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The French Monarchy (Medieval Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2. The study of the ebb and flow of monarchial power lies at the center of the historiography of medieval France. The Capetian and Valois kings ruled over a large and regionally diverse kingdom, and the monarchy was one of the few symbols of unity. The great centralizing narrative of the history of premodern France has led historians to see the origins of the modern state in the efforts the kings of medieval France took to impose their authority across the realm. The collapse of the Carolingian Empire led to a breakdown in central authority and a long period of political fragmentation. This period of decentralization was the era of the castellan, when power was highly localized and where there was an absence of any significant centralized political authority. The early Capetians (the ruling dynasty of France from 987 to 1328) were unable to assert their power over the great nobles, and while there has been some effort to rehabilitate the reigns of these kings, historians largely locate the beginning of the revival in royal power to the reign of Louis VI (ruled 1108–1137), when the monarchy began to emerge as a source of unity. The Capetian monarchs of the 12th and 13th centuries systematically rebuilt monarchial power, first by securing their control over the centers of royal power based around the Île-de-France and then by expanding the scope of their authority. There was a rapid growth in the size of the royal domain under Philip II and Louis IX, and the medieval French monarchy reached its apogee under Philip IV. Yet, the succession problems that dogged Philip IV’s successors initiated a long series of crises that bedeviled the French monarchy and reversed many of the gains made in the 12th and 13th centuries. Under the early Valois kings, the monarchy’s position as a unifying force became much less certain, particularly following the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War and Edward III’s assertion of his claim to the throne of France. This conflict merged with a wider struggle between the king and the great princes of the kingdom. During the 14th and 15th centuries, France fragmented into a number of princely states, whose rulers allied with the kings of England at various times as a means to expand their own powerbase. Charles VII’s eventual victory over the English in the mid-15th century initiated a period of reconstruction, which saw his successors assert their power over the great princes and France emerge as the most powerful monarchy in Christendom by the end of the Middle Ages. Military victories formed only one element in this long process, and the eventual triumph of the monarchy was dependent on a number of key administrative innovations, including the development of permanent taxation and the creation of a standing army. There are a number of resources available to those seeking to go beyond the materials outlined in this article. The two principal anglophone journals of the history of France (French History and French Historical Studies) have excellent reviews sections, as does H-France. The most comprehensive bibliographic resource for the history of France is the Bibliographie annuelle de l’histoire de France. However, copies of this resource can be difficult to locate, and at the time of writing, the long-promised electronic version is not yet available. GALLICA (maintained by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France) is an excellent electronic resource that provides free access to millions of primary and secondary works on all aspects of French history. Similarly, Persée provides open access to a large number of French historical journals, many of which have comprehensive review sections.
  3.  
  4. The Capetians
  5. Bouchard 2004 and Dunbabin 2000 focus on the early period of Capetian rule, while several studies cover the entire Capetian period (Bradbury 2007, Fawtier 1960, Hallam 2001). The relevant chapters in New Cambridge Medieval History (Jordan 1999, Bouchard 2004, Baldwin 2004) also provide good introductions to the growth of royal authority under the Capetians, while Bull 2002 avoids providing a chronological narrative and instead addresses key themes. Although focusing on a single battle, Duby 1990 provides a useful introduction to the growth of monarchial power in Capetian France.
  6.  
  7. Baldwin, John. “Crown and Government.” In The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 4, c. 1024–c. 1198 (Part 2). Edited by David Luscombe, 510–529. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  8.  
  9. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  10.  
  11. Examines the evolution of government under the Capetian monarchs of the 12th century. Baldwin focuses on the connection between military campaigns and administrative innovations, and the manner in which monarchs from Louis VI to Philip II exerted their power more fully over their subjects than ever before.
  12.  
  13. Find this resource:
  14.  
  15. Bouchard, Constance. “The Kingdom of the Franks to 1108.” In The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 4, c. 1024–c. 1198 (Part 2). Edited by David Luscombe, 120–153. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  16.  
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  18.  
  19. Focuses on the political weakness of the early Capetian kings and highlights the significant transformations that occurred in society because of the collapse of royal power. Bouchard shows that a lack of political power brought some advantages for the early Capetians, and that in comparison to their predecessors the 11th century kings of France were relatively secure on the throne. Bouchard also discusses the foundations the early Capetian monarchs laid down for the growth of power under their successors.
  20.  
  21. Find this resource:
  22.  
  23. Bradbury, Jim. The Capetians: Kings of France, 987–1328. London: Continuum, 2007.
  24.  
  25. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  26.  
  27. In this overview of the Capetian monarchy, Bradbury looks systematically at the reigns of each king. He addresses a range of key themes, such as the development of the royal administration and the spread of royal authority across the kingdom. The book also has a useful conclusion on the Capetian legacy.
  28.  
  29. Find this resource:
  30.  
  31. Bull, Marcus, ed. France in the Central Middle Ages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  32.  
  33. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  34.  
  35. This book covers a period running from the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century to the creation of a recognizable kingdom of France by the 12th century. Many of the essays in this collection focus on the role that the monarchy played in this process of state formation. Of particular interest are the chapters by Bernd Schneidmüller on how the idea of France came into being, and by Geoffrey Koziol on political culture and the ideology of monarchial power.
  36.  
  37. Find this resource:
  38.  
  39. Duby, Georges. The Legend of Bouvines: War, Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages. Translated by Catherine Tihanyi. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
  40.  
  41. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  42.  
  43. Focusing on one of the Capetian monarchy’s most significant military victories, Duby provides a broad examination of key aspects of French society in the early 13th century, including the growth of French royal power that occurred in the wake of the battle.
  44.  
  45. Find this resource:
  46.  
  47. Dunbabin, Jean. France in the Making, 843–1180. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  48.  
  49. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208464.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  50.  
  51. A good introduction to the political history of France during this period. Dunbabin examines the breakdown in political authority that occurred in the wake of the collapse of Carolingian Empire and the rise of the Capetian monarchy.
  52.  
  53. Find this resource:
  54.  
  55. Fawtier, Robert. The Capetian Kings of France: Monarchy and Nation, 987–1328. Translated by Lionel Butler and R. J. Adam. London: Macmillan, 1960.
  56.  
  57. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-00584-0Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  58.  
  59. While Fawtier’s work shows some age, nonetheless it provides a solid introduction to many of the key aspects of Capetian rule that continue to be debated in the 2010s. It should be used in conjunction with more-recent surveys, such as Bradbury 2007.
  60.  
  61. Find this resource:
  62.  
  63. Hallam, Elizabeth M. Capetian France, 987–1328. 2d ed. Harlow, UK: Longman, 2001.
  64.  
  65. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  66.  
  67. A key study of the Capetian monarchy, providing a systematic examination of the expansion of royal power under these kings.
  68.  
  69. Find this resource:
  70.  
  71. Jordan, William Chester. “The Capetians from the Death of Philip II to Philip IV.” In The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 5, c. 1198–c. 1300. Edited by David Abulafia, 279–313. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
  72.  
  73. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  74.  
  75. Examines the nature of French royal power during its period of greatest expansion in the Middle Ages. Jordan considers how the royal administration dealt with the problems of governing larger areas of the kingdom than ever before. He moves systematically through the 13th century to examine the actions of individual kings, as well as addressing wider themes such as the growth of ideas about idealized kingship and the expansion of the royal administration.
  76.  
  77. Find this resource:
  78.  
  79. The Valois (to c. 1520)
  80. These works typically cover the Hundred Years’ War, the growth of princely states, and the triumph of royal power from mid-15th century. Gauvard 2013 and Bove 2010 provide overviews of the later Middle Ages, and these works are useful for those seeking a basic introduction to the period. Small 2009, Lewis 1968, and Guenée 1981 go beyond narrative accounts to provide good examinations of key themes. Since many general overviews of medieval France end with the recovery of France under Charles VII or Louis XI, Allmand 1998, Ladurie 1994, and Potter 1995 are of particular value for those looking for an introduction to the expansion of royal power in the later 15th century.
  81.  
  82. Allmand, Christopher, ed. The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 7, c. 1415–c. 1500. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  83.  
  84. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  85.  
  86. See the chapters by Malcolm Vale on Charles VII and the gradual restoral of Valois fortunes from the 1430s, and by Bernard Chevalier, which usefully covers the less well-studied reigns of Charles VIII and Louis XII.
  87.  
  88. Find this resource:
  89.  
  90. Bove, Boris. Le temps de la Guerre de Cent ans (1328–1453). Paris: Belin, 2010.
  91.  
  92. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  93.  
  94. This useful survey examines the impact of the Hundred Years’ War on France. It takes as one of its key themes the development of the monarchical state, when the French king unified the kingdom and constructed a sense of national unity around the monarchy.
  95.  
  96. Find this resource:
  97.  
  98. Gauvard, Claude. Le temps de Valois (de 1328 à 1515). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2013.
  99.  
  100. DOI: 10.3917/puf.gauv.2013.01Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  101.  
  102. Provides an introduction to the history of later medieval France that focuses on the condition of the Valois monarchy. Gauvard considers how the Valois kings responded to the series of crises they faced in the 14th and early 15th centuries, as well as the reconquest and reconstruction of the kingdom from the mid-15th century onward.
  103.  
  104. Find this resource:
  105.  
  106. Guenée, Bernard. Politique et histoire au Moyen Âge. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1981.
  107.  
  108. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  109.  
  110. A collection of Guenée’s key articles on the development of the royal state in late medieval France. They examine the nature of royal authority, centralization, the legitimacy of the Valois monarch and the extent of his authority, the concentration of rights into the hands of the king, and the monarch’s role in the encouraging the unity of the nation.
  111.  
  112. Find this resource:
  113.  
  114. Jones, Michael, ed. The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 6, c. 1300–c. 1415. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  115.  
  116. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  117.  
  118. See the chapters by Jones on the decline of French royal authority in the early 14th century, and by Françoise Autrand on the nature of royal power during the reigns of Charles V and Charles VI.
  119.  
  120. Find this resource:
  121.  
  122. Ladurie, Emmanuel Le Roy. The French Royal State, 1460–1610. Translated by Juliet Vale. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994.
  123.  
  124. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  125.  
  126. The early chapters of the book provide a solid account of developments in the later 15th century, including the growth of monarchial power under Louis XI and his successors.
  127.  
  128. Find this resource:
  129.  
  130. Lewis, Peter. Later Medieval France: The Polity. London: St. Martin’s, 1968.
  131.  
  132. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-00563-5Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  133.  
  134. A classic study of the political world of later medieval France, which includes much about the monarchy. In particular, chapter 2 focuses on kingship and examines key concepts such as the ideology of kingship and the institutions through which the king ruled, including the court and the royal council.
  135.  
  136. Find this resource:
  137.  
  138. Potter, David. A History of France, 1460–1560: The Emergence of a Nation State. London: Macmillan, 1995.
  139.  
  140. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-23848-4Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  141.  
  142. This book eschews the traditional divide between later medieval and Renaissance France in order to highlight important continuities that ran between the end of the Hundred Years’ War and the beginning of the Wars of Religion. The book focuses on the creation of the royal state, and it contains chapters on the ideology of monarchical power, the Valois court, the royal administration, and relations between the Crown and the provinces.
  143.  
  144. Find this resource:
  145.  
  146. Potter, David, ed. France in the Later Middle Ages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  147.  
  148. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  149.  
  150. A collection of essays by leading historians on the history of France from 1200 to 1500. The limits of monarchial power and the royal state are key themes and run through most of the chapters.
  151.  
  152. Find this resource:
  153.  
  154. Small, Graeme. Late Medieval France. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
  155.  
  156. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-137-10215-7Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  157.  
  158. This key study of the political history of France in the later Middle Ages provides a valuable discussion of monarchial power in later medieval France. In particular, chapter 1 explores the royal government and the ideology of French kingship, while chapters 3 and 4 provide a clear narrative of political developments from the reign of Philip VI to that of Charles VII.
  159.  
  160. Find this resource:
  161.  
  162. The Monarchy as an Institution
  163. An enduring focus on institutions rather than events in French historiography has led some historians to provide long chronological views of the development of the monarchy, which encompass both the medieval and the early modern periods (Barbey 1992; Bulst, et al. 1996). These works provide a useful way to understand the development of themes such as sacral monarchy over time.
  164.  
  165. Barbey, Jean. Être roi: Le roi et son gouvernement en France de Clovis à Louis XIV. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
  166.  
  167. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  168.  
  169. This wide-ranging study considers the monarchy’s role in the history of medieval and early modern France. It looks at the creation of the sacral character of the French monarchy, and it examines the manner by which the rights and duties of the monarch were defined.
  170.  
  171. Find this resource:
  172.  
  173. Bulst, Neithard, Robert Descimon, and Alain Gurreau, eds. L’état ou le roi: Les fondations de la modernité monarchique en France (XIVe–XVIIe siècles). Paris: Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1996.
  174.  
  175. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  176.  
  177. A broad study of key themes in the history of the French monarchy between the 14th and 17th centuries. The book is broken down into four sections, each of which addresses a key aspect of monarchial rule.
  178.  
  179. Find this resource:
  180.  
  181. Collections of Essays
  182. There are a number of good collections of essay that address general themes relating to monarchial power in Capetian and Valois France.
  183.  
  184. Allmand, Christopher, ed. Power, Culture and Religion in France, c. 1350–c. 1550. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1989.
  185.  
  186. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  187.  
  188. The essay by Elizabeth Danbury on royal propaganda during the Hundred Years’ War is of particular interest to the history of the monarchy, as is Kathleen Daly’s examination of the histories produced by royal notaries during the later 15th century and the role they played in the development of a court ideology.
  189.  
  190. Find this resource:
  191.  
  192. Allmand, Christopher, ed. War, Government and Power in Late Medieval France. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, 2000.
  193.  
  194. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  195.  
  196. An important collection of essays on the history of later medieval France, several of which discuss monarchical power. Nicole Pons, Craig Taylor, and Joël Blanchard focus on royal propaganda and ideas of kingship. Kathleen Daly and Graeme Small consider relations between the monarch and communities living on the frontiers of the kingdom, while Gareth Prosser examines decayed feudalism and royal service.
  197.  
  198. Find this resource:
  199.  
  200. Fletcher, Christopher, Jean-Philippe Genet, and John Watts, eds. Government and Political Life in England and France, c. 1300–c. 1500. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
  201.  
  202. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  203.  
  204. This book pairs up specialists of later medieval England with those of later medieval France to examine areas of common interest. Most of the chapters (which deal with topics such as the court, royal finance, and the operation of government) discuss the French monarchy.
  205.  
  206. Find this resource:
  207.  
  208. Jordan, W. C., and J. R. Phillips, eds. The Capetian Century, 1214–1314. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2017.
  209.  
  210. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  211.  
  212. Many of the articles in the collection focus on the expansion of royal power in France in the century between the battle of Bouvines and the death of Philip IV. They examine issues such as royal patronage, the military, and the royal administration. There is an entire section devoted to Philip IV’s relations with his key ministers, an area of ongoing debate among historians of medieval France.
  213.  
  214. Find this resource:
  215.  
  216. Lewis, P. S., ed. The Recovery of France in the Fifteenth Century. Translated by G. F. Martin. London: Macmillan, 1971.
  217.  
  218. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  219.  
  220. This collection brings together a number of articles on the history of 15th-century France (eleven are translated from French into English), many of which focus on the monarchy.
  221.  
  222. Find this resource:
  223.  
  224. Lewis, Peter S. Essays in Later Medieval French History. London: Hambledon, 1985.
  225.  
  226. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  227.  
  228. Several articles focus on the king and the estates, while others address the monarch’s relations with communities on the periphery of France, royal propaganda, and the development of the nation-state under the Valois.
  229.  
  230. Find this resource:
  231.  
  232. History by Reign
  233. French historians have typically eschewed history by reign in favor of focusing on the history of institutions, including the monarchy. Yet, there are a number of good biographies of French kings. Le Goff 2009 provides the definitive study of Louis IX, as does Bradbury 1998 of Philip II, while Françoise Autrand’s studies of Charles V and Charles VI (Autrand 1994, Autrand 1986) are models of scholarship. Louis XI is especially well served by academic biographies (Blanchard 2015, Kendall 1971). Scholarly biographies of French monarchs take a range of forms, with many avoiding the customary chronological approach. In studies of the reigns of Philip VI (Cazelles 1958) and John II and Charles V (Cazelles 1982), Raymond Cazelles avoids concentrating on much of the standard fare of history by reign (such as foreign relations) and instead uses prosopography to reconstruct the domestic workings of the royal government. Blanchard 2015 and Vale 1974 also eschew the traditional chronological approach to royal biographies and tackle the reigns of Louis XI and Charles VII in a thematic manner. Some studies of individual reigns provide key general introductions to the period (Sivéry 1995), while others are useful for specific purposes (Favier 1978 provides a good focus on the workings of the royal government under Philip IV, while Richard 1992 is strong on Louis IX and the Holy Land).
  234.  
  235. Autrand, Françoise. Charles VI: La folie du foi. Paris: Fayard, 1986.
  236.  
  237. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  238.  
  239. In this excellent scholarly biography of Charles VI, Autrand provides a thorough study of the difficulties that plagued the king’s reign, including revolt, foreign invasion, and civil war. The book focuses especially on the difficulties caused by the king’s madness and the weakness of royal power.
  240.  
  241. Find this resource:
  242.  
  243. Autrand, Françoise. Charles V: Le sage. Paris: Fayard, 1994.
  244.  
  245. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  246.  
  247. A comprehensive study of the reign of Charles V. The first part focuses on Charles’s actions as dauphin in navigating the series of crises that beset the Valois monarchy during the 1350s, including defeat at the battle of Poitiers, the captivity of his father, and widespread dissension within the kingdom. The second part of the book examines Charles V’s kingship, focusing on his various achievements, from regaining territory lost to the English to his cultural accomplishments.
  248.  
  249. Find this resource:
  250.  
  251. Blanchard, Joël. Louis XI. Paris: Perrin, 2015.
  252.  
  253. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  254.  
  255. Blanchard avoids the traditional chronological approach to royal biographies and adopts a thematic approach. He explores themes such as warfare, the royal administration, the church, justice, diplomacy, finance, and the royal image. The book is particularly valuable because, rather than relying on the standard published documents of Louis XI’s reign, Blanchard makes use of a range of archival materials.
  256.  
  257. Find this resource:
  258.  
  259. Bradbury, Jim. Philip Augustus: King of France, 1180–1223. London: Longmans, 1998.
  260.  
  261. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  262.  
  263. The principal academic biography of Philip II. Bradbury examines key aspects of Philip’s reign, including his actions toward the church, foreign policy and his attitudes toward his contemporaries, and his actions as a crusader king, as well as his relationships with his wives. The book is also especially useful on the king’s military actions. Bradbury also considers the growth of royal power and the nature of the French monarchy in the central Middle Ages.
  264.  
  265. Find this resource:
  266.  
  267. Cazelles, Raymond. La société politique et la crise de la royauté sous Philippe de Valois. Paris: Librarie d’Agences, 1958.
  268.  
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  270.  
  271. The first part of the book provides a political narrative of the reign of Philip VI, albeit one in which foreign affairs and progress of the Hundred Years’ War are largely excluded. In the second part of the book, Cazelles looks in detail at the royal bureaucracy, providing a study of the men who filled the key positions, before concluding with a consideration of how far the king was in control of the direction of his government.
  272.  
  273. Find this resource:
  274.  
  275. Cazelles, Raymond. Société politique, noblesse et couronne sous Jean le Bon et Charles V. Geneva, Switzerland: Droz, 1982.
  276.  
  277. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  278.  
  279. In this prosopographical study, Cazelles identifies the people who held power during the reigns of John II and Charles V. He seeks to rehabilitate John II by downplaying many of the achievements traditionally credited to his son. While this is a revisionist study, Cazelles does not ignore the negative aspects of John’s reign. He also seeks to shows that John was manipulated by his nobles.
  280.  
  281. Find this resource:
  282.  
  283. Favier, Jean. Philippe le Bel. Paris: Fayard, 1978.
  284.  
  285. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  286.  
  287. Favier considers the role that Philip IV played in the great developments that took place during his reign. He draws on a wealth of the surviving primary sources, though a lack of footnotes makes it difficult at times to see the evidence on which his conclusions rest.
  288.  
  289. Find this resource:
  290.  
  291. Kendall, Paul Murray. Louis XI: The Universal Spider. New York: Norton, 1971.
  292.  
  293. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  294.  
  295. While this book was the principal modern biography of Louis XI for a long time, Kendall’s work has been superseded by more-recent works (especially those by Blanchard and Favier). Nonetheless, it still provides a useful overview of the king’s reign.
  296.  
  297. Find this resource:
  298.  
  299. Le Goff, Jacques. Saint Louis. Translated by Gareth Evan Gollrad. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009.
  300.  
  301. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  302.  
  303. A monumental study of Louis IX by one of France’s leading medieval historians. It breaks down the king’s life (and afterlife) into key phases: from birth to marriage, from marriage to Crusade, the Crusade and his stay in the Holy Land, the end of his reign, and death and canonization.
  304.  
  305. Find this resource:
  306.  
  307. Richard, Jean. Saint Louis: Crusader King of France. Translated by Jean Birrell. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  308.  
  309. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  310.  
  311. Richard has mined the abundant sources on Louis IX to focuses on the ruler himself rather than on the royal administration. Richard makes good use of his background as a Crusade historian to provide a valuable account of the king’s activities relating to the Holy Land.
  312.  
  313. Find this resource:
  314.  
  315. Sivéry, Gérard. Louis VIII: Le lion. Paris: Fayard, 1995.
  316.  
  317. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  318.  
  319. The standard biography of Louis VIII. It examines his role in his father’s actions against England, his campaigns in England and France, his style of rule, and the organization of the royal administration.
  320.  
  321. Find this resource:
  322.  
  323. Vale, M. G. A. Charles VII. London: Methuen, 1974.
  324.  
  325. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  326.  
  327. Vale offers a reappraisal of Charles VII’s reign by assessing his qualities as a king. He examines his relations with the French nobility, considers the ceremonial presentation of monarchy and the growth of sacral kingship, and places Charles in a wider European context, looking in particular at the Italian dimension to his politics.
  328.  
  329. Find this resource:
  330.  
  331. The Capetian Kings and the Development of Sacral Monarchy
  332. While for long stretches of the Middle Ages, French kings were weaker than many of the princes over whom they claimed authority, they asserted their preeminence over rival political powers through the development of sacral monarchy. The move toward sacral monarchy was already apparent under the early Capetians, who made use of coronation rituals (Bautier 1987, cited under the Court, Ritual, and Ceremony), crusading (Gaposchkin 2008, Naus 2013, Naus 2016, Strayer 1971, Tyerman 1985), and the power to heal (Barlow 1980, Bloch 1973, Buc 1993). Major developments in the representation of royal power occurred in the 12th century, much of which was associated with the abbey of Saint Denis (Spiegel 1978 and Contamine 1973, the latter cited under Royal Religion in Later Medieval France), and Geoffrey Koziol highlights the use of ritual and the expansion of the monarchy (Koziol 1995, cited under the Court, Ritual, and Ceremony). Cohen 2015 and Morrison and Hedeman 2010 consider the roles that art and architecture played in the expression of royal power.
  333.  
  334. Barlow, Frank. “The King’s Evil.” English Historical Review 95.374 (1980): 3–27.
  335.  
  336. DOI: 10.1093/ehr/XCV.CCCLXXIV.3Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  337.  
  338. Barlow revises some aspects of Marc Bloch’s seminal work on the royal touch, particularly the use of the custom before the later 13th century and the identity of the various diseases it covered.
  339.  
  340. Find this resource:
  341.  
  342. Bloch, Marc. The Royal Touch: Sacred Monarchy and Scrofula in England and France. Translated by James E. Anderson. London: Routledge, 1973.
  343.  
  344. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt1w6t8q3Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  345.  
  346. First published in French in 1924, Bloch’s work on the claims of the French (and English) monarchs to heal remains an essential text in the history of the development of royal power.
  347.  
  348. Find this resource:
  349.  
  350. Buc, Philippe. “David’s Adultery with Bathsheba and the Healing Power of the Capetian Kings.” Viator 24 (1993): 101–120.
  351.  
  352. DOI: 10.1484/J.VIATOR.2.301243Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  353.  
  354. Buc examines the wider cultural context of the French monarch’s claim to heal through touch. Focusing on the Parisian schools, he shows that before the early 13th century the king’s ability to heal was accepted by all masters, even those opposed to the growth of monarchical power, but that hereafter this became restricted to those supporting the king’s claims to ultimate power in matters such as taxation and law giving.
  355.  
  356. Find this resource:
  357.  
  358. Cohen, Meredith. The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy: Royal Architecture in Thirteenth-Century Paris. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
  359.  
  360. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  361.  
  362. An examination of the role the Sainte-Chapelle (built by Louis IX) played in the construction and display of sacral monarchy in later medieval France.
  363.  
  364. Find this resource:
  365.  
  366. Gaposchkin, Cecilia. The Making of Saint Louis: Kinship, Sanctity, and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008.
  367.  
  368. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  369.  
  370. This book examines the canonization of Louis IX and provides a valuable account of the relationship between kingship and sanctity in the centuries following his death.
  371.  
  372. Find this resource:
  373.  
  374. Morrison, Elizabeth, and Anne D. Hedeman. Imagining the Past in France: History in Manuscript Painting, 1250–1500. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010.
  375.  
  376. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  377.  
  378. Focuses on the illuminated manuscripts produced in France between 1250 and 1500. Many of these items were commissioned by kings such as Charles V who used them as means to promote French royal power.
  379.  
  380. Find this resource:
  381.  
  382. Naus, James L. “Negotiating Kingship in France at the Time of the Early Crusades: Suger and the Gesta Ludovici Grossi.” French Historical Studies 36.4 (2013): 525–541.
  383.  
  384. DOI: 10.1215/00161071-2294865Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  385.  
  386. Examines Abbot Suger’s history of Louis VI and shows that it fuses Carolingian notions of sacral kingship with Crusade ideology. Naus considers the role this played in the development of image of the French monarch as a crusader king in the later Middle Ages.
  387.  
  388. Find this resource:
  389.  
  390. Naus, James L. Constructing Kingship: The Capetian Monarchs of France and the Early Crusades. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2016.
  391.  
  392. DOI: 10.7228/manchester/9780719090974.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  393.  
  394. Naus examines the role that the Crusades played in the development of the ideology of French kingship under the Capetians. It avoids focusing on France’s most famous crusading monarch, Louis IX, who has been well covered elsewhere, and instead concentrates on the period running from the late 11th to the early 13th centuries.
  395.  
  396. Find this resource:
  397.  
  398. Spiegel, Gabrielle M. The Chronicle Tradition of Saint-Denis: A Survey. Brookline, MA: Classical Folia Editions, 1978.
  399.  
  400. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  401.  
  402. The book provides an important examination of the Abbey of St. Denis and its role in the promotion of French royal power during the Middle Ages.
  403.  
  404. Find this resource:
  405.  
  406. Strayer, Joseph R. “France, the Holy Land, the Chosen People, and the Most Christian King.” In Medieval Statecraft and the Perspectives of History. By Joseph R. Strayer, 300–314. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971.
  407.  
  408. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  409.  
  410. Under the later Capetians, France became increasingly identified with the Holy Land, and the French were portrayed as a chosen people who enjoyed God’s favor. This development became important in the context of the Hundred Years’ War, when the defense of France was cast as a divine mission.
  411.  
  412. Find this resource:
  413.  
  414. Tyerman, Christopher J. “Philip VI and the Recovery of the Holy Land.” English Historical Review 100.394 (1985): 25–52.
  415.  
  416. DOI: 10.1093/ehr/C.CCCXCIV.25Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  417.  
  418. Crusading became a central component of the expression of French monarchical power under the Capetians. Tyerman considers how the first Valois monarch, Philip VI, sought to continue their legacy and launch a Crusade to recover the Holy Land.
  419.  
  420. Find this resource:
  421.  
  422. Royal Religion in Later Medieval France
  423. During the later Middle Ages, when Valois claims to the throne of France became contested, there was marked development in the sacral character of the French king. Jacques Krynen and Christiane Reynauld have traced the evolution of sacral monarchy and the development of the state (Krynen 1973, Raynaud 1993). The madness of Charles VI offered challenges to the representation of sacral kinship, which royal propagandists worked to overcome (Gill 2017, Guenée 2004, Krynen 1981, Pons 1982). Beaune 1991 shows that myths came to the forefront of royal propaganda during the later Middle Ages, while new symbols were developed and old ones recast to serve the developing ideology of the later medieval monarchy. There was a marked increase in the use of artistic display to promote sentiment toward the monarchy (Perkinson 2009, Sherman 1969, and Hochner 2006, the last cited under the Court, Ritual, and Ceremony).
  424.  
  425. Beaune, Colette. The Birth of an Ideology: Myths and Symbols of Nation in Late-Medieval France. Edited by Fredric L. Cheyette. Translated by Susan Ross Huston. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
  426.  
  427. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  428.  
  429. This important study on the development of a “royal religion” in later medieval France examines the development of a national consciousness centered on the monarchy. Beaune shows how the political conditions of the 15th century led to the development of a new range of symbols and myths. Processions and national celebrations were devised that established the ideological foundations on which later French monarchs continued to base their power.
  430.  
  431. Find this resource:
  432.  
  433. Contamine, Philippe. “L’oriflamme de Saint-Denis aux XIVe et XVe siècles: Étude de la symbolique religieuse et royale.” Annales de l’Est (1973): 179–244.
  434.  
  435. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  436.  
  437. A study of the holy-war banner of the French monarchs, which was kept in the abbey of Saint-Denis. Contamine examines the position it occupied in the thought of the time and its role as a symbol of national unity.
  438.  
  439. Find this resource:
  440.  
  441. Gill, Rosemary Howard. “Saving the King: Philippe de Mézières’ Representation of Charles VI of France in Le Songe du vieil pelerin and L’Epistre au roi Richart.” French History 31.1 (2017): 1–19.
  442.  
  443. DOI: 10.1093/fh/crx002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  444.  
  445. Examines the effect the madness of Charles VI had on the presentation of the sacral character of the French monarch. Gill shows how royal propagandists recast the king’s madness as a divinely ordained suffering that God had inflicted on the king to save Christendom.
  446.  
  447. Find this resource:
  448.  
  449. Guenée, Bernard. La folie de Charles VI, roi bien-aimé. Paris: Perrin, 2004.
  450.  
  451. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  452.  
  453. Examines the bouts of madness that afflicted Charles VI through the eyes of contemporaries. As well as dealing with medicine and sorcery, Guenée considers the impact the king’s madness had on the government of the kingdom and the construction of the sacral monarchy.
  454.  
  455. Find this resource:
  456.  
  457. Krynen, Jacques. L’empire du roi: Idées et croyances politiques en France, XIIIe–XVe siècles. Paris: Fayard, 1973.
  458.  
  459. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  460.  
  461. In this key text on the development of the ideology of the French monarchy in the later Middle Ages, Krynen examines the development of the monarchical state and the road toward royal absolutism.
  462.  
  463. Find this resource:
  464.  
  465. Krynen, Jacques. Idéal du prince et pouvoir royal en France à la fin du Moyen Age (1380–1422): Étude de la littérature politique du temps. Paris: Picard, 1981.
  466.  
  467. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  468.  
  469. Focusing on a dark period for the Valois monarchy, when the madness of Charles VI, foreign invasions, civil war, and a crisis of power shook the Valois monarchy to its core, Krynen examines a range of texts that followed the tradition of the mirror of princes and set out the ideal qualities that the monarch should possess. These texts reaffirmed royal power and the Valois monarch’s right to rule, highlighting the continuity of the blood, which went back to Clovis.
  470.  
  471. Find this resource:
  472.  
  473. Perkinson, Stephen. The Likeness of a King: A Prehistory of Portraiture in Late Medieval France. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
  474.  
  475. DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226658810.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  476.  
  477. Taking as its subject the development of royal portraiture in later medieval France, this book makes important points about French court culture and the display of sacral monarchy.
  478.  
  479. Find this resource:
  480.  
  481. Pons, Nicole. “La propagande de guerre française avant l’apparition de Jeanne d’Arc.” Journal des Savants 2 (1982): 191–214.
  482.  
  483. DOI: 10.3406/jds.1982.1451Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  484.  
  485. Examines a range of keys texts that acted as propaganda literature for the Valois monarchy in the early 15th century.
  486.  
  487. Find this resource:
  488.  
  489. Raynaud, Christiane. Images et pouvoirs au Moyen Age. Paris: Léopard d’Or, 1993.
  490.  
  491. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  492.  
  493. A collection of fourteen articles, many of which examine the manifestation of royal power and the ideology of sacral monarchy in context of the development of the state in later medieval France. Raynaud argues in a number of these articles that one of the key elements of royal power was the coherence of its ideology, and she explores how this was manifested.
  494.  
  495. Find this resource:
  496.  
  497. Sherman, Claire Richter. The Portraits of Charles V of France (1338–1380). New York: New York University Press, 1969.
  498.  
  499. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  500.  
  501. Examines Charles V’s use of portraiture for political purposes. Sherman provides a systematic overview of the different types of royal portraiture used under Charles V.
  502.  
  503. Find this resource:
  504.  
  505. The Court, Ritual, and Ceremony
  506. The later Middle Ages saw an expansion in use of processions and ceremonies to promote royal power, which Bryant 1990, Brown and Famiglietti 1994, Giesey 1960, and Jackson 1984 show were manifested in a number of ways, from entry ceremonies to developments in the coronation. Gauvard 2010 also examines how French monarchs used the issuing of pardons as a means to display their sacral character. Furthermore, French kings used the court as an instrument of power, and their cultural influence spread far and wide (Vale 2001), not just at moments of growth in French political power but also at times of crisis, as during the captivity of John II (Murphy 2016).
  507.  
  508. Bautier, Robert-Henri. “Sacres et couronnements sous les Carolingiens et les premiers Capétiens: Recherches sur la genèse du sacre royal français.” Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de France (1987): 7–56.
  509.  
  510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511.  
  512. Examines the development of the French coronation ceremony from the reign of Pepin the Short (ruled 751–768) to the early Capetians.
  513.  
  514. Find this resource:
  515.  
  516. Brown, Elizabeth A. R., and Richard C. Famiglietti. The “Lit de Justice”: Semantics, Ceremonial, and the Parlement of Paris, 1300–1600. Sigmaringen, Germany: Jan Thorbecke, 1994.
  517.  
  518. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  519.  
  520. Examines the political, ceremonial, and symbolic importance of the early history of the lit de justice, when the king attended sittings of the Parlement of Paris.
  521.  
  522. Find this resource:
  523.  
  524. Bryant, Lawrence. “The Medieval Entry Ceremony at Paris.” In Coronations: Medieval and Early Modern Ritual. Edited by János Bak, 88–118. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
  525.  
  526. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  527.  
  528. A pioneering study of the development of the French royal entry ceremony during the 14th and 15th centuries.
  529.  
  530. Find this resource:
  531.  
  532. Gauvard, Claude. “De grace especial”: Crime, état et société en France à la fin du Moyen Âge. 2d ed. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2010.
  533.  
  534. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  535.  
  536. A study of crime in later medieval France that makes important points about the role that pardons played in manifesting the special religious character of the French monarch.
  537.  
  538. Find this resource:
  539.  
  540. Giesey, Ralph E. The Royal Funeral Ceremony in Renaissance France. Geneva, Switzerland: Droz, 1960.
  541.  
  542. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  543.  
  544. Beginning with a discussion of the death of Francis I, Giesey examines the origins of the various elements of the French royal funeral ceremony in the Middle Ages.
  545.  
  546. Find this resource:
  547.  
  548. Hochner, Nicole. Louis XII: Les dégrèlements de l’image royale (1498–1515). Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 2006.
  549.  
  550. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  551.  
  552. While Louis XII is largely ignored in the early 21st century, Hochner shows that his reign was held up as the standard by which French monarchs were judged in the 17th and 18th centuries. This book examines the symbolism and imagery of Louis’s monarchy and highlights the use of art for political purposes.
  553.  
  554. Find this resource:
  555.  
  556. Jackson, Richard A. Vive le Roi! A History of the French Coronation from Charles V to Charles V. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
  557.  
  558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  559.  
  560. Examines the development of the French coronation ceremony from the later 14th century onward.
  561.  
  562. Find this resource:
  563.  
  564. Koziol, Geoffrey. “England, France, and the Problem of Sacrality in Twelfth-Century Ritual.” In Cultures of Power: Lordship, Status and Process in Twelfth-Century Europe. Edited by Thomas N. Bisson, 124–148. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.
  565.  
  566. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  567.  
  568. A comparative study examining the role that ritual played in the developing “administrative monarchies” of England and France in the 12th century.
  569.  
  570. Find this resource:
  571.  
  572. Murphy, Neil. The Captivity of John II, 1356–60: The Royal Image in Later Medieval England and France. New York: Palgrave, 2016.
  573.  
  574. DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-53294-7Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  575.  
  576. This book provides an analysis of the developments that occurred in the display of French royal power and the presentation of the sacral character of the monarchy during the four years that John II spent in English captivity.
  577.  
  578. Find this resource:
  579.  
  580. Vale, Malcolm. The Princely Court: Medieval Courts and Culture in North West Europe, 1270–1380. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
  581.  
  582. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  583.  
  584. In this comparative study of northern European courts, Vale discusses the role that the French monarchy played in courtly developments in the long 14th century.
  585.  
  586. Find this resource:
  587.  
  588. The Growth of Royal Power under the Capetians
  589. As Lemarignier 1965 shows, there was an absence of an effective central jurisdiction in early Capetian France. During the 12th century, however, French monarchs started to impose their laws over much-larger geographical areas than ever before. Yet, Lewis 1981 highlights that this was done out of family interests rather than with the intention of creating a centralized state. The marked growth in royal power during the reigns of the later Capetians led to a wide expansion in the scale of government (Baldwin 1986, Jordan 1979, Langmuir 1970). This expansion in the reach of the royal state reached a peak under Philip IV (Strayer 1980). The lawyers and ministers who played a key role in the expansion of royal power under the later Capetians occupy a prominent position in the historiography of medieval France, and there are several good studies of them (Favier 1963, Favier 1969, Pegues 1962).
  590.  
  591. Baldwin, John W. The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
  592.  
  593. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  594.  
  595. Baldwin breaks down Philip II’s reign down into four key periods, each of which played a distinctive role in the evolution of the royal government. Tacking these four periods in a chronological manner, Baldwin highlights the institutional developments that took place under Philip II. His reconstruction of the finances of the reign and the personnel who filled the key offices in the royal bureaucracy is especially illuminating.
  596.  
  597. Find this resource:
  598.  
  599. Favier, Jean. Un conseiller de Philippe de Bel: Enguerran de Marigny. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1963.
  600.  
  601. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  602.  
  603. Focusing on the career of one of Philip IV’s key ministers, Favier describes Marigny’s beginnings in the household of Jeanne of Navarre, before detailing his entry into the king’s service. Favier examines the prominent role Marigny played in events such as the treaty of Pontoise (1312), which brought an end to the war in Flanders, and considers how the jealousy of Charles of Valois and other French princes led to his eventual downfall, trial, and execution in 1315.
  604.  
  605. Find this resource:
  606.  
  607. Favier, Jean. “Les légistes et le gouvernement de Philippe le Bel.” Journal des Savants 2 (1969): 92–108.
  608.  
  609. DOI: 10.3406/jds.1969.1196Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  610.  
  611. Favier examines the lawyers of the later Capetian monarchs, who he argues laid down the foundation of the royal bureaucracy of later medieval France. He highlights the tradition of royal service established in families that continued to occupy prominent positions in the administration of the early Valois monarchs. He contends that a new style of government was developing under Philip IV around the turn of the 14th century.
  612.  
  613. Find this resource:
  614.  
  615. Hélary, Xavier. L’armée du roi de France: La guerre de Saint Louis à Philippe Le Bel. Paris: Perrin, 2012.
  616.  
  617. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  618.  
  619. Hélary offers a reexamination of the Capetian monarchs at war and argues that warfare was central to the expansion of their power. He examines key developments that occurred as a result from warfare, including the growth of the royal administration and the development of taxation, as well as the role that war played in the strengthening of bonds between the king and his nobles, all of which aided the spread of royal authority.
  620.  
  621. Find this resource:
  622.  
  623. Jordan, William Chester. Louis IX and the Challenge of the Crusade: A Study in Rulership. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1979.
  624.  
  625. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  626.  
  627. Jordan argues that Louis IX’s concern with crusading produced the series of administrative reforms for which the king is remembered. He examines the reforms Louis developed in preparation for his departure on Crusade, the regency government he set up to rule France during his absence on Crusade, and the impact that the failure of his Crusade had on his reforms.
  628.  
  629. Find this resource:
  630.  
  631. Langmuir, Gavin I. “Community and Legal Change in Capetian France.” French Historical Studies 6.3 (1970): 275–286.
  632.  
  633. DOI: 10.2307/286059Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  634.  
  635. The emergence of centralized legislation required the consent of the great men of the kingdom, which in turn produced a need for national assemblies and the potential for the growth of a community of the realm, though Langmuir argues that this was ultimately checked by a failure to codify the various laws and customs of the kingdom.
  636.  
  637. Find this resource:
  638.  
  639. Lemarignier, Jean-François. Le gouvernement royal aux premiers temps capétiens (987–1108). Paris: Picard, 1965.
  640.  
  641. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  642.  
  643. Lemarignier focuses on the limitations of royal power in early Capetian France. On the basis of a careful examination of royal diplomas issued between 987 and 1108, he argues that royal authority was largely confined to the Île-de-France.
  644.  
  645. Find this resource:
  646.  
  647. Lewis, Andrew W. Royal Succession in Capetian France: Studies on Familial Order and the State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
  648.  
  649. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  650.  
  651. Lewis focuses on the Capetian monarchy’s succession strategy. He shows that the Capetians acted like other powerful noble families of the age, rather than employing a distinctly royal model. Lewis argues that the Capetians acted principally in terms of familial interests rather than in terms of national concerns. He finds that there was no grand strategy to create a cohesive kingdom, and that the subsequent creation of one under the Capetian kings was largely due to chance.
  652.  
  653. Find this resource:
  654.  
  655. Pegues, Franklin J. The Lawyers of the Last Capetians. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962.
  656.  
  657. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  658.  
  659. While historians often see lawyers as being crucial to the direction of Philip IV’s rule, Pegues examines in depth the careers of these men and argues that rather than forming a cohesive group that devised royal policy, they instead looked to their own individual interests by executing the policies devised by the king.
  660.  
  661. Find this resource:
  662.  
  663. Strayer, Joseph R. The Reign of Philip the Fair. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.
  664.  
  665. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  666.  
  667. Strayer claims that Philip rather than his councilors took the key decisions relating to governmental policy. He shows that Philip’s principal aim was to achieve the uncontested extension of his authority across the entire kingdom.
  668.  
  669. Find this resource:
  670.  
  671. Royal Government under the Valois
  672. The growth of royal power led to loyalties and identities becoming shaped around royal service, with a large number of nobles either fighting for the king or serving in his administration (Hélary 2012, cited under the Growth of Royal Power under the Capetians; Contamine 1997), though Caron 1994 shows that royal power ultimately grew at the expense of the nobility. Under the Valois, institutions such as the parlements rose to prominence (Autrand 1981, Famiglietti 1983, Little 1984, Hébert 2014, Petit-Reynaud 2003), while Wolfe 1972 finds that royal government in the provinces expanded at the expense of regional parlements. Some institutions declined, and historians have seen the failure of the French to develop the Estates General during the later Middle Ages as a sign of weakness (Lewis 1985, cited under Collections of Essays; Major 1980). The development of royal authority also led to an increasing focus on treason and crimes against the king (Cuttler 1982).
  673.  
  674. Autrand, Françoise. Naissance d’un grand Corps de l’État: Les gens du Parlement de Paris, 1345–1454. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1981.
  675.  
  676. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  677.  
  678. Autrand provides a prosopographical study of the members of the Parlement of Paris. She highlights the links they had with the king, and emphasizes the important role that the Parlement played in helping the Valois monarchy weather the dark days of the early 15th century, when the king’s madness led to factional conflict between the princes.
  679.  
  680. Find this resource:
  681.  
  682. Caron, Marie-Thérèse. Noblesse et pouvoir royal en France: XIIIe-XVIe siècle. Paris: A. Coin, 1994.
  683.  
  684. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  685.  
  686. Caron examines the relationship between the king and the nobility in later medieval France. She emphasizes the overall growth of royal power at the expense of the nobility.
  687.  
  688. Find this resource:
  689.  
  690. Contamine, Philippe. La noblesse au royaume de France de Philippe le Bel à Louis XII: Essai de synthèse. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1997.
  691.  
  692. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  693.  
  694. This broad study of the French nobility during the later Middle Ages contains useful discussions about the nobles’ relationship with the king and their role both in military and bureaucratic service to the Crown.
  695.  
  696. Find this resource:
  697.  
  698. Cuttler, S. H. The Law of Treason and Treason Trials in Later Medieval France. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
  699.  
  700. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511562396Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  701.  
  702. Examines the punishment of treason by the Valois monarchs of later medieval France. Ties the rising incidences of treason to developments in the Hundred Years’ War and draws useful comparisons with England.
  703.  
  704. Find this resource:
  705.  
  706. Famiglietti, Richard C. “The Role of the Parlement de Paris in the Ratification and Registration of Royal Acts during the Reign of Charles VI.” Journal of Medieval History 9.3 (1983): 217–225.
  707.  
  708. DOI: 10.1016/0304-4181(83)90032-5Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  709.  
  710. Examines the role that the Parlement of Paris played in the registration of royal ordinances and the wider methods used in the ratification of the acts issued by the monarch.
  711.  
  712. Find this resource:
  713.  
  714. Hébert, Michel. Parlementer: Assemblées representatives et échange politique en Europe occidentale à la fin du Moyen Âge. Paris: Éditions de Boccard, 2014.
  715.  
  716. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  717.  
  718. This book moves beyond national histories to provide a historical anthropology of representative institutions in western Europe in the later Middle Ages. It provides an excellent examination of the medieval French estates and situates it within this wider context.
  719.  
  720. Find this resource:
  721.  
  722. Little, Roger G. The Parlement of Poitiers: War, Government and Politics in France, 1418–1436. London: Royal Historical Society, 1984.
  723.  
  724. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  725.  
  726. Uses the registers of the Parlement of Poitiers to provide a reassessment of the early years of Charles VII’s reign. Little rejects charges that Charles was a weak ruler, and examines the king’s relationship with his nobles, as well as the power of the Parlement of Poitiers.
  727.  
  728. Find this resource:
  729.  
  730. Major, J. Russell. Representative Government in Early Modern France. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1980.
  731.  
  732. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  733.  
  734. The first part of this book is of most relevance to the study of late medieval French kingship. Major argues that the monarchy was decentralized, consultative, and popular. He approaches the subject of monarchical power from the perspective of local communities and estates.
  735.  
  736. Find this resource:
  737.  
  738. Petit-Reynaud, Sophie. “Faire loy” au royaume de France: De Philippe VI à Charles V (1328–1380). Paris: De Boccard, 2003.
  739.  
  740. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  741.  
  742. Examines both the theoretical foundations of the royal power to legislate and the manner in which this authority was exerted during the reigns of the first three Valois monarchs. In this study of the relationship between the king and the law, Petit-Reynaud also considers the role of the Parlement and the setbacks of the Hundred Years’ War.
  743.  
  744. Find this resource:
  745.  
  746. Wolfe, Martin. The Fiscal System of Renaissance France. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1972.
  747.  
  748. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  749.  
  750. Wolfe argues that the golden age of the provincial estates in France came between 1330 and 1430, and that thereafter their power declined as the king gained absolutist powers in the provinces.
  751.  
  752. Find this resource:
  753.  
  754. Royal Taxation during the Hundred Years’ War
  755. The development of regular taxation even in peacetime was tied to the conditions created by the Hundred Years’ War (Henneman 1971, Henneman 1981). The ability for the French king to levy taxes and have his subjects pay them is used as a barometer with which to gauge the expansion of royal power in the later Middle Ages. Overall, the increasing financial needs of the later medieval French monarchy led to an expansion in royal authority (Henneman 1999, Rey 1965, Lassalmonie 2002).
  756.  
  757. Henneman, John Bell. Royal Taxation in Fourteenth Century France: The Development of War Financing, 1322–1356. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971.
  758.  
  759. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  760.  
  761. Examines the role between war and taxation under the late Capetian and early Valois kings, showing particularly how the onset of the Hundred Years’ War led Philip VI and John II to seek regular subsidies. Henneman examines the impact that this had on the relationship between the Crown and representative institutions across the kingdom.
  762.  
  763. Find this resource:
  764.  
  765. Henneman, John Bell. Royal Taxation in Fourteenth-Century France: The Captivity and Ransom of John II, 1356–1370. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1981.
  766.  
  767. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  768.  
  769. This book considers the impact that the capture and ransom of John II had on French royal government. A key study in the history of the medieval French monarchy, this book shows how the king increased his reach across his kingdom through his ability to levy taxes on his subjects.
  770.  
  771. Find this resource:
  772.  
  773. Henneman, John Bell. “France in the Middle Ages.” In The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe, c. 1200–1815. Edited by Richard Bonney, 101–122. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
  774.  
  775. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204022.003.0004Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  776.  
  777. Henneman provides a succinct introduction to the development of royal finance in medieval France and shows how it was connected to the growth of monarchial power.
  778.  
  779. Find this resource:
  780.  
  781. Lassalmonie, Jean-François. La boîte à l’enchanteur: Politique financière de Louis XI. Paris: IGPDE, 2002.
  782.  
  783. DOI: 10.4000/books.igpde.793Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  784.  
  785. Examines Louis XI’s economic policy and argues that his reign formed a crucial stage in the development of the modern state as a result of developments he took in the levying of taxes.
  786.  
  787. Find this resource:
  788.  
  789. Rey, Maurice. La domaine du roi les finances extraordinaires sous Charles VI (1388–1413)—Les finances royales sous Charles VI: Les causes du déficit. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1965.
  790.  
  791. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  792.  
  793. These two studies focus on the financial activities of the French monarchy during the reign of Charles VI. Rey shows that the centralized monarchical government that had enjoyed so many successes under the Capetians in the 13th century performed less effectively under the early Valois monarchs. He emphasizes the role that self-interest and particularism had in hindering the development of an effective royal administration.
  794.  
  795. Find this resource:
  796.  
  797. The Crown and the Princes
  798. One of the key narratives of French history is the process of centralization under the monarchy. While the Capetian monarchs were initially weak, they were able to establish their dominance over the territorial princes of the kingdom during the 12th and 13th centuries (Hallam 1980, Werner 1978), followed by the creation of apanages as a means to govern the kingdom and provide lands for the king’s sons (Wood 1966). Leguai 1967, Leguai 1995, Le Patourel 1970, and Perroy 1945 draw attention more generally to the creation of princely states in the later Middle Ages (see the Princely States for key studies of individual princely states). The factional conflicts between these princes weakened France, particularly during the civil war that followed the onset of Charles VI’s madness (Famiglietti 1986, Guenée 1992, Henneman 1986).
  799.  
  800. Famiglietti, R. C. Royal Intrigue: Crisis at the Court of Charles VI, 1392–1420. New York: AMS Press, 1986.
  801.  
  802. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  803.  
  804. The first chapter diagnoses schizophrenia as the mental illness that afflicted Charles VI. Famiglietti then goes on to examine the effect that Charles VI’s “absences” had on the government of France, particularly in encouraging competition for power between the princes. The book focuses on the dauphin, Louis of Guyenne, in an effort to understand the complex history of this period.
  805.  
  806. Find this resource:
  807.  
  808. Guenée, Bernard. Un meutre, une société: L’assassinat du duc d’Orléans, 23 novembre 1407. Paris: Gallimard, 1992.
  809.  
  810. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  811.  
  812. A rounded study of the assassination of Louis, Duke of Orléans, by John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. The second part of the book is of most use for the study of French monarchical power, since it examines the king’s madness and the subsequent conflicts between princely fractions.
  813.  
  814. Find this resource:
  815.  
  816. Hallam, Elizabeth M. “The King and the Princes in Eleventh-Century France.” Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 53.128 (1980): 143–156.
  817.  
  818. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.1980.tb01738.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  819.  
  820. Examines how political power operated in early Capetian France, by focusing on the links between the king and the territorial princes.
  821.  
  822. Find this resource:
  823.  
  824. Henneman, John Bell. Olivier de Clisson and Political Society in France under Charles V and Charles VI. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986.
  825.  
  826. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  827.  
  828. This biography of the Breton nobleman Olivier de Clisson makes important points about political society in later medieval France, particularly the struggle for power among the princes following the onset of Charles VI’s madness.
  829.  
  830. Find this resource:
  831.  
  832. Leguai, André. “Les ‘états princiers’ en France à la fin du Moyen Age.” Annali della Fondazione Italiana per la Storia Amministrative 4 (1967): 133–157.
  833.  
  834. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  835.  
  836. Leguai draws together various materials relating to the operation of the princely states, which rivaled those of the king in later medieval France.
  837.  
  838. Find this resource:
  839.  
  840. Leguai, André. “Royauté et principautés en France aux XIVe et XVe siècles: L’évolution de leurs rapports au cours de Guerre de Cent Ans.” Le Moyen Âge 101 (1995): 121–136.
  841.  
  842. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  843.  
  844. Examine the rise of princely states and their relations with the Crown in France during the Hundred Years’ War.
  845.  
  846. Find this resource:
  847.  
  848. Le Patourel, John. “The King and the Princes in Fourteenth-Century France.” In Europe in the Late Middle Ages. Edited by J. R. Hale, J. R. L. Highfield, and B. Smalley, 155–183. London: Faber, 1970.
  849.  
  850. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  851.  
  852. Le Patourel challenges the wider narrative of political development in 13th- and 14th-century France, which focuses on the development of a centralized royal state, to emphasize that France, like other parts of Europe such as Germany and Italy, passed through an “age of principalities” during this period.
  853.  
  854. Find this resource:
  855.  
  856. Perroy, Édouard. “Feudalism or Principalities in Fifteenth-Century France.” Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 20.61 (1945): 181–185.
  857.  
  858. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.1945.tb01346.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  859.  
  860. Focus on the struggle between the princely states and the Crown in later medieval France.
  861.  
  862. Find this resource:
  863.  
  864. Werner, K. F. “Kingdom and Principality in Twelfth-Century France.” In The Medieval Nobility: Studies on the Ruling Classes of France and Germany from the Sixth to the Twelfth Century. Edited by Timothy Reuter, 243–290. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1978.
  865.  
  866. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  867.  
  868. Examines the territorial principalities of the kingdom of France and the rise of Capetian royal power.
  869.  
  870. Find this resource:
  871.  
  872. Wood, Charles T. The French Apanages and the Capetian Monarchy, 1224–1328. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966.
  873.  
  874. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  875.  
  876. Wood focuses on the endowments of land (apanages) that the later Capetian monarchs provided for their sons. He argues that this “revolutionary development,” which became the cornerstone of monarchical policy, was developed during the reigns of Philip II and Louis VIII as a means to prevent the alienation of land from the royal domain.
  877.  
  878. Find this resource:
  879.  
  880. The Princely States
  881. Histories of the individual princely states of later medieval France have come to the forefront of historical scholarship since the late 20th century. The bulk of work has concentrated on Burgundy (Vaughan 2002a, Vaughan 2002b, Vaughan 2002c, Nicholas 1992) and Brittany (Jones 1988, Kerhervé 1987), two largely autonomous princely states, the rulers of which used the conditions created by the Hundred Years’ War to increase their own power. Since the late 1990s, historians have turned their attention to other principalities, providing new studies of the territories ruled by the dukes of Orléans and Bourbon (Gonzalez 2004, Matteoni 1998, Matteoni 2012).
  882.  
  883. Gonzalez, Elizabeth. Un prince en son hôtel: Les serviteurs des ducs d’Orléans au XVe siècle. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2004.
  884.  
  885. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  886.  
  887. This important and scholarly work looks at the development of the ducal household from the late 14th century onward. Gonzalez compares it with that of other leading French nobles, and she also looks at the noblewomen who ran the household during the absences of their husbands.
  888.  
  889. Find this resource:
  890.  
  891. Jones, Michael. Ducal Brittany, 1364–1399: Relations with England and France during the Reign of Duke John IV. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  892.  
  893. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  894.  
  895. Jones examines the political relationships between John IV and the monarchs of England and France. He shows that the Duke of Brittany positioned himself between the two in order maintain an independent duchy.
  896.  
  897. Find this resource:
  898.  
  899. Kerhervé, Jean. L’état Breton aux 14e et 15e siècles: Les ducs, l’argent et les hommes. Paris: Maloine, 1987.
  900.  
  901. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  902.  
  903. A clear and comprehensive analysis based on a wide range of archival research of the operation of the late medieval Breton state.
  904.  
  905. Find this resource:
  906.  
  907. Matteoni, Olivier. Servir le prince: Les officiers des ducs de Bourbon à la fin du Moyen Âge. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998.
  908.  
  909. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  910.  
  911. This book makes good use of prosopography to examine the development of the Bourbon state during the later Middle Ages.
  912.  
  913. Find this resource:
  914.  
  915. Matteoni, Olivier. Un prince face à Louis XI: Jean II de Bourbon, une politique en procès. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2012.
  916.  
  917. DOI: 10.3917/puf.matte.2012.01Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  918.  
  919. Matteoni uses the trial of Jean II de Bourbon as a lens through which to examine the Bourbon state and assess the relations between the dukes of Bourbon and the French monarchy during the later Middle Ages.
  920.  
  921. Find this resource:
  922.  
  923. Nicholas, David. Medieval Flanders. London and New York: Longman, 1992.
  924.  
  925. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  926.  
  927. Flanders was one of the wealthiest and more important parts of northern Europe, and the kings of France repeatedly tried (and failed) to assert their rule over it. Nicholas provides a wide-ranging study of Flanders and considers its relations with the French monarchy.
  928.  
  929. Find this resource:
  930.  
  931. Vaughan, Richard. Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy. New ed. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2002a.
  932.  
  933. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  934.  
  935. An essential study of Philip the Good, the French prince whose power exceeded that of the Valois monarch. Examines the operation of the Burgundian state and considers Philip’s role in French politics.
  936.  
  937. Find this resource:
  938.  
  939. Vaughan, Richard. Charles the Bold: The Last Valois Duke of Burgundy. New ed. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2002b.
  940.  
  941. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  942.  
  943. An important study of Charles the Bold, whose long struggle with Louis XI dominated French politics in the 1460s and 1470s.
  944.  
  945. Find this resource:
  946.  
  947. Vaughan, Richard. John the Fearless: The Growth of Burgundian Power. New ed. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2002c.
  948.  
  949. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  950.  
  951. John the Fearless played a key role in the civil war that broke out in France in the early 15th century. Vaughan provides a key examination of the crucial role that John the Fearless played in French politics during this time.
  952.  
  953. Find this resource:
  954.  
  955. Center and Periphery
  956. Peter Lewis has spoken of the “pluralistic nature of power distribution” in later medieval France, and historians have profitably used his ideas about “center” and “periphery” to examine royal power (Highfield and Jeffs 1981). Historians have also moved to think about how royal power was manifested in the frontiers (Dauphant 2012, Fawtier 1959, Firnhaber-Baker 2012, Firnhaber-Baker 2014, Highfield and Jeffs 1981, Harris 1994, Potter 1993, Tricard 1979), while Bernard Guenée has emphasized the decentralization of power in later medieval France (Guenée 1967, Guenée 1968).
  957.  
  958. Dauphant, Léonard. Le royaume des quatre rivières: L’espace politique français, 1380–1515. Seyssel, France: Champ Vallon, 2012.
  959.  
  960. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  961.  
  962. In the first part of this book, Dauphant considers how the kings of France attempted to assert their mastery over the kingdom’s territorial space and those who lived in it. In Part 2, Dauphant consider how kings expressed their sovereignty and the ways in which space and rule were defined. The final part of the book examines the frontiers of the kingdom.
  963.  
  964. Find this resource:
  965.  
  966. Fawtier, Robert. “Comment, au début du XIVe siècle, un roi de France pouvait-il se représenter son royaume.” Comptes Rendus des Séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 103.2 (1959): 117–123.
  967.  
  968. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  969.  
  970. Examines how the French kings governed the frontiers of their kingdom during the 14th century.
  971.  
  972. Find this resource:
  973.  
  974. Firnhaber-Baker, Justine. “Jura in Medio: The Settlement of Seigneurial Disputes in Later Medieval Languedoc.” French History 26.4 (2012): 441–459.
  975.  
  976. DOI: 10.1093/fh/crs077Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  977.  
  978. Focusing on royal justice in 14th-century Languedoc, Firnhaber-Baker demonstrates that political power in later medieval France was far from being centralized into the hands of proto-absolute monarchy. She shows that royal power could be weak in the provinces even during times of relative political strength.
  979.  
  980. Find this resource:
  981.  
  982. Firnhaber-Baker, Justine. Violence and the State in Languedoc, 1250–1400. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
  983.  
  984. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  985.  
  986. This book focuses on the expansion of royal control over seigneurial violence during the 13th and 14th centuries. Firnhaber-Baker shows that the effective exercise of political authority in the provinces was dependent on negotiations between royal officials and local authorities.
  987.  
  988. Find this resource:
  989.  
  990. Guenée, Bernard. “État et nation en France au Moyen Age.” Revue Historique 237.1 (1967): 17–30.
  991.  
  992. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  993.  
  994. In this examination of French royal power, Guenée argues for institutional centralization and geographical decentralization in 15th-century France.
  995.  
  996. Find this resource:
  997.  
  998. Guenée, Bernard. “Espace et État dans la France du bas Moyen Âge.” Annales ESC 23.4 (1968): 744–758.
  999.  
  1000. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1001.  
  1002. Guenée argues that late medieval France was highly regional and that Charles VII had to move away from the traditional centralizing policy of his predecessors to adopt one of decentralization.
  1003.  
  1004. Find this resource:
  1005.  
  1006. Harris, Robin. Valois Guyenne: A Study of Politics, Government and Society in Late Medieval France. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1994.
  1007.  
  1008. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1009.  
  1010. Examines the imposition of Valois rule over Gascony, which had been ruled by the kings of England during the three centuries preceding Charles VII’s campaigns of the 1450s. Provides a good examination of the workings of the royal government in the provinces.
  1011.  
  1012. Find this resource:
  1013.  
  1014. Highfield, J. R. L., and Robin Jeffs, eds. The Crown and Local Communities in England and France in the Fifteenth Century. Gloucester, UK: A. Sutton, 1981.
  1015.  
  1016. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1017.  
  1018. A number of articles in this collection deal with relations between the French Crown and the provinces in the later Middle Ages. Includes Peter Lewis’s seminal article on center and periphery in later medieval France. Bernard Chevalier examines the nature of the contact between the bonnes villes and the royal council. André Leguai focus on relations between Burgundian towns and the Valois monarchs, while Christopher Allmand explores Rouen’s relations with the king following Charles VII’s reconquest of Normandy.
  1019.  
  1020. Find this resource:
  1021.  
  1022. Potter, David. War and Government in the French Provinces: Picardy, 1470–1560. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
  1023.  
  1024. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511562495Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1025.  
  1026. Potter highlights the considerable attention that the Crown gave to Picardy from the late 15th century onward, which he relates to the growing absolutist character of the French monarchy.
  1027.  
  1028. Find this resource:
  1029.  
  1030. Tricard, Jean. “Jean, duc de Normandie et héritier de France, un double échec?” Annales de Normandie 29.1 (1979): 23–44.
  1031.  
  1032. DOI: 10.3406/annor.1979.5314Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1033.  
  1034. This article examines John II’s role as Duke of Normandy and the failure of the early Valois monarchs to successfully bind the duchy to the Crown. He also considers the lasting influence of John’s experience as Duke of Normandy on his rule as king.
  1035.  
  1036. Find this resource:
  1037.  
  1038. Town-Crown Relations
  1039. Urban communities came to the forefront of political society in the 14th and 15th centuries as a result of the conditions created by the Hundred Years’ War (Contamine 1978). Bernard Chevalier is the leading advocate of the claim that the monarchy and the bonnes villes developed an entente cordiale during the reign of Charles VII (Chevalier 1988, Chevalier 1975, Chevalier 1995), which continued through to the mid-16th century. Subsequent historians have developed his points by focusing on the various aspects of the relationship between the king and the bonnes villes (Murphy 2016, Rivaud 2007).
  1040.  
  1041. Chevalier, Bernard. Tours, ville royale (1356–1520): Origine et développement d’une capitale à la fin du Moyen Âge. Louvain, Belgium, and Paris: Vander, 1975.
  1042.  
  1043. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1044.  
  1045. Focusing on Tours, which lay at the very center of royal France during the later Middle Ages, Chevalier traces the evolution of the town and considers how its development was shaped by its relations with the monarchy.
  1046.  
  1047. Find this resource:
  1048.  
  1049. Chevalier, Bernard. Les bonnes villes de France du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Paris: Aubier, 1982.
  1050.  
  1051. DOI: 10.3917/aubi.cheva.1982.01Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1052.  
  1053. Part 2 of this book focuses most closely on the king’s relationship with the bonnes villes. Chevalier shows that whereas during the 14th and early 15th centuries towns placed themselves in opposition to the Crown and regularly went into revolt, from 1440 onward they began to support the monarch in his struggles with the princes of the kingdom.
  1054.  
  1055. Find this resource:
  1056.  
  1057. Chevalier, Bernard. “L’état et les bonnes villes en Fance au temps de leur accord parfait (1450–1550).” In La ville, la bourgeoisie et la genèse de l’état moderne (XIIe–XVIIIe siècles): Actes du colloque de Bielefeld (29 novembre–1er décembre 1985). Edited by Neithard Bulst and Jean-Philippe Genet, 235–249. Paris: CNRS, 1988.
  1058.  
  1059. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1060.  
  1061. This article focuses on the period between the mid-15th and mid-16th centuries, when town-Crown relations were at their closest.
  1062.  
  1063. Find this resource:
  1064.  
  1065. Chevalier, Bernard. “Un tournant du règne de Charles VII: Le ralliement des bonnes villes à la monarchie pendant la Praguerie.” In Les bonnes villes, l’État et la société dans la France de la fin du XVe siècle. By Bernard Chevalier, 155–167. Orleans, France: Paradigme, 1995.
  1066.  
  1067. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1068.  
  1069. Chevalier identifies the princely revolt known as the Praguerie as the decisive moment when the bonnes villes gave their support to the Crown against the princes.
  1070.  
  1071. Find this resource:
  1072.  
  1073. Contamine, Philippe. “Les fortifications urbaine en France à la fin du Moyen Age: Aspects financiers et économiques.” Revue Historique 260.1 (1978): 23–47.
  1074.  
  1075. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1076.  
  1077. Contamine examines the development of urban fortifications during the Hundred Years’ War and shows that the important military role that the conflict placed on towns shaped their relations with the monarchy.
  1078.  
  1079. Find this resource:
  1080.  
  1081. Murphy, Neil. Ceremonial Entries, Municipal Liberties and the Negotiation of Power in Valois France, 1328–1589. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2016.
  1082.  
  1083. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1084.  
  1085. This book explores the negotiations between the king and his towns over liberties in later medieval and early modern France. In return for devising ceremonial welcomes that promoted the power of the monarchy, urban elites received extensive rights and liberties.
  1086.  
  1087. Find this resource:
  1088.  
  1089. Rivaud, David. Les villes et le roi: Les municipalités de Bourges, Poitiers et Tours et l’émergence de l’État modern (v. 1440–v. 1560). Rennes, France: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2007.
  1090.  
  1091. DOI: 10.4000/books.pur.25117Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1092.  
  1093. Focusing on three towns in the heart of France, Rivaud examines relations between the king and his towns in the later Middle Ages. Taking a chronological approach, Rivaud affirms the important role that towns played in the development of a strong and centralized monarchy from the mid-15th century onward.
  1094.  
  1095. Find this resource:
  1096.  
  1097. Queenship
  1098. While the study of French queenship lags far behind that of kingship in the historiography of medieval France, there is some sign that this is changing, and more-recent books have dealt both with Capetian and Valois royal women (Gaude-Ferragu 2016, Nolan 2003, Luna 2017). While historians have tended to see a general decline in the power of queens as the Middle Ages progressed (Facinger 1968), the political circumstances of later medieval France meant that women such as Isabella of Bavaria (Adams 2010, Gibbons 1996) wielded considerable political authority. A number of studies look at wider discussions about the manifestation of female royal power in the later Middle Ages (Cosandey 2000, Grant 2016, McCartney 1994, Pratt 1997, Taylor 2006).
  1099.  
  1100. Adams, Tracy. The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.
  1101.  
  1102. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1103.  
  1104. This reassessment of the Isabeau of Bavaria is aimed at dispelling the “Black Legend” that surrounds the queen. A number of chapters focus on Isabeau’s important political role during the madness of her husband, while others consider how chroniclers wrote about the queen both during her lifetime and after.
  1105.  
  1106. Find this resource:
  1107.  
  1108. Cosandey, Fanny. La reine de France: Symbole et pouvoir, XVe–XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Gallimard, 2000.
  1109.  
  1110. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1111.  
  1112. Focuses on the role of the queen within the wider institution of the French monarchy. Examines the manifestation of female power and discusses the ceremonies involved with queenship. The chapter on Salic Law is of particular interest to historians of later medieval France.
  1113.  
  1114. Find this resource:
  1115.  
  1116. Facinger, Marion. “A Study of Medieval Queenship: Capetian France, 987–1237.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 5.9 (1968): 2–47.
  1117.  
  1118. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1119.  
  1120. In this influential article, Facinger argues that the early Capetian queens were the king’s partner in governing France, but that they began to lose this power during the second half of the 12th century.
  1121.  
  1122. Find this resource:
  1123.  
  1124. Gaude-Ferragu, Murielle. Queenship in Medieval France, 1300–1500. New York: Palgrave, 2016.
  1125.  
  1126. DOI: 10.1057/978-1-349-93028-9Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1127.  
  1128. This book examines the power wielded by the queens of later medieval France. It considers the ceremonies involved with the making of queens, such as the marriage and coronation, as well as the household, artistic patronage, religious devotion, and the exercise of political power.
  1129.  
  1130. Find this resource:
  1131.  
  1132. Gibbons, Rachel. “Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France (1385–1422): The Creation of an Historical Villainess.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6th ser. 6 (1996): 51–73.
  1133.  
  1134. DOI: 10.2307/3679229Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1135.  
  1136. Refutes many of the negative accounts made of Isabeau of Bavaria to provide a rounded study of the queen and her political role during a period of instability in France, which was caused by her husband’s madness.
  1137.  
  1138. Find this resource:
  1139.  
  1140. Grant, Lindy. Blanche of Castile, Queen of France. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016.
  1141.  
  1142. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1143.  
  1144. In the first part of this scholarly biography, Grant provides a chronological overview of the queen’s life. The second part is more thematic and addresses topics such as patronage and authority. The book also makes wider points about medieval queenship.
  1145.  
  1146. Find this resource:
  1147.  
  1148. Luna, Évane. Les trois épouses du roi Robert II le Pieux: Suzanne, Berthe & Constance. Moulins, France: Raison et Religion, 2017.
  1149.  
  1150. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1151.  
  1152. Looks at a wide range of sources to examine the role that these queens played in the establishment of the early Capetian monarchy.
  1153.  
  1154. Find this resource:
  1155.  
  1156. McCartney, Elizabeth. “The King’s Mother and Royal Prerogative in Early-Sixteenth-Century France.” In Medieval Queenship. Edited by John Carmi Parsons, 63–78. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994.
  1157.  
  1158. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1159.  
  1160. Focuses on the political power that the king’s mother wielded in the early 16th century, when there were several powerful female regents of France.
  1161.  
  1162. Find this resource:
  1163.  
  1164. Nolan, Kathleen, ed. Capetian Women. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
  1165.  
  1166. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1167.  
  1168. This collection examines the women of the Capetian dynasty, including the queens Blanche of Castile, Isabelle of Hainault, and Jeanne of Valois. The articles tackle common themes such as patronage, cultural activities, and the manner in which medieval chroniclers represented these women.
  1169.  
  1170. Find this resource:
  1171.  
  1172. Pratt, Karen. “The Image of the Queen in Old French Literature.” In Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe. Edited by Anne J. Duggan, 235–259. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1997.
  1173.  
  1174. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1175.  
  1176. Focuses on the representation of the queen in French literary texts from the 12th to 15th centuries.
  1177.  
  1178. Find this resource:
  1179.  
  1180. Taylor, Craig. “The Salic Law, French Queenship, and the Defense of Women in the Late Middle Ages.” French Historical Studies 29.4 (2006): 543–564.
  1181.  
  1182. DOI: 10.1215/00161071-2006-012Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1183.  
  1184. The article examines Salic law and French queenship in the later Middle Ages. Taylor considers the role that Salic law played in the debates regarding the queen’s constitutional role.
  1185.  
  1186. Find this resource:
  1187.  
  1188. Translated Primary Sources
  1189. There are a number of good translated primary sources relating to the history of medieval France, particularly those concerned with the monarchy. Many key late medieval chronicles and journals are available in English translation, though the 14th century (Bryant 2011, Brereton 1968, Newhall 1952) is better covered than the 15th century (Shirley 1968, Johnes 1810). Some of these works are crucial for individual monarchs such as Saint Louis and Louis XI (Smith 2008, Jones 1972). In addition, a number of thematic collections bring together a variety of sources, many of which shed light on the nature of the power and authority of the medieval French monarchy (Evergates 1993, Cohn 2004, Taylor 2006, Curry 2009, Allmand 1973).
  1190.  
  1191. Allmand, Christopher T., ed. Society at War: The Experience of England and France during the Hundred Years War. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1973.
  1192.  
  1193. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1194.  
  1195. A good collection of primary sources relating to the impact that the Hundred Years’ War had on England and France.
  1196.  
  1197. Find this resource:
  1198.  
  1199. Brereton, Geoffrey, ed. and trans. Jean Froissart: Chronicles. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1968.
  1200.  
  1201. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1202.  
  1203. Froissart’s Chronicle is essential reading for all those interested in the late medieval French monarchy. Brereton’s abridged version provides a range of important materials documenting the struggle between the kings of France and England during the Hundred Years’ War.
  1204.  
  1205. Find this resource:
  1206.  
  1207. Bryant, Nigel, ed. and trans. The True Chronicles of Jean Le Bel, 1290–1360. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2011.
  1208.  
  1209. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1210.  
  1211. This is the first English translation of Le Bel, who provided the source for much of the early part of Froissart’s Chronicle. Full of excellent information on the struggle between the kings of England and France in the mid-14th century.
  1212.  
  1213. Find this resource:
  1214.  
  1215. Cohn, Samuel K., Jr., ed. and trans. Popular Protest in Late Medieval Europe: Italy, France, and Flanders. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2004.
  1216.  
  1217. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1218.  
  1219. This wide-ranging collection contains a large number of sources relating to revolts in later medieval France, which provides important information about the nature of the relationship between the French king and his subjects.
  1220.  
  1221. Find this resource:
  1222.  
  1223. Curry, Anne, ed. The Battle of Agincourt: Source and Interpretations. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2009.
  1224.  
  1225. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1226.  
  1227. An excellent collection of English and French primary sources relating to the battle of Agincourt. As well as including chronicles, it also contains extracts from administrative records relating to the two armies, and material relating to how the battle was viewed in following centuries.
  1228.  
  1229. Find this resource:
  1230.  
  1231. Evergates, Theodore, ed. and trans. Feudal Society in Medieval France: Documents from the County of Champagne. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
  1232.  
  1233. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1234.  
  1235. A good collection of sources relating especially to the social and economic history of medieval Champagne. It is particularly useful because it makes available a variety of primary sources rather than just the standard chronicles. It contains a number of documents relating to the interactions between regional authorities and the king.
  1236.  
  1237. Find this resource:
  1238.  
  1239. Johnes, Thomas, ed. and trans. The Chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet. 13 vols. London: Longman, 1810.
  1240.  
  1241. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1242.  
  1243. While very dated, this remains the only full English translation of Monstrelet’s Chronicles, one of the most important sources for the history of 15th-century France. Usefully, it also includes a translation of the “continuation” of Monstrelet, which covers the second half of the 15th century.
  1244.  
  1245. Find this resource:
  1246.  
  1247. Jones, Michael, ed. and trans. Memoirs of Philippe de Commynes: The Reign of Louis XI, 1461–83. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1972.
  1248.  
  1249. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1250.  
  1251. Philippe de Commynes was active at the courts both of Burgundy and France, and his memoirs are one of the most important sources for the later 15th century. This translation covers the crucial years of Louis XI’s reign and provides valuable information on key events such as the War of the Public Weal and his style of kingship.
  1252.  
  1253. Find this resource:
  1254.  
  1255. Newhall, Richard A., ed. The Chronicle of Jean de Venette. Translated by Jean Birdsall. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
  1256.  
  1257. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1258.  
  1259. This chronicle is of particular interest because its author was of peasant origin and provides a distinct perspective on many of the key events of the mid-14th century, and he is often critical of the Valois monarchs.
  1260.  
  1261. Find this resource:
  1262.  
  1263. Shirley, Janet, ed. and trans. A Parisian Journal, 1405–1449. Oxford: Clarendon, 1968.
  1264.  
  1265. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1266.  
  1267. A solid translation of this important document, which provides a Parisian perspective on the struggle between the Valois and Lancastrian monarchs.
  1268.  
  1269. Find this resource:
  1270.  
  1271. Smith, Caroline, ed. and trans. Joinville and Villehardouin: Chronicles of the Crusades. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 2008.
  1272.  
  1273. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1274.  
  1275. Jean de Joinville’s The Life of Saint Louis is one of the key sources for the reign of this important monarch. Although Joinville focuses especially on Louis’s crusading, he also provides a wealth of information about other aspects of his kingship.
  1276.  
  1277. Find this resource:
  1278.  
  1279. Taylor, Craig, ed. and trans. Joan of Arc: La pucelle. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2006.
  1280.  
  1281. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1282.  
  1283. An excellent collection of over one hundred translated documents relating to Joan of Arc, many of which contain important information on the nature of Charles VII’s rule.
  1284.  
  1285. Find this resource:
  1286.  
  1287. back to top
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