The policies of Charlemagne (church patronage, judicial and military reforms) contributed to the formation of feudal relations in Western Europe. Charlemagne's empire collapsed shortly after his death.
788 Charlemagne abolished the ducal power in Bavaria and divided this region into counties,
801 The Franks took Barcelona from the Arabs.
814-840 Reign of Louis the Pious. He tried unsuccessfully to preserve the integrity of the empire inherited from his father (Charlemagne). Once he divided its management between his sons in 817 (retaining supreme power); redivided the empire in 829.
843 Division of Charlemagne's empire by the Treaty of Verdun. Formation of the West Frankish state on the territory of modern France, led by King Charles II the Bald. Reigned until 877 as the first king of France.
855 Formation of the kingdoms of Lorraine and Provence.
870 Transfer of part of the territory of Lorraine under the control of the West Frankish kingdom.
898–923 Reign of Charles III the Simple. Conceded the territory of Normandy to the Normans (911). In the same year he took possession of all of Lorraine. Captured by the nobility, who rebelled against him, he was imprisoned from 923.
Capetian Dynasty
987–996 Reign of Hugo Capet. Founder of the Capetian dynasty, which ruled France until 1792.
1031-1060 Reign of Henry I. Fought for the throne with his brother Robert, gave him the Duchy of Burgundy to rule. He experienced strong pressure from vassals and fought unsuccessfully (1054) with Duke William I the Conqueror, the future king of England. In 1049 he married Anna, daughter of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise. After her husband's death, she effectively ruled the country under her young son, King Philip I.
1108-1137 Reign of Louis VI Tolstoy. Strengthening the central government, putting an end to the resistance of the feudal lords in the royal domains.
1152 The kingdom lost territory in southwestern France - the Duchy of Aquitaine, with its capital Bordeaux, which came under English influence. The beginning of a long territorial struggle between France and England.
1180–1223 Reign of Philip II Augustus. He successfully pursued a policy of centralizing the state and limited the independence of the feudal nobility. Conquered French territories (Normandy, etc.) from England. Transformed France into a leading European power.
1215 The University of Paris, one of the oldest in the world, is founded.
1226–1270 Reign of Saint Louis IX. Carried out reforms to centralize state power. Led the 7th (1248–1254) and 8th (1270) crusades. He concluded the Treaty of Paris in 1259, according to which England renounced its claims to all French territories except Guienne (Aquitaine).
1257 Founding of the Sorbonne, a theological college in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Since 1554 - theological faculty of the University, since the 17th century. - a common name for the entire university complex.
1285-1314 Reign of Philip IV the Fair. Expanded the territory of royal possessions. Made the papacy dependent on the French kings. . Convened the first Estates General (1302). He obtained from the pope the abolition of the Catholic spiritual-knightly order of the Templars in 1312.
1328–1350 Reign of Philip VI, first king of the Valois dynasty, a side branch of the Capetians. Elected king despite the claims to the French throne of King Edward III of England (grandson of the French king Philip IV), which was the reason for the start of the Hundred Years' War with England (1337).
1358 Jacquerie - a peasant uprising in France, caused mainly by exorbitant war taxes. Suppressed by royal troops.
1412-1431 Years of life of Joan of Arc (Maiden of Orleans) - the national heroine of France. She came from a peasant family. She led the fight of France against the British during the Hundred Years War, in 1429 she liberated Orleans from the siege. She was captured, accused of heresy and burned 30 May 1431 at the stake in Rouen by the verdict of a church court.
1422–1461 Reign of Charles VII. Crowned in Reims in 1429 with the assistance of Joan of Arc. Under him, the Hundred Years' War ended. He contributed to the French Church gaining a certain independence from the papacy (1438).
1477 Defeat of the Duchy of Burgundy at the Battle of Nancy and the death of Duke Charles the Bold. Burgundy became part of France.
1483-1498 Reign of Charles VIII. As a result of his marriage to Anne of Brittany, he annexed Brittany to the French crown (1491). In 1494 the Italian Wars began.
1498-1515 Reign of Louis XII. With a campaign in 1499 he resumed the Italian Wars of 1494-1559. He carried out reforms to reorganize the army, streamline the court, taxation, and coinage system.
1515-1547 Reign of Francis I. Sought to turn France into an absolute monarchy. In 1516 he concluded the Bologna Concordat with the pope, which made the Church in France a state institution, and church revenues a means of remunerating the nobility.
1532 Final annexation of the Duchy of Brittany to France. Completion of the country's unification.
1547-1559 Reign of Henry II. In 1547 he established an extraordinary tribunal at the Parisian parliament, which tried heretics (Huguenots). His troops occupied the duchies of Metz, Toul, and Verdun in 1552 (in the “Holy Roman Empire”). In 1559 he signed a peace that ended the Italian Wars.
1558 French troops under the command of Duke Francois of Guise took the fortress-port of Calais - the last stronghold of the British in France.
1560-1574 Reign of Charles IX. In fact, the country was ruled by his mother Catherine de Medici.
1562-1598 Religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots, the active force is the petty nobility. Both camps were headed by the feudal nobility, who sought to place their protege on the royal throne. With the accession of Henry IV to the French throne in 1594, hostilities largely ended.
1572, August 24 St. Bartholomew's Night - massacre of Huguenots by Catholics in Paris, organized by Catherine de' Medici and the king's cousin Henry of Guise.
1574–1589 Reign of Henry III, the last king of the Capetian-Valois dynasty. Fought with Henry of Navarre and Guise. In May 1588, due to a popular uprising in Paris, he fled to Chartres. Killed by a monk who was a supporter of the Guises.
Bourbon Dynasty
1589-1610 Reign of Henry IV (actually from 1594), first of the Bourbon dynasty. From 1562 King of Navarre (Henry of Navarre). During the religious wars - head of the Huguenots. After his conversion to Catholicism in 1593, he was recognized by the king of France (“Paris is worth a mass”). Henry Gu issued the Edict of Nantes (1598), which ended the religious wars; contributed to the strengthening of absolutism. Killed by a Catholic fanatic.
1624-1642 The actual reign of Cardinal Richelieu in France during the era of Louis XIII. Contributed to the strengthening of absolutism. Deprived the Huguenots of political rights; carried out administrative, financial, military reforms; suppressed feudal revolts and popular uprisings. Involved France in the Thirty Years' War.
The formation of an independent state in France was a consequence of the collapse of the Frankish Empire, which was formalized legislatively in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun. Under this treaty, Charles the Bald received lands west of the Rhine. He actually became the first French king, although the term “France” itself appeared only in the 10th century. It should be noted here that after the collapse of the Frankish Empire, France inherited all the processes of feudal fragmentation that took place in recent years in the Frankish Empire. Therefore, speaking about the lands of Charles the Bald as some kind of centralized state can only be conditional, for they were a conglomerate of a huge number of free seigneurial possessions.
The most important prerequisite for the increasing role of royal power was the victory of King Philip IV in a long conflict with the popes for political supremacy, as a result of which the popes were directly dependent on the French kings (the so-called Avignon captivity of the popes 1309-1378).
The victory of the French crown over the papacy and the gradual elimination of the significant rights of feudal lords were accompanied in the XIV-XV centuries. the steady increase in the authority and political weight of royal power.
There was a change in the legal status of the king, who had power throughout the entire country.
In 1302, a new highest class representative body was created - Estates General.
At the beginning of the 14th century. Representatives of the estates of all regions of the royal domain were convened several times, and each time the reason for the convening was of a political nature. But as a generally recognized state institution, the Estates General was established mainly in connection with the Hundred Years' War with England, when regular financial assistance from the entire country was required.
Around the middle of the 14th century. the structure of the Estates General became a unique reflection of not only the social composition of France, but also the different political weight of the estates. All three classes received seats in this body. The first chamber consisted of the clergy. The second chamber was made up of the nobility, which sent its elected representatives. Deputies from the “good cities” were called to the third chamber (the term “third estate” appeared only at the end of the 15th century). These were mainly mayors and members of municipalities, i.e. again, ex officio representatives of the wealthy part of the urban population.
Gradually, the order of work of the three estates was developed. Initially, the king sought the opinion of each class separately. Subsequently, each chamber retained only one vote, but a majority vote was required to make a decision within the chamber.
The frequency of convening the Estates General was not established. Each convocation was individual, and the issues on the agenda were determined exclusively by the king. Most often, the reason for the convocation was the lack of finances, and the kings turned to the estates with a request for one-time financial assistance or permission for the next tax, which could be collected only within one year.
The importance of the Estates General greatly increased in 1357, when there was an uprising of the townspeople in Paris and the capture of the king. The Dauphin (heir to the throne) turned to the Estates General with a request to allocate money for the king's ransom. In response to this request, representatives of the third estate put forward an entire program of reforms, called the “Great March Ordinance.” Its full text included 67 articles, which provided for a significant strengthening of the power of the Estates General in government, financial, judicial and administrative fields. The Great Ordinance of March was the highest point in the development of the Estates General during the period of the estate-representative monarchy in France, but it was in effect for only a year and a half.
Central and local government. Changes in the organization of power were reflected in the fact that the apparatus of the royal administration turned from a domain one into a national one. Of the previous court positions, only the chancellor retained its importance. The rest passed into the category of court titles. On the basis of the royal curia, a Great Council was created, which included legalists and 24 representatives of the highest secular and spiritual nobility. It met once a month and its powers were purely advisory.
As royal power strengthened, local government centralized. Large administrative districts in the north of France, as before, were called balyages, headed by baileys. However, since the end of the 15th century, kings have directly appointed lieutenants to these districts. Many court cases come under their jurisdiction. In the south, similar districts were headed by seneschals.
In an effort to centralize local government, the kings introduced new positions of governors with broader powers, which often replaced the bailiffs. Since the 14th century the positions of lieutenant generals appeared, heading several balyages, which at the end of the 15th century. began to be called a province.
Absolute monarchy
The strengthening of private entrepreneurial activity in the city and countryside left its mark on the economic and political life of France. Trade increased significantly; in addition to guild enterprises, capitalist manufactories appeared. Under the new conditions, the economic power of the nobility weakened, and classes of the bourgeoisie and proletariat were formed. The French nation was taking shape. The disintegration of the old feudal estates and the formation of the bourgeois class were the main prerequisites for the establishment of an absolute monarchy. During the period of absolutism, the third estate finally took shape, in which the bourgeoisie played the main role. But as before, the formula was applied: “The clergy serves as prayer, the nobility as a sword, the third estate as property.”
The first estate was considered the clergy, who “prayed for everyone.” Their number reached 130 thousand, of which more than 20 thousand were monks and nuns. The Church was a large land owner. The total amount of income that she received from the lands that belonged to her was several times higher than the state budget of France. The clergy had a number of privileges. It was exempt from a number of obligations: recruitment into the army, payment of taxes, and had the right to its own court and its own administration. The supreme ruler of the priests and nuns of the Catholic Church was the Pope. Clergymen could not marry, and nuns could not marry.
The clergy was divided into two groups. The highest of them included archbishops, bishops, and rectors of cathedrals. The other group was the parish urban and rural clergy.
The second estate was considered the nobility, which “fought for everyone.” This class was not homogeneous and consisted of large, medium and small nobles. The former occupied the highest positions at court, as well as in the military and civil services. The small and middle nobility were the support of the monarchy. All nobles did not pay taxes, and received estates (flax) for their service. In addition, they were given salaries, gifts, and pensions. They were called nobles of the sword, i.e. well-born nobility. In addition to the noble nobility since the 15th century. the so-called “nobility of the robe” was formed. The third estate included townspeople and peasants who were obliged to “work for everyone.” They made up the overwhelming majority of the French population. This class was very heterogeneous. A significant part of the third estate was the peasantry. During the period of absolute monarchy, the differences between the serfs and the villans were erased. With the penetration of commodity-money relations into the villages, wealthy farmers, tenants, and agricultural workers emerged from the peasants.
Political system. The establishment of absolutism in France occurred under the kings Henry IV (1589-1610) and Louis XIII (1610-1643), and reached its peak during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715). All these kings paid great attention to improving the system of supreme and local authorities, the main result of which was the strengthening of royal power and increased centralization of government bodies.
The general idea of royal power also changed. In 1614, at the proposal of the Estates General, the French monarchy was declared divine, and the power of the king was considered sacred. Here the ideas about the sovereignty and unlimited power of the king are finally established.
From the 16th century the kings practically stopped convening the Estates General. In the 17th century they were convened only once in 1614. During the period of absolutism, kings did not need a representative body, because usurped all their powers.
The government of the country was concentrated in the palace. In the 16th century there was an increase in the role of the secretaries of state for military, naval, foreign and internal affairs. Under Louis XIV, they approached the king's person and became his ministers. Under the same king, the Council for Finance was created, and the post of Comptroller General of Finance appeared. A prominent political figure in France during the time of Louis XIV, J. B. Colbert, holding this position, became in fact the first minister of the state. At this time, the system of central sectoral government bodies is usurped.
In the local government system, the most important reforms were carried out by Cardinal Richelieu (1624-1642), who served as first minister and actually ruled the country under Louis XIII. He placed at the head of the provinces “quartermasters of police, justice and finance”, into whose hands were the collection of taxes and taxes for the benefit of the treasury, command of the local armed forces, recruitment into the army and management of the local police.
Thus, France was the country in which all stages of feudalism received the most complete form. Here we can see the emergence of feudal relations, their rise and fall, which led to the 18th century. to the bourgeois revolution.
Law of France during the period of feudalism
Before the Great French bourgeois revolution of the 18th century. diversity reigned in France, and there was a clear lack of uniformity in law itself. According to the nature of the sources, the entire territory of the country was divided into two parts - southern and northern. The border between them ran south of the Loire River. The southern part was a country of written law, because it applied Roman law. The northern part was dominated by customary law and was therefore called the land of customary law.
Roman law was studied at universities, and complex legal cases were resolved taking into account its general norms. The University of Orleans was considered the center of propaganda of Roman law, where at the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th centuries. A short guide to Roman law was published.
Until the revolution of 1789, the right of feudal ownership of land was also combined with elements of communal peasant land use. In civil law, such a sub-branch as the law of obligations has developed intensively. The feudal character was inherent in all contracts that took place during that period.
In a subsistence economy, there was no urgent need to develop economic relations. With the development of commodity-money relations, the importance of contracts increased. Land occupied a special place in the purchase and sale agreement. Feudal customary law provided for the right of landowners and their relatives to redeem sold real estate. Until the 12th century. It was impossible to alienate family property without the consent of relatives, except in cases of extreme need. However, in this case, relatives could redeem the family property by paying the agreed price. In the 13th century the consent of relatives is no longer required for the sale of ancestral property, but they retain the right to redeem it within a year and one day. The lord had the right to redeem the fief sold by his vassal within 40 days if he was informed, and within 30 years if he knew nothing about it.
Over time, in order to avoid subsequent feudal strife, notaries began to require the presence of members of the seller’s family, including children over 14 years of age, when drawing up a contract for the sale of real estate.
Marriage and family law. Issues of marriage and family in France were governed mainly by canon law. The condition for marriage was reaching a set age: for men it ranged from 13 to 15 years, and for women - 12 years.
To enter into marriage, the consent of the parties and parents was required. The Edict of 1556, supported by Louis XIII's Ordinance of 1639, provided that parental consent was required only until sons reached the age of 30 and daughters 25. Marriages between minors were recognized as invalid; persons who have not received baptism; relatives.
The husband was considered the head of the family. The wife was required to obey her husband, who was even allowed to beat her, but “reasonably,” i.e. not to death and without mutilation. Adultery gave the offended spouse the right to demand separation, but divorce was not allowed. The wife's legal capacity was limited: she could not enter into transactions without the consent of her husband. In the north, community of joint property was recognized, but it was managed by the husband, and in the south, community of property did not exist. In addition, the south retained the power of the lord over children, which had its origins in Roman law. The acquisitions of the children were included in the property of the landlord. In the north, parental authority was seen as guardianship over children.
Criminal law. It is quite clear that the concept of “crime” from the 9th to the 18th centuries. undergoes significant changes. Thus, if at the initial stage of the formation of the French state actions that affected the interests of individuals were considered a crime, then by the 12th century. crime ceases to be a private matter and acts as a violation of the established feudal order.
Legal proceedings. In the field of legal proceedings, there was also arbitrariness, corruption of judges, red tape and other abuses, which greatly irritated people belonging to the third estate.
Until the 15th century In France, there were two types of process: adversarial and inquisitorial. The first of them was based on a judicial duel. Peasants fought with sticks, and knights fought with a spear and sword. A nobleman could challenge a judge to a duel if he did not agree with the verdict. Ordeals were also used here, which, according to canon law, were allowed to be carried out with bread and cheese. It was believed that the culprit would certainly choke.
The Ordinance of 1498 of Louis XII and the Edict of Francis I of 1539 completely abolished the adversarial process. Its place was taken by the inquisition (search process). It differed from the adversarial one in the procedure for initiating a criminal case, as well as in the types of evidence. Its procedure was determined by the ordinance of 1670. According to it, the preliminary investigation was divided into two stages: general and special investigation. In the first stage, evidence was collected and the culprit was identified; in the second, evidence was verified and interrogated. The investigation was secret, written, using a formal theory of evidence and torture. The latter was sometimes carried out twice: once - in order to obtain the accused’s own confession during the investigation, and another time - before the execution was carried out in order to identify accomplices in the crime who were not identified during the process. The trial was held behind the scenes, without an indictment and without calling witnesses questioned during the preliminary investigation. The verdicts were divided into guilty, acquittal and remaining under suspicion.
Thus, France, like other European countries during the period of absolute monarchy, moves to more rigid forms of judicial process, which becomes state-owned and widely used in legal proceedings.
The period of the Classical Middle Ages in France is characterized by the gradual unification of law at the provincial and national levels. This was a reflection of the specifics of the centralization of the country, as well as the activity of the royal authorities, claiming to represent “common interests.” The activity of the royal court as the highest court and the law-making of royal power were an important means of achieving these claims and contributed, in particular, to the unification of law. Another feature of the process was the class consolidation of social forces striving to improve their legal status. This stimulated the contractual nature of the relationship between the king and the estates, which corrected the claims of the monarchy, which often outstripped its actual capabilities in legislative form. In the legal design of the contract, the principle of private feudal law was transformed - the principle of the council of the lord with his vassaps. Under the new conditions, it was replaced by a council with representatives of the clergy, nobility and townspeople. Having received the appropriate expression in the legal maxim “what concerns everyone must be approved by everyone,” it was implemented in the activities of the estate-representative bodies of France - the General, provincial and local states. The section contains two documents - “Kutumy Bovezi” and “The Great March Ordinance”, which reflected the above-mentioned features of the legal development of French society. The process of recording and unifying customary, or customary"1 law, which arose as a local law in conditions of feudal fragmentation, began in France in the 11th century. The recording of customs took place in such areas of the country as Picardy, Burgundy, Vermandois, Champagne and Bovesy. In the latter In this case, the author of the Kutyum collection was the outstanding lawyer Philip de Remy, Sire de Bomanu Ar (c. 1250-1296). and courts." F. Beaumanoir began serving as bailiff2 in 1279 in the county of Kchermont, which was allocated to the son of Louis IX, Robert. In 1283, Beaumanoir entered the king's service as seneschal and bailiff. At the end of his life he carried out a diplomatic mission as an adviser to Philip IV at the court of the Pope. He was an educated man for his time, inclined towards literary pursuits, the author of love poems and two novels in verse, but the main achievement of his life was the collection “Kutyumov Bovezi”. The main text of the collection appeared in Old French in the period 1280-1283. Further, obviously, being subject to additions and corrections, it reflected a turning point in the life of the country. Second half of the 13th century. in France was marked by convincing victories of royal power in the fight against seigneurial immunity. And in this sense, the transition of Beaumanoir, who was a seigneurial official until 1283, to serve the king looks symbolic. Obviously, the noted changes explain some of the contradictions in the text, as well as the caution and sometimes inconsistency of the author. In his essay, F. Beaumanoir appears primarily as a practicing lawyer, although inclined to theorize. Therefore, the collection, which is complex in composition, contains material>1 of specific judicial practice, normative understanding of judicial incidents, as well as the author’s reasoning that reaches the level of political theory. The constitutional and legal document - the March Ordinance of 1357 - was published on behalf of the Dauphin Charles, the future Charles V, during the difficult period of the Hundred Years' War for France, when, after a crushing defeat in the Battle of Poitiers, the British captured King John of Peave and a wide social movement unfolded in the country for reforms. The initiative and program of change belonged to representatives of the estates, acting through the Estates General. And although the proposals of the estates remained largely unrealized, the ideas of the document influenced the state activities of the monarchy and gave reason to call it the Great March Ordinance. In the context of European legal traditions, two points attract attention. Firstly, an attempt to strengthen the role of the Estates General, making them a regular body and expanding political competence (resolving issues of war and peace; control over the work of the tax department and responsibility for collecting and spending taxes of persons delegated by the states). Secondly, the document is Teresa.” In the 15th century The legal thought of France will separate the personality of the king from the concept of “royal dignity”, declaring the monarch only a “user” of the crown, and his dignity as a service. (I. A. Khachaturyan)
France in the Middle Ages
Medieval France- France during the Middle Ages. This period in French history begins in 476. The end of this period in Russian historiography is usually dated to 1640 (the beginning of the English bourgeois revolution), which in France almost corresponds to 1643 - the establishment of an absolute monarchy. There are other dating traditions.
Frankish state
The word "France" comes from the name of the Germanic people of the Franks, some of whom settled in Flanders - the northeastern corner of Gaul - in the 5th century. Initially, the name Francia meant the country between the Seine and the Rhine, the western part of which alone became part of France, while the southwestern corner of the eastern part, together with the neighboring region to the east (along the Main), received the name Franconia, also derived from the name francs
The Franks who moved to Flanders are called Western or Salic Franks. In the second half of the 5th century, their state began to take shape.
The Merovingians (late 5th century - 751) are considered the first royal dynasty in the Frankish state. The dynasty was named after the semi-legendary founder of the family - Merovey. The most famous representative is Clovis I (ruled from 481 to 511, from 486 king of the Franks).
Clovis I began the conquest of Gaul. The population of Gaul is usually called Gallo-Romans, since by this time the Gauls had completely Romanized - they lost their native language, adopted the language of the Romans, their culture, and even began to consider themselves Romans. In 496 Clovis converts to Christianity. The transition to Christianity allowed Clovis to gain influence and power over the Gallo-Roman population. Moreover, now he had powerful support - the clergy. Clovis settled his warriors in small villages throughout Gaul so that they could collect tribute from the local population. This led to the emergence of the feudal class. Communicating with the Gallo-Romans, the Franks gradually became Romanized and switched to the language of the local population.
In the 5th-6th centuries, almost the entire territory of Gaul (present-day France) came under the rule of the Franks. The Franks who remained in Germany (Eastern, or Ripuarian Franks) also came under the rule of the kings from the Merovingian dynasty.
The Merovingian capital was Metz from 561. The last representative of the Merovingians is considered to be Childeric III (ruled from 743 to 751, died in 754). Since 751, the Frankish state was ruled by the Carolingians. Despite being called Roman emperors since 800, the capital of the Carolingians was the city of Aachen.
In one important matter, Louis VII did not listen to Suger, going, against his advice, to the second crusade. In the absence of the king, events occurred that forced him, upon his return, to divorce his wife Eleanor, heiress of Aquitaine. She did not hesitate to marry the owner of Normandy and Anjou, Henry Plantagenet, who soon became the king of England. Thus, Louis VII himself refused the opportunity to annex Aquitaine to his possessions and contributed to the formation of a powerful possession in France, which ended up in the hands of England (see history of the territory). In addition to the clergy, the cities also helped the Capetians during the Crusades. At this particular time, a communal movement was taking place in France, i.e. liberation of many cities from the power of feudal lords and their transformation into independent communes. Very often this was the result of a revolt of the townspeople against the lords; There were even real wars between the two. At the same time, townspeople often sought support from the kings and themselves assisted them in their fight against the feudal lords. The kings first took one side or the other, but then began to consciously support the townspeople, granting them charters that confirmed their rights. The kings did not allow the establishment of communes on their lands, but they gave the townspeople many other benefits.
A century after this (1154), the Counts of Anjou (Plantagenets) became kings of England and dukes of Normandy, and the first king from this dynasty, Henry II, thanks to his marriage to the heiress of Aquitaine, Eleanor, acquired the entire southwest of France (see table. II, map VII). The “gathering” of F. was started by Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), who, by the way, acquired Vermandois, part of Artois, Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Auvergne and other smaller lands.
In France, even a special social class of the bourgeoisie was formed, in which the kings found active supporters of their anti-feudal policies. However, when royal power strengthened, it began to take away the rights of the communes. Under Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), a participant in the Third Crusade, royal power in France made new progress. Philip took Normandy from the English king (John the Landless) when he, as a vassal of the French king, did not want to appear at the peer court on charges of killing his nephew. Normandy had to be conquered, but Philip successfully completed this task and acquired other English possessions. Under the same king, a crusade took place against the Albigenses and Waldenses of southern France, which ended with its conquest and subjugation to the northern French. Most of the possessions of the Count of Toulouse were then transferred to the son of Philip Augustus, Louis VIII (1223-26), by the knights who conquered them, but were unable to hold on to them.
Finally, Philip II Augustus was also the first organizer of the royal administration, in the form of bailiffs and prevots, who were entrusted with the management of individual regions, subordinate to the royal council and the chamber of accounts in Paris (in the south, seneschals later became royal governors). Royal power in France increased even more under Louis IX the Saint (1226-1270), who was the true embodiment of the knightly ideal of the Middle Ages and greatly raised the moral authority of royal power. Louis IX also managed to increase his possessions by annexing Anjou and Poitou, which he took from the king of England. Its internal governance was especially important. At this time, the study of the Justinian Code spread from Italy to France and the reception of Roman law began.
Thanks to the activities of these kings and their successors, the unification of France was gradually accomplished. With weapons, money, marriage ties, they little by little take over individual possessions, increasing their domains, and at the same time, more and more subjugate vassals to their power, through new institutions.
As a result, the feudal monarchy under the last Capetians turns into an estate monarchy during the next dynasty - the Valois.
France under the Valois dynasty
The accession to the throne in 1328 of the Valois dynasty was marked by the inclusion of its hereditary duchy into the royal domains. In 1349, Dauphiné was annexed, ending the local dynasty. In general, the successes of royal power in France over the century and a half that elapsed from the accession of Philip II Augustus to the throne (1180) until the end of the Capetian dynasty (1328) were very significant: the royal domains expanded greatly (at the same time, many lands fell into the hands of other members of the royal family), while the possessions of the feudal lords and the English king were reduced (see Table II, Map VIII). But under the very first king of the new dynasty, a hundred-year war with the English began, in the first period of which the French king, according to the Treaty of Bretigny in 1360, had to renounce a number of lands in favor of the English (see Table II, Map IX).
In the first third of the 15th century. things went even worse for France; The British captured a vast territory as far as the Loire. The process of gathering France, suspended by this war, resumed under Charles VII (1422-1461), who managed to expel the British. Among the feudal possessions of the descendants of Louis St., Burgundy rose in this era, the territory of which lay with its western part in France (see Table II, Map IX), and its eastern part in Germany. Louis XI (1461-1483) annexed the French part (Duchy of Burgundy) to his possessions. In addition, this king acquired Provence by right of inheritance from the last Count of Anjou (1481), conquered Boulogne (1477) and subjugated Picardy. Under Charles VIII (1483-1498), the male line of the ruling house of Brittany ceased (1488); the heir to his rights was the wife of Charles VIII, who after his death married Louis XII (1498-1515), which paved the way for the annexation of Brittany. Thus, F. enters the new history almost united, and it remains to expand mainly to the east, at the expense of St. Roman Empire. The first such acquisition (three bishoprics: Metz, Toul and Verdun) was made under Henry II, but was finally approved only a century later. Mostly new acquisitions date back to the reign of the Bourbon dynasties (see Table III, Map X).
Historical maps of France. Table III. X. France in the XVII-XVIII centuries. XI. Napoleonic France. XII. France since 1814
France under the Bourbons
Henry IV
The accession to the throne of France by Henry IV in 1589 was accompanied by the annexation to France of the northern part of the kingdom of Navarre (the southern part had previously been captured by Spain), Béarn, the county of Foix, and others. In 1601, the area between the upper reaches of the Rhône and the lower reaches was taken from Savoy Dreams.
Louis XIII
Louis XIII ascended the throne at the age of 8 after the murder of his father, Henry IV. During Louis's childhood, his mother Maria de' Medici, as regent, retreated from the policies of Henry IV, concluding an alliance with Spain and betrothing the king to Infanta Anna of Austria, daughter of Philip III. A new era began, after much hesitation by Louis, only in 1624, when Cardinal Richelieu became minister and soon took control of affairs and unlimited power over the king into his own hands. The Huguenots were pacified and lost La Rochelle. Princes and dukes were gradually deprived of any influence and power locally. The uprisings of the nobility were suppressed. All the castles of the feudal lords (except for the border ones) were razed. After the death of Richelieu (1642), King Louis XIII also died a year later. As a result of Richelieu's activities, an absolute monarchy arose in France.
| Capetian 987-1328 |
| 987 | 996 | 1031 | 1060 | 1108 | 1137 | 1180 | 1223 | 1226 | |||||||||
| Hugo Capet | Robert II | Henry I | Philip I | Louis VI | Louis VII | Philip II | Louis VIII | ||||||||||
| 1328 | 1350 | 1364 | 1380 | 1422 | 1461 | 1483 | 1498 | ||||||||
| Philip VI | John II | Charles V | Charles VI | Charles VII | Louis XI | Charles VIII | |||||||||
| 1498 | 1515 | 1547 | 1559 | 1560 | 1574 | 1589 | |||||||
| Louis XII | Francis I | Henry II | Francis II | Charles IX | Henry III | ||||||||
| Bourbons 1589-1792 |
| 1589 | 1610 | 1643 | 1715 | 1774 | 1792 | ||||||
| Henry IV | Louis XIII | Louis XIV | Louis XV | Louis XVI | |||||||
| 1792 | 1804 | 1814 | 1824 | 1830 | 1848 | 1852 | 1870 | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||||||||
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