France: The Birth of France

The Birth of France

When the Carolingian dynasty died out in France, the nobles chose (987) Hugh Capet as king. It is from this date that the history of France as a separate kingdom is generally reckoned (see table entitled Rulers of France since 987 for a listing of the kings of France and subsequent French leaders). The early Capetians were dukes of Francia, a small territory around Paris, and were without power in the rest of France. By unremitting effort they gradually extended their domain, razed the castles of robber barons, and held their own against the great feudatories. Louis VI (reigned 1108–37) brought this process into full force, and it was continued by Louis VII (1137–80).

In the 11th cent. the towns had begun regaining population and wealth. Drawing together for their common defense (see commune), the townspeople won increasingly advantageous charters from the king and from their feudal lords. Commerce revived, and the great fairs of Champagne made France a meeting place for European merchants. The Cluniac order and the revival of theological learning at Paris (which was to make the Sorbonne the fountainhead of scholasticism) gave France tremendous prestige in Christendom. This rebirth reached its height in the 13th cent. and was aided by the leading role that France played in the Crusades. The crusaders established the French ideal of chivalry—personified in Louis IX (St. Louis)—in most of Europe. French courtly poetry and manners became European models.

In England, French manners and culture also predominated among the nobles because of the Norman Conquest (1066). The fact that the Norman English kings were also French nobles, holding or claiming vast fiefs in France, brought the two nations into centuries of conflict. When Henry II, king of England and duke of Normandy, married (1152) Eleanor of Aquitaine, the divorced wife of Louis VII of France, Eleanor brought as her dowry extensive areas in France. Louis's successor, Philip II (Philip Augustus; 1180–1223), clashed repeatedly with Henry's sons, Richard I and John. Defeating John in 1204 and again, resoundingly, at Bouvines (1214), Philip soundly established the military prestige of France.

During Philip's reign a greater France emerged. The crusade against the Albigenses (begun 1208) netted the crown the huge fiefs of the counts of Toulouse in S France, and the royal domain (directly subject to the king) now formed the larger part of the kingdom. Philip made the royal authority felt throughout the land. Paris was rebuilt. Louis IX (1226–70) organized an efficient and equitable civil and judicial system. Under Philip IV (1285–1314), the royal administration was improved even more. Philip failed to incorporate Flanders into his holdings, as the Flemish crushed the French at Courtrai (1302). To meet his revenue needs Philip taxed the clergy, summoning the first national States-General (1302) to support his policy. He also destroyed the wealthy Knights Templars. Papal objections to these moves led to the Babylonian Captivity (1309–77) of the popes (see papacy).

Philip's son, Louis X, ruled briefly (1314–16); he was succeeded by two brothers, Philip V (1317–22) and Charles IV (1322–28). Within a few years after the death of Charles IV, who was also without a male heir, progress toward national unification was halted, and for more than a century France was rent by warfare and internal upheaval.

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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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