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Charlemagne's Early Years

Charlemagne-sometimes referred to as Charles the Great-was born around 742, the son of Bertrada of Laon (d.783) and Pepin the Short (d.768), who became king of the Franks in 751.

Charlemagne's exact birthplace is unknown, although historians have suggested Liege in present-day Belgium and Aachen in modern-day Germany as possible locations. Similarly, little is known about the future ruler's childhood and education, although as an adult, he displayed a talent for languages and could speak Latin and understand Greek, among other languages.

Did you know? Charlemagne served as a source of inspiration for such leaders as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) and Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), who had visions of ruling a unified Europe.

After Pepin's death in 768, the Frankish kingdom was divided between Charlemagne and his younger brother Carloman. The brothers had a strained relationship; however, with Carloman's death in 771, a 24-year-old Charlemagne became the sole ruler of the Franks.

Charlemagne Expands his Christian Empire

Once in power, Charlemagne sought to unite all the Germanic peoples into one kingdom, and convert his subjects to Christianity. In order to carry out this mission, he spent the majority of his reign engaged in military campaigns. Soon after becoming king, he conquered the Lombards (in present-day northern Italy), the Avars (in modern-day Austria and Hungary) and Bavaria, among others.

Charlemagne waged a bloody, three decades-long series of battles against the Saxons, a Germanic tribe of pagans, and earned a reputation for ruthlessness. In 782 at the Massacre of Verden, Charlemagne reportedly ordered the slaughter of some 4,500 Saxons. He eventually forced the Saxons to convert to Christianity, and declared that anyone who didn't get baptized or follow other Christian traditions be put to death.

Charlemagne's Family

In his personal life, Charlemagne had multiple wives and mistresses and perhaps as many as 18 children. He was reportedly a devoted father, who encouraged his children's education. He allegedly loved his daughters so much that he prohibited them from marrying while he was alive.

Einhard, a Frankish scholar and contemporary of Charlemagne, wrote a biography of the emperor after his death. In the work, titled "Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charles the Great)," he described Charlemagne as "broad and strong in the form of his body and exceptionally tall without, however, exceeding an appropriate measure...His appearance was impressive whether he was sitting or standing despite having a neck that was fat and too short, and a large belly."

Holy Roman Emperor

In his role as a zealous defender of Christianity, Charlemagne gave money and land to the Christian church and protected the popes. As a way to acknowledge Charlemagne's power and reinforce his relationship with the church, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans and first ruler of the vast Holy Roman Empire on December 25, 800, at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

As Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne proved to be a talented diplomat and able administrator of the vast area he controlled. He promoted education and encouraged the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of renewed emphasis on scholarship and culture.

Charlemagne also instituted economic and religious reforms, and was a driving force behind the Carolingian minuscule, a standardized form of writing that later became a basis for modern European printed alphabets.

Carolingian Empire

Charlemagne ruled from a number of cities and palaces throughout the Carolingian Empire, but spent significant time in Aachen. His palace there included a school, for which he recruited the best teachers in the land.

In addition to learning, Charlemagne was interested in athletic pursuits. Known to be highly energetic, he enjoyed hunting, horseback riding and swimming. Aachen held particular appeal for him due to its therapeutic warm springs.

He was also no stranger to elegant indulgence: According to Einhard, "On great feast-days Charles made use of embroidered clothes, and shoes bedecked with precious stones. His cloak was fastened by a golden buckle, and he appeared crowned with a diadem of gold and gems."

Charlemagne's Death and Succession

Einhard wrote that Charlemagne was in good health until the final four years of his life, when he often suffered from fevers and acquired a limp. However, as the biographer notes, "Even at this time...he followed his own counsel rather than the advice of the doctors, whom he very nearly hated, because they advised him to give up roasted meat, which he loved, and to restrict himself to boiled meat instead."

In 813, Charlemagne crowned his son Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine, as co-emperor. Louis became sole emperor when Charlemagne died in January 814 at the age of 72, ending his reign of more than four decades. At the time of his death, his empire encompassed much of Western Europe.

Charlemagne was buried at the cathedral in Aachen. In the ensuing decades, his empire was divided up among his heirs, and by the late 800s, it had dissolved.

Nevertheless, Charlemagne became a legendary figure endowed with mythical qualities. In 1165, under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Charlemagne was canonized for political reasons; however, the Catholic Church today does not recognize his sainthood.

Charlemagne's Skull

Years after his burial in Aachen, authorities believe that pieces of Charlemagne's skull and some of his bones were exhumed for placement in church reliquaries throughout Europe. Most of his skeleton, however, is believed to have stayed at his cathedral in Aachen.

In 2014, researchers determined that Charlemagne's skull and other bones in Aachen were indeed the remains of a singularly tall, large man who died in his 70s and had bony deposits in the knee and heel bones, giving credence to the story of Charlemagne's limp. The top of the skull remains visible in an ornate golden bust securely housed in the cathedral.

Sword of Charlemagne

Another remnant from Charlemagne's reign has achieved near-mythic status: La Joyeuse, or "the Joyous," a medieval sword, is believed by some authorities to be the sword Charlemagne carried into battle.

Armory experts debate whether the sword - a 38-inch weapon with a gold hilt - is actually the sword of Charlemagne, or a later creation that was used primarily for ceremonies. Currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, the sword had been used for the coronations of French kings since Philip the Bold was crowned in 1270.

Sources

Charlemagne lived on. Route Charlemagne Aachen.
Charlemagne in Aachen 2014. Medieval Histories.
Charlemagne's Bones Are Likely Authentic, Scientists Say. LiveScience.com.
The Sword of Charlemagne. MyArmoury.com.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

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Charlemagne: Facts, Empire & Holy Roman Emperor - HISTORY

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Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was a medieval king who established a vast Carolingian empire and was eventually crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope.

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Hugh Capet (c. 940 - October 24, 996) was the first King of France of the eponymous Capetian dynasty from his election to succeed the Carolingian Louis V in 987 until his death. Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris, he made the city his power center. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from what became the capital of one of Europe's most powerful and important nations, a major producer of ideas and ideals that have had global impact.

Capet is regarded as the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by collateral branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe, and all royal pretenders since then, have belonged to the dynasty. Members of the Capetian dynasty are still the heads of state of the kingdom of Spain (in the person of the Bourbon Juan Carlos) and of the grand-duchy of Luxembourg, making it the oldest continuously reigning dynasty in the world. As one of the founders of what became the French state, Capet's legacy contributed to creating a country that, in many respects, has led the world in the field of humanitarian thinking, rights, political liberty and human solidarity.

Descent and inheritance

The son of Hugh the Great, Duke of France, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of the German king Henry the Fowler, Hugh was born about 940. His paternal family, the Robertians, were powerful landowners in the Île-de-France. His grandfather had been King Robert I and his grandmother Beatrice was a Carolingian, a daughter of Herbert I of Vermandois. King Odo was his great uncle and King Rudolph Odo's son-in-law. Hugh was born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the reigning nobility of Europe. But for all this, Hugh's father was never king. When Rudolph died in 936, Hugh the Great organized the return of Louis d'Outremer, son of Charles the Simple, from his exile at the court of Athelstan of England. Hugh's motives are unknown, but it is presumed that he acted to forestall Rudolph's brother and successor as Duke of Burgundy, Hugh the Black from taking the French throne, or to prevent it from falling into the grasping hands of Herbert II of Vermandois or William Longsword, duke of Normandy.

In 956, Hugh inherited his father's estates and became one of the most powerful nobles in the much-reduced West Frankish kingdom. However, as he was not yet an adult, his uncle Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne, acted as regent. Young Hugh's neighbors made the most of the opportunity. Theobald I of Blois, a former vassal of Hugh the Great, took the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun. Further south, on the border of the kingdom, Fulk II of Anjou, another former client of Hugh the Great, carved out a principality at Hugh's expense and that of the Bretons.

The realm in which Hugh died, and of which he would one day be king, bore no resemblance to modern France. Hugh's predecessors did not call themselves rois de France ("Kings of France"), and that title was not used until the time of his distant descendant Philip the Fair (died 1314). Kings ruled as rex Francorum ("King of the Franks") and the lands over which they ruled comprised only a very small part of the former Carolingian Empire. The eastern Frankish lands, the Holy Roman Empire, were ruled by the Ottonian dynasty, represented by Hugh's first cousin Otto II and then by Otto's son, Otto III. The lands south of the river Loire had largely ceased to be part of the West Frankish kingdom in the years after Charles the Simple was deposed in 922. The Duchy of Normandy and the Duchy of Burgundy were largely independent, and Brittany entirely so, although from 956 Burgundy was ruled by Hugh's brothers Odo and Henry.

Election and extent of power

From 977 to 986, Hugh Capet allied himself with the German emperors Otto II and Otto III and with Archbishop Adalberon of Reims to dominate the Carolingian king, Lothair. By 986, he was king in all but name. After Lothair and his son died in early 987, Adalberon and Gerbert of Aurillac convened an assembly of nobles to elect Hugh Capet as their king. In front of an electoral assembly at Senlis, Adalberon gave a stirring oration and pleaded to the nobles:

Crown the Duke. He is most illustrious by his exploits, his nobility, his forces. The throne is not acquired by hereditary right; no one should be raised to it unless distinguished not only for nobility of birth, but for the goodness of his soul.

He was elected and crowned rex Francorum at Noyon in Picardy on July 3, 987, by the prelate of Reims, the first of the Capetian house. Immediately after his coronation, Hugh began to push for the coronation of his son Robert. Hugh's own claimed reason was that he was planning an expedition against the Moorish armies harassing Borrel II of Barcelona, an invasion which never occurred, and that the stability of the country necessitated two kings should he die while on expedition. Ralph Glaber, however, attributes Hugh's request to his old age and inability to control the nobility. Modern scholarship has largely imputed to Hugh the motive of establishing a dynasty against the pretension of electoral power on the part of the aristocracy, but this is not the typical view of contemporaries and even some modern scholars have been less skeptical of Hugh's "plan" to campaign in Spain. Robert was eventually crowned on December 25 that same year.

Hugh Capet possessed minor properties near Chartres and Angers. Between Paris and Orléans he possessed towns and estates amounting to approximately 400 square miles (1,000 km²). His authority ended there, and if he dared travel outside his small area, he risked being captured and held for ransom, though, as God's anointed, his life was largely safe. Indeed, there was a plot in 993, masterminded by Adalberon, Bishop of Laon and Odo I of Blois, to deliver Hugh Capet into the custody of Otto III. The plot failed, but the fact that no one was punished illustrates how tenuous his hold on power was. Beyond his power base, in the rest of France, there were still as many codes of law as there were fiefdoms. The "country" operated with 150 different forms of currency and at least a dozen languages. Uniting all this into one cohesive unit was a formidable task and a constant struggle between those who wore the crown of France and its feudal lords. As such, Hugh Capet's reign was marked by numerous power struggles with the vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire.

While Hugh Capet's military power was limited and he had to seek military aid from Richard I of Normandy, his unanimous election as king gave him great moral authority and influence. Adémar de Chabannes records, probably apocryphally, that during an argument with the Count of Auvergne, Hugh demanded of him: "Who made you count?" The count riposted: "Who made you king?"

Dispute with the papacy

Hugh made Arnulf Archbishop of Reims in 988, even though Arnulf was the nephew of his bitter rival, Charles of Lorraine. Charles thereupon succeeded in capturing Reims and took the archbishop prisoner. Hugh, however, considered Arnulf a turncoat and demanded his deposition by Pope John XV. The turn of events outran the messages, when Hugh captured both Charles and Arnulf and convoked a synod at Reims in June 991, which obediently deposed Arnulf and chose as his successor Gerbert of Aurillac. These proceedings were repudiated by Rome, although a second synod had ratified the decrees issued at Reims. John XV summoned the French bishops to hold an independent synod outside the King's realm, at Aachen, to reconsider the case. When they refused, he called them to Rome, but they protested that the unsettled conditions en route and in Rome made that impossible. The Pope then sent a legate with instructions to call a council of French and German bishops at Mousson, where only the German bishops appeared, the French being stopped on the way by Hugh and Robert.

Through the exertions of the legate, the deposition of Arnulf was finally pronounced illegal. After Hugh's death, Arnulf was released from his imprisonment and soon restored to all his dignities.

Hugh Capet's ancestors to three generations

Marriage and issue

Hugh Capet married Adelaide, daughter of William Towhead, Count of Poitou. Their children are as follows:

Robert II, who became king after the death of his father

Hedwig, or Hathui, who married Reginar IV, Count of Hainaut

Gisela, or Gisele

A number of other daughters are less reliably attested.

Hugh Capet died on October 24, 996, in Paris and was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica. His son Robert continued to reign.

Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris, he made the city his power center. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from there.

He is regarded as the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by collateral branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe, and all royal pretenders since then, have belonged to the dynasty. Members of the Capetian dynasty are still the heads of state of the kingdom of Spain (in the person of the Bourbon Juan Carlos) and of the grand-duchy of Luxembourg, making it the oldest continuously reigning dynasty in the world.

References

Bordenove, Georges. 1986. Les Rois qui ont fait la France: Hugues Capet, le Fondateur. Paris, FR: Marabout. ISBN 250101099X

Gauvard, Claude. 1996. La France au Moyen Âge du Ve au XVe siècle. Paris, FR: PUF. ISBN 2130542050

James, Edward. 1982. The Origins of France: From Clovis to the Capetians 500-1000. London, UK: Macmillan. ISBN 0312588623

Lewis, Anthony W. 1978. Anticipatory Association of the Heir in Early Capetian France The American Historical Review. 83(4):906-927.

Riché, Pierre. 1983. Les Carolingiens: Une famille qui fit l'Europe. Paris, FR: Hachette. ISBN 2012785510

Theis, Laurent. 1992. Histoire du Moyen Âge français: Chronologie commentée 486-1453. Paris, FR: Perrin. ISBN 2870275870

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Hugh Capet (c. 940 - October 24, 996) was the first King of France of the eponymous Capetian dynasty from his election to succeed the Carolingian Louis V in 987 until his death. Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet.

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Table of Contents

French:

Éléonore or Aliénor, d'Aquitaine or de Guyenne

Eleanor of Aquitaine (born c. 1122-died April 1, 1204, Fontevrault, Anjou, France) was the queen consort of both Louis VII of France (1137-52) and Henry II of England (1152-1204) and mother of Richard I (the Lionheart) and John of England. She was perhaps the most powerful woman in 12th-century Europe.

Early life and marriage to Louis VII

Eleanor was the daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers, who possessed one of the largest domains in France-larger, in fact, than those held by the French king. Upon William's death in 1137 she inherited the duchy of Aquitaine and in July 1137 married the heir to the French throne, who succeeded his father, Louis VI, the following month. Eleanor became queen of France, a title she held for the next 15 years. Beautiful, capricious, and adored by Louis, Eleanor exerted considerable influence over him, often goading him into undertaking perilous ventures.

From 1147 to 1149 Eleanor accompanied Louis on the Second Crusade to protect the fragile Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, founded after the First Crusade only 50 years before, from Turkish assault. Eleanor's conduct during this expedition, especially at the court of her uncle Raymond of Poitiers at Antioch, aroused Louis's jealousy and marked the beginning of their estrangement. After their return to France and a short-lived reconciliation, their marriage was annulled in March 1152.

Marriage to Henry II and administration of England

According to feudal customs, Eleanor then regained possession of Aquitaine, and two months later she married the grandson of Henry I of England, Henry Plantagenet, count of Anjou and duke of Normandy. In 1154 he became, as Henry II, king of England, with the result that England, Normandy, and the west of France were united under his rule. Eleanor had only two daughters by Louis VII, but to her new husband she bore five sons and three daughters. The sons were William, who died at the age of three; Henry; Richard, the Lionheart; Geoffrey, duke of Brittany; and John, surnamed Lackland until, having outlived all his brothers, he inherited, in 1199, the crown of England. The daughters were Matilda, who married Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria; Eleanor, who married Alfonso VIII, king of Castile; and Joan, who married successively William II, king of Sicily, and Raymond VI, count of Toulouse. Eleanor would well have deserved to be named the "grandmother of Europe."

During her childbearing years, she participated actively in the administration of the realm and even more actively in the management of her own domains. She was instrumental in turning the court of Poitiers, then frequented by the most famous troubadours of the time, into a centre of poetry and a model of courtly life and manners. She was the great patron of the two dominant poetic movements of the time: the courtly love tradition, conveyed in the romantic songs of the troubadours, and the historical matière de Bretagne, or "legends of Brittany," which originated in Celtic traditions and in the Historia regum Britanniae, written by the chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth sometime between 1135 and 1138.

The revolt of her sons against her husband in 1173 put her cultural activities to a brutal end. Since Eleanor, 11 years her husband's senior, had long resented his infidelities, the revolt may have been instigated by her; in any case, she gave her sons considerable military support. The revolt failed, and Eleanor was captured while seeking refuge in the kingdom of her first husband, Louis VII. Her semi-imprisonment in England ended only with the death of Henry II in 1189. On her release, Eleanor played a greater political role than ever before. She actively prepared for Richard's coronation as king, was administrator of the realm during his Crusade to the Holy Land, and, after his capture by the duke of Austria on Richard's return from the east, collected his ransom and went in person to escort him to England. During Richard's absence, she succeeded in keeping his kingdom intact and in thwarting the intrigues of his brother John Lackland and Philip II Augustus, king of France, against him.

In 1199 Richard died without leaving an heir to the throne, and John was crowned king. Eleanor, nearly 80 years old, fearing the disintegration of the Plantagenet domain, crossed the Pyrenees in 1200 in order to fetch her granddaughter Blanche from the court of Castile and marry her to the son of the French king. By this marriage she hoped to ensure peace between the Plantagenets of England and the Capetian kings of France. In the same year she helped to defend Anjou and Aquitaine against her grandson Arthur of Brittany, thus securing John's French possessions. In 1202 John was again in her debt for holding Mirebeau against Arthur, until John, coming to her relief, was able to take him prisoner. John's only victories on the Continent, therefore, were due to Eleanor.

Death and legacy

She died in 1204 at the monastery at Fontevrault, Anjou, where she had retired after the campaign at Mirebeau. Her contribution to England extended beyond her own lifetime; after the loss of Normandy (1204), it was her own ancestral lands and not the old Norman territories that remained loyal to England. She has been misjudged by many French historians who have noted only her youthful frivolity, ignoring the tenacity, political wisdom, and energy that characterized the years of her maturity. "She was beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant"; and, as the nuns of Fontevrault wrote in their necrology, a queen "who surpassed almost all the queens of the world."

Régine Pernoud

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Eleanor of Aquitaine | Biography, Facts, Children, Family Tree, & Significance

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Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen consort of both Louis VII of France (1137-52) and Henry II of England (1152-1204) and mother of Richard I (the Lionheart) and John of England. She was perhaps the most powerful woman in 12th-century Europe. Learn more about Eleanor of Aquitaine in this article.

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Pepin the Short or Pippin (714 - September 24, 768), often known as Pepin the Younger or Pepin III, was mayor of the palace of Austrasia and the King of the Franks, from 751 to 768, and is best known for being the father of Charlemagne, or "Charles the Great." His rule, while not as great as either his father's or son's, was historically important and of great benefit to the Franks as a people. It can certainly be argued that Pepin's assumption of the crown, and the title of Patrician of Rome, were harbingers of his son's imperial coronation, which is usually seen as the founding of the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne certainly made the Carolingians de jure what his father had made them de facto -the ruling dynasty of the Franks and the foremost power of Europe. While not known as a great general, he went undefeated militarily during his lifetime.

Pepin was born in 714, in Jupille, close to the city of Liège, in what is today Belgium, where the Carolingian dynasty originated. That territory was then a part of the kingdom of Austrasia. His father was Charles Martel, mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his mother was Chrotrud. Pepin and his older brother, Carloman, were education by the monks of St. Denis. The monks greatly influenced the brothers during their formative years, heavily impacting their relationship with the church.

In 740, Pepin married Bertrada of Laon, his second cousin. Her father, Charibert, was the son of Pepin II's brother, Martin of Laon. Of their children, two sons and a daughter survived to adulthood.

Assumption of power

On the death of Pepin's father, Charles Martel, in 741, power was passed down to Charles' legitimate sons, Carloman and Pepin as mayors of the palaces of Neustria and Austrasia respectively. Power may also have been intended for Charles' illegitimate son, Grifo, but he was imprisoned in a monastery by his two half-brothers. Carloman, who by all evidence was a deeply pious man, retired to a monastery in 747. This left Francia in the hands of Pepin as sole mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum, a title originated by his grandfather and namesake Pepin of Heristal.

Under the reorganization of Francia by Charles Martel the dux et princeps Francorum were the commanders of the armies of the Kingdom, in addition to their administrative duties as mayor of the palace, and specifically commander of the standing guard, which Martel had begun maintaining year-around since Toulouse, in 721.

Upon their assumption, Pepin and Carloman, who had not proved themselves in battle, in defense of the realm, as their father had, installed the Merovingian Childeric III as king, even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV. Childeric had the title of king, but he was a puppet. As time passed, and his brother bowed out of the picture, Pepin became discontent with the presence of any royal power but himself.

At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Duke Odilo of Bavaria, who was married to Hiltrude, Pepin's sister. Odilo was forced by Pepin to acknowledge Frankish overlordship, but soon died. Pepin invaded Bavaria and installed Tassilo III as duke under Frankish overlordship.

First Carolingian king

Since Pepin had control over the magnates and actually had the power of the king, he decided it was time to do what his father had never bothered to do, make the Carolingian name royal in law as well as fact. Pepin asked Pope Zachary who the royal ruler should be: The person with the title of King, or the person who makes the decisions as King. Since the Pope depended on the Frankish armies for his independence, and had depended on them for protection from the Lombards since the days of Charles Martel, and Pepin, as his father had, controlled those armies, the Pope's answer was determined well in advance. The Pope agreed that the de facto power was more important than the de jure power. Thus, Pepin, having obtained the support of the papacy, discouraged opposition to his house. He was elected King of the Franks by an assembly of Frankish leading-men (it must be noted he had a large portion of his army on hand, in the event that the nobility inclined not to honor the Papal Bull) and anointed at Soissons, perhaps by Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz, who, along with his niece, Saint Leoba, was a court adviser. Meanwhile, Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean de Maurienne, in 753.

Childeric III was deposed, his hair was shaved off, and he was confined to a monastery. He was the last of the Merovingians.

Expansion of the Frankish realm

Pepin added to his power after Pope Stephen II traveled all the way to Paris to anoint him in a lavish ceremony at Saint Denis Basilica, bestowing upon him the additional title of patricius Romanorum (Patrician of the Romans). As life expectancies were short in those days, and Pepin wanted family continuity, the Pope also anointed Pepin's sons, Charles (eventually known as Charlemagne) and Carloman.

Pepin's first major act was to go to war against the Lombard king Aistulf, who had a policy of expansion into the ducatus Romanum, as a partial repayment for papal support in his quest for the crown. Victorious, he forced the Lombard king to return property seized from the Church and confirmed the papacy in possession of Ravenna and the Pentapolis, the so-called Donation of Pepin, whereby the Papal States was founded. In 759, he drove the Saracens out of Gaul with the capture of Narbonne and then consolidated his power further by integrating Aquitaine into the kingdom. In taking Narbonne, and formally annexing Aquitaine (whose status was always dependent on the strength of her suzerains), he completed the work of his father save for one last task: Fully subduing the Saxons. He was preparing for war against them when his health began to fail, and thus, this final task was left for his son, Charlemagne.

Pepin died at Saint Denis in 768, and is interred there in the basilica with his wife, Bertrada. Pepin was buried "outside that entrance (of St. Denis basilica), face down, for the sins of his father, Charles Martel." Historical opinion often seems to regard him as the lesser son and lesser father of two greater men, though a great man in his own right. He continued to build up the heavy cavalry which his father had begun and maintained, the standing army that his father had found necessary to protect the realm and form the core of its full army in wartime. Pepin not only maintained his father's policy of containing the Moors, he drove them over and across the Pyrenees with the capture of Narbonne. He continued his father's expansion of the Frankish church ( missionary work in Germany and Scandinavia) and the infrastructure ( feudalism) that would prove the backbone of medieval Europe.

References

James, Edward. The Origins of France From Clovis to the Capetians, 500-1000. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982. ISBN 9780312588625

Jones, Colin. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 9780521432948

Lasko, Peter. The Kingdom of the Franks: North-West Europe Before Charlemagne. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971. ISBN 9780070364998

External Links

All links retrieved November 23, 2022.

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

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Pepin the Short or Pippin (714 - September 24, 768), often known as Pepin the Younger or Pepin III, was mayor of the palace of Austrasia and the King of the Franks, from 751 to 768, and is best known for being the father of Charlemagne, or "Charles the Great."

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https://uncorkchampagne.com/clovis-first-french-king/

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Clovis I: The Germanic Tribal Leader Who Created The Kingdom Of France

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Louis XIV (born September 5, 1638, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France-died September 1, 1715, Versailles, France) was the king of France (1643-1715) who ruled his country, principally from his great palace at Versailles, during one of its most brilliant periods and who remains the symbol of absolute monarchy of the classical age. Internationally, in a series of wars between 1667 and 1697, he extended France's eastern borders at the expense of the Habsburgs and then, in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), engaged a hostile European coalition in order to secure the Spanish throne for his grandson.

Early life and marriage

Louis was the son of Louis XIII and his Spanish queen, Anne of Austria. He succeeded his father on May 14, 1643. At the age of four years and eight months, he was, according to the laws of the kingdom, not only the master but the owner of the bodies and property of 19 million subjects. Although he was saluted as "a visible divinity," he was, nonetheless, a neglected child given over to the care of servants. He once narrowly escaped drowning in a pond because no one was watching him. Anne of Austria, who was to blame for this negligence, inspired him with a lasting fear of "crimes committed against God."

Louis was nine years old when the nobles and the Paris Parlement (a powerful law court), driven by hatred of the prime minister Jules Cardinal Mazarin, rose against the crown in 1648. This marked the beginning of the long civil war known as the Fronde, in the course of which Louis suffered poverty, misfortune, fear, humiliation, cold, and hunger. These trials shaped the future character, behaviour, and mode of thought of the young king. He would never forgive either Paris, the nobles, or the common people.

In 1653 Mazarin was victorious over the rebels and then proceeded to construct an extraordinary administrative apparatus with Louis as his pupil. The young king also acquired Mazarin's partiality for the arts, elegance, and display. Although he had been proclaimed of age, the king did not dream of disputing the cardinal's absolute power.

The war begun in 1635 between France and Spain was then entering its last phase. The outcome of the war would transfer European hegemony from the Habsburgs to the Bourbons. A French king had to be a soldier, and so Louis served his apprenticeship on the battlefield.

In 1658 Louis faced the great conflict between love and duty, a familiar one for princes of that period. He struggled with himself for two years over his love for Mazarin's niece, Marie Mancini. He finally submitted to the exigencies of politics and in 1660 married Marie-Thérèse of Austria, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain, in order to ratify peace between their two countries.

The childhood of Louis XIV was at an end, but no one believed him capable of seizing the reins of power. No one suspected his thoughts. He wrote in his Mémoires:

In my heart I prefer fame above all else, even life itself....Love of glory has the same subtleties as the most tender passions....In exercising a totally divine function here on earth, we must appear incapable of turmoils which could debase it.

The young king

Mazarin died on March 9, 1661. The dramatic blow came on March 10. The king informed his astonished ministers that he intended to assume all responsibility for ruling the kingdom. This had not occurred since the reign of Henry IV. It cannot be overemphasized that Louis XIV's action was not in accordance with tradition; his concept of a dictatorship by divine right was his own. In genuine faith, Louis viewed himself as God's representative on earth and considered all disobedience and rebellion to be sinful. From this conviction he gained not only a dangerous feeling of infallibility but also considerable serenity and moderation.

He was backed up first by the great ministers Jean-Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Louvois, and Hugues de Lionne, among whom he fostered dissension, and later by men of lesser capacity. For 54 years Louis devoted himself to his task eight hours a day; not the smallest detail escaped his attention. He wanted to control everything from court etiquette to troop movements, from road building to theological disputes. He succeeded because he faithfully reflected the mood of a France overflowing with youth and vigour and enamoured of grandeur.

Despite the use of pensions and punishments, the monarchy had been unable to subdue the nobles, who had started 11 civil wars in 40 years. Louis lured them to his court, corrupted them with gambling, exhausted them with dissipation, and made their destinies dependent on their capacity to please him. Etiquette became a means of governing. From that time, the nobility ceased to be an important factor in French politics, which in some respects weakened the nation.

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Louis XIV | Facts, Biography, Children, & Death

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Louis XIV, king of France (1643-1715) who ruled his country during one of its most brilliant periods and who remains the symbol of absolute monarchy of the classical age. He extended France's eastern borders at the expense of the Habsburgs and secured the Spanish throne for his grandson.

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The first of the many French kings to bear the name Louis was actually Clovis. He ruled from 481 to 511 and founded the kingdom of the Franks. Later the "C" was dropped and the "v" was written as "u," thus making the name Louis. It is the same as the English Lewis and the German Ludwig.

(born 778, ruled 814-40). Louis the Pious is usually reckoned as Louis I. The son of Charlemagne, he succeeded his father as king of the Franks and Holy Roman emperor. The great empire built up by Charlemagne was divided after Louis I died, and the next four rulers of this name left little mark on the course of history.

(born 1081, ruled 1108-37). Louis the Fat was the first important king of the Capetian line. This line sprang from Hugh Capet, who became king in 987. Louis the Fat was a great fighter, a great hunter, and a great eater. At 46 he became too fat to mount a horse, but he remained the embodiment of warlike energy. His great task was to reduce to order the petty nobles of the royal domain, who could truly be called robber barons. When Louis came to the throne, every lord of a castle robbed at will and it was not safe for even the king to pass along the road. Twenty years of hard fighting were necessary to remedy this condition, but in the end, law and order prevailed. So that such evils might not recur, every castle that was captured was destroyed or given to faithful followers.

(born 1120, ruled 1137-80). Louis VII was the eldest son of Louis VI. Shortly before his death, Louis VI arranged for his son's marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. By this marriage southwest France was added to the domains of the new French king. Unfortunately Louis, who was very religious and prone to be jealous, soon discovered that his beautiful queen was a capricious flirt.

In 1147 Louis departed for the Holy Land on the Second Crusade, taking his queen with him. This Crusade was a miserable failure. After they returned, Louis had his marriage annulled in 1152. Eleanor at once sent an embassy to Henry, count of Anjou and duke of Normandy, proposing marriage. Henry was overjoyed because the alliance transferred to him the great duchy of Guienne. Two years later Henry and Eleanor were crowned king and queen of England. France thus lost a rich territory to England, its greatest rival.

(born 1187, ruled 1223-26). The son of Philip Augustus, Louis VIII reigned too short a time to accomplish anything of real importance.

(born 1214, ruled 1226-70). Called St. Louis, Louis IX was one of the most virtuous and heroic kings of France. He was the dutiful son of Louis VIII and his queen, Blanche of Castile. Blanche bravely faced numerous revolts of powerful feudal nobles during her son's youth. Louis IX had all the good qualities and few of the bad ones of the age in which he lived. Indeed, his virtues were so remarkable that after his death the Roman Catholic church declared him a saint.

Louis's acts of piety, such as wearing a haircloth shirt, fasting, and waiting on lepers, were usually performed in private. To the world he was a fearless knight, thoroughly trained in the art of war, and a conscientious, just, and able king-usually good-humored and kindly, but at times impatient and angry. He was a strong ruler who greatly strengthened the royal power. He improved the government by appointing local officials who were responsible to him for the administration of justice, the collection of taxes, and the government of their districts. He encouraged the people to appeal to him if the nobles oppressed them or if his officials were unjust. He improved the administration of justice by abolishing trials by combat and by using in his courts the new lawyers, trained in the Roman law, in place of the churchmen who formerly were the only people who could read and write. These reforms not only benefited the peasants but also checked the power of the nobles, who, according to a writer of the time, "undertook nothing against their king, seeing clearly that the hand of the Lord was with him."

St. Louis made two crusades-to Egypt and the Holy Land, from 1248 to 1254, on which he was captured and held for ransom by Muhammadans; and to Tunis, in 1270, where he died of the plague.

(born 1289). Louis X ruled for only two years, from 1314 to 1316.

(born 1423, ruled 1461-83). Louis XI presented a striking contrast to Louis IX. In appearance Louis XI was ugly and unkingly; in character he was unscrupulous and underhanded. Like his contemporaries, Cesare Borgia and Richard III, he was an embodiment of the principles that are called Machiavellian. He believed that "he who has success has honor" and cared nothing for the way in which he attained success. He made promises only to break them, unless he had sworn by one particular saint: then his word was good.

His one ambition seemed to be to extend the boundaries of France. Although he was too stingy to buy a hat to replace the shabby one he wore, he spent large sums in buying back border cities. In his conflicts with the nobles, especially with Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, he also acquired much territory, so that by the time of his death most of the land of France was under the direct control of the king. The power of the crown in the latter part of his reign was truly absolute over the territory it held.

Sir Walter Scott, in his novel Quentin Durward, gives a fine description of the court of Louis XI, as well as an excellent survey of the customs and traditions of the period.

(born 1462, ruled 1498-1515). Louis XII is chiefly noted for the Italian wars, begun by his predecessor, Charles VIII, and continued after the reign of Louis XII by Francis I.

(born 1601, ruled 1610-43). Louis XIII kept his able minister, Richelieu, in power for 18 years despite strong opposition. The first years of the reign were filled with anarchy and disorder. The king was a child, and his mother, who ruled for him, was weak and selfish. When Richelieu came into power, however, all this was changed. The Huguenots were reduced from a powerful political party to a mere religious body, and the nobles were humbled. National unity and religious peace were secured at home, and France was raised to the first position among the powers of Europe.

(born 1638, ruled 1643-1715). Louis XIV inherited this power from his father and carried it further. He was styled the Grand Monarch, and his brilliant court at Versailles became the model and the despair of other less rich and powerful princes, who accepted his theory of absolute monarchy ( L'état c'est moi, "I am the state"). Until 1661 the government was largely in the hands of the wily Italian Cardinal Mazarin. At the cardinal's death Louis declared that he would be his own prime minister. From then on he worked faithfully at his "trade of a king."

A passion for fame and the desire to increase French territory in Europe were the leading motives of Louis XIV. He neglected the opportunities to gain an empire in America and India and involved France in wars that ruined the country financially and paved the way for the outbreak of the French Revolution.

His first war, fought from 1667 to 1668, was an attempt to enforce flimsy claims to part of the Spanish Netherlands (Belgium). His second (1672-78) was directed against "their High Mightinesses," the States-General of Holland, who had blocked his objective in the first contest. In spite of the great military power of France, the Dutch admiral De Ruyter twice defeated the fleets of the French and their English allies, and Louis XIV failed ingloriously in his attempt to conquer Holland. The third war (1689-97) also was directed chiefly against Holland, whose stadholder had by then become King William III of England. The German province of the Palatinate was terribly wasted, but the Peace of Ryswick brought only slight gains for France. Louis's last and greatest effort was the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13). In this conflict the English duke of Marlborough was the principal leader of the opposing European coalition. The right to seat his grandson Philip V on the throne of Spain was small compensation for the thousands of lives and the millions in treasure that the French king wasted in the struggle.

Millions more were spent by Louis in building the beautiful palace at Versailles, near Paris, and in maintaining his brilliant court. There, etiquette became the "real constitution of France." It required seven persons, some of them the highest princes of the realm, to put the king's shirt on him at his getting up ( levée) in the morning. A French historian says of Louis XIV: "He was a god in his temple, celebrating his own worship in the midst of his host of priests and faithful." This extravagance of the court meant a heavy burden of taxation for the common people, who were thereby reduced to a misery so great that they eventually rose up in rebellion and drove the Bourbons from the throne.

Louis XIV had the distinction of ruling longer than any other European king: it was 72 years from the time when he ascended the throne, as a child of less than 5, until his death in 1715. The Grand Monarch, who had outlived both his son and his son's son, was succeeded by his 5-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV, the last son of the duke of Burgundy.

(born 1710, ruled 1715-74). The luxurious court of Louis XIV was continued under Louis XV. The evils from which the country suffered were clearly recognized, but by the time the king grew up he was too lazy and selfish to try to remedy them. Misgovernment was common at home, and the position of France abroad was lowered by the loss of its colonial possessions in India and America. These misfortunes, however, made little impression on the king, whose attitude was expressed in the phrase, "After me the deluge!"

(born 1754, ruled 1774-92). The storm broke during the reign of Louis XVI. Awkward and timid, no man could have appeared less like a king than did Louis XVI, who was 20 years old when he came to the throne. No man could have seemed more out of place in the brilliant and polished court of which he was the center. Louis realized this and often wished, even before the Revolution, that he were only a common man. He was a good horseman, fond of hunting, and he delighted in making and mending locks. His greatest fault was that he was always ready to listen to and follow the advice of others. When this advice was good, all went well; but in the latter part of Louis's reign the advice was bad and it cost the king his life.

When Louis XVI first came to the throne, he entrusted the management of the finances of the kingdom to Jacques Turgot, one of the greatest of statesmen. As long as the king followed his minister's advice, the state of the kingdom was improved. But he was more often under the influence of the beautiful but frivolous and extravagant queen, Marie Antoinette. He was also swayed by his selfish courtiers, who opposed any financial reforms that would threaten their graft and pensions and life of ease. They soon persuaded the king to dismiss his able minister.

The political climate gradually grew worse, and finally Louis XVI was forced to call the Estates-General, a body that had not met since 1614. Its meeting was the first step in the French Revolution. The members of the Third Estate refused to follow the old method of voting and finally declared themselves a national assembly.

At first the king seemed inclined to work with the revolution and to try to remedy conditions in the country. But the influence of the queen and of the courtiers proved too strong for his weak will. Encouraged by them, he disregarded the promises he had made and sought to flee from France in order to obtain aid against the revolution from Austria.

This attempted flight was the beginning of the end for the court of Louis XVI. The people saw that they could not trust the king and the "Austrian woman," as they called the queen. His disregard of his promises to abide by the constitution led to the storming of the royal palace of the Tuileries on August 10, 1792. The king and his family escaped before the mob arrived and took refuge in the hall of the Legislative Assembly. The assembly declared that the king was suspended from office and ordered that he and his family should be imprisoned. They then called a new assembly (the Convention) to decide whether France should continue to be a monarchy.

The Convention first decided against a monarchy and declared the king deposed. They then brought Louis XVI to trial on the charge of conspiring with foreign countries for the invasion of France. Almost unanimously Louis Capet, as he was now called, was declared guilty and was sentenced to death. Consequently, the next day he was beheaded, meeting his fate with a steadfast courage, according to accounts, and proving greater in death than he had ever been in life. His execution had important consequences for France, because it aroused opinion in other countries against the French Revolution.

(born 1785). Louis XVII, the Dauphin, never had the opportunity to rule France. He was imprisoned with his parents, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, when he was 7. According to the French government, he died at the age of 10.

(born 1755, ruled 1814-24). When the Bourbons returned to the throne of France in 1814, the younger brother of Louis XVI assumed the crown as Louis XVIII. The difficult task of reconstruction was before the king, but he seemed admirably adapted to meet the situation. He was cold-blooded and cared nothing for revenge; therefore he was satisfied to leave alone those who had driven his family from France. He was a lazy man, and his one ambition was to keep his throne. This ambition at first seemed likely to go unfulfilled, for in 1815 Napoleon returned from exile on the island of Elba, and Louis XVIII fled in a panic from France. At the end of the period known as the Hundred Days, however, Napoleon was again overthrown, at Waterloo, and the Allies entered Paris, "bringing Louis XVIII in their baggage."

Until 1820 the king was able to resist the demands of the extreme royalists for vengeance and to build up his kingdom, but finally, under the leadership of his brother, they became too strong for him. He yielded to their demands for a reactionary government. This marked the beginning of the end of the Bourbons; ten years later, under his brother, Charles X, they were finally driven from the throne of France.

(born 1773, ruled 1830-48). Having disposed of the old Bourbons, the French had to set up a new government. Influenced by Lafayette, they decided to perpetuate the French monarchy with Louis-Philippe, a member of the Orléans family. He accepted the crown on August 9, 1830.

Louis-Philippe was known for his democratic ideas, but his government was not democratic. Demands for a more liberal government were not met.

When the government forbade a banquet organized by supporters of political reform, which was to be held on February 22, 1848, the Republicans of Paris revolted. The prime minister, François Guizot, was forced to resign. This did not satisfy the rioters, however, and Louis-Philippe abdicated on February 24. He fled to England, where he died two years later.

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The first of the many French kings to bear the name Louis was actually Clovis. He ruled from 481 to 511 and founded the kingdom of the Franks. Later the "C" was dropped and...

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The age of Gothic cathedrals and Scholastic theology was also an age of splendour for the French monarchy. Royal authority was greatly strengthened by Louis VII's successor, Philip II (Augustus; reigned 1180-1223), who could claim descent from Charlemagne through his mother. Philip proved to be the ablest Capetian yet to reign. He was practical and clear-sighted in his political objectives; the extension of territorial power and the improvement of mechanisms with which to govern an expanded realm were his consistent policies. Perhaps it was not accidental that royal documents began to refer to the "king of France" ( rex Franciae) instead of using the customary formula "king of the Franks" ( rex Francorum) within a year or two of Philip's accession.

Philip Augustus

Philip's outstanding achievement was to wrest control from the Plantagenets of most of the domains they held in France. Intervening in struggles between Henry II of England and his sons, Philip won preliminary concessions in 1187 and 1189. He acquired strategic lands on the Norman borders following wars with Henry's sons, King Richard and King John (1196 and 1200). And, when in 1202 John failed to answer a summons to the vassalic court of his lord, Philip Augustus confiscated his fiefs. Normandy fell to the Capetian in 1204. Maine, Anjou, and Touraine fell rapidly (1204-06), leaving only Aquitaine and a few peripheral domains in the contested possession of England. By the Truce of Chinon (September 18, 1214), John recognized the conquests of Philip Augustus and renounced the suzerainty of Brittany, although the complete submission of Poitou and Saintonge was to take another generation.

Philip's other acquisitions of territory, if less spectacular, were no less important for consolidating the realm. In the north he pressed the royal authority to the border of Flanders. Artois, which came under his control as a dowry with his first wife, was fully secured in 1212. Vermandois and Valois (1213) and the counties of Beaumont-sur-Oise and Clermont-en-Beauvais were annexed during his last years. On the southern limits of the Île-de-France Philip rounded out prior possessions in Gâtinais and Berry. Much of Auvergne, whose suzerainty had been ceded by Henry II in 1189, passed to royal control in 1214, while in the more distant south Philip extended his influence by gaining lordship over Tournon, Cahors, Gourdon, and Montlaur in Vivarais. As the reign ended, only Brittany, Flanders, Champagne, Burgundy, and Toulouse, among principalities later annexed, lay outside the royal domain. At the end of Philip's reign, rising concern about the heretical stance of the Albigenses set the stage for the Albigensian Crusade and later conquest of southern lands.

Because the territorial expansion was accomplished through traditional means-dynastic, feudal, and military-the curial administration was, outwardly, little changed. Household officers such as the butler and the constable continued to function as in the past. But Philip Augustus was even more suspicious of the seneschalship and chancellorship than his father had been; he allowed both offices to fall vacant early in his reign, entrusting their operations to lesser nobles or to clerics of the entourage. Although their activity is obscure, some of these men were beginning to specialize in justice or finance. The curia as such, however, remained undifferentiated; characteristically, the committee of regents, appointed in 1190 to hold three courts yearly while the king was absent on Crusade, was expected to concern itself with both justice and the administration of the kingdom on those occasions. Prelates and nobles of the curia also served as counselors; enlarged councils convened, at the king's summons, on festivals or when major political or military issues were contemplated.

Philip Augustus acted vigorously to improve the efficiency of his lordship. He was, indeed, practically the founder of royal administration in France. His chancery began to keep better records of royal activities. Documents were copied into registers before being sent out, and lists of churches, vassals, and towns were drawn up to inform the king of his military and fiscal rights. These lists replaced others lost on the battlefield of Fréteval (1194), a disaster that may have hastened the adoption of a new form of fiscal accountancy. One may draw this conclusion because it is unlikely that the Capetians had previously troubled to record the balances of revenues and expenses in the form first revealed by a record of the year 1202. Its central audit was connected with other efforts to improve control of the domains dominated directly by the king. From early in his reign Philip appointed members of his court to hold periodic local sessions, to collect extraordinary revenues, to lead military contingents, and to supervise the provosts. The new officers, called bailiffs ( baillis), at first had no determined districts in which to serve (they resembled the circuit commissioners of Angevin government, whose office may have been the model for the Capetian institution). From the outset the bailiffs were paid salaries; they were more reliable than the provosts, who by the later 12th century generally farmed the revenues. In the newly acquired lands of the west and south, Philip and his successors instituted seneschals-functionaries similar to the bailiffs but with recognized territorial jurisdiction from the start.

Philip Augustus's policy toward his conquered domains was shrewd. He retained the deep-rooted customs and administrative institutions of such flourishing provinces as Anjou and Normandy; indeed, the superior fiscal procedures of Normandy soon exercised perceptible influence on Capetian accounting elsewhere. On the other hand, to secure the loyal operation of provincial institutions, Philip appointed men of his own court, typically natives of the Île-de-France. It was a compromise that was to work well for generations to come.

The character of Philip's rule may likewise be deduced from his relations with the main classes of the population. A devoted son of the church, if not unswervingly faithful, he favoured the higher clergy in many of their interests. He opposed the infidels, heretics, and blasphemers; he supported the bishops of Laon, Beauvais, Sens, and Le Puy (among others) in their disputes with townspeople; and he granted and confirmed charters to monasteries and churches. Yet he was more insistent on his rights over the clergy than his predecessors had been. He required professions of fidelity and military service from bishops and abbots, summoned prelates to his court, and sought to limit the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts. He supported papal policies or submitted to papal directives only to the extent that these were consistent with his temporal interests. Cases in point were his reserved support of Crusades and his notorious rejection of Queen Ingeborg, whom he married, abandoned, and then, in response to the pope's censure, feigned to reconcile.

Toward the lay aristocracy, Philip Augustus acted energetically as suzerain and protector. Indeed, no Capetian was more fully the "feudal monarch." His war with John resulted from John's refusal to appear at court as a vassal of the French king to answer for his mistreatment of the count of La Marche. He regarded Flanders and Toulouse as well as Normandy as fiefs held by the crown. As with ecclesiastical vassals, Philip insisted upon the service due from fiefs, and he required his vassals to reserve their fealty for him alone. He extended his influence by entering into treaties ( pariages) with minor lords, often distant ones; and, by confirming the acts of nobles in unprecedented numbers, he recovered the force of the royal guarantee.

The policy toward the lesser rural and urban populations was to increase their loyalty and contribution to the crown without significantly reducing their dependence on the king and other lords. Philip offered his protection to exploited villages, and, especially during his early years, he confirmed existing "new towns," extended their privileges to other villages, and otherwise favoured peasant communities. Townsmen, notably those in semiautonomous communes, gained confirmation of their charters; and the king created some new communes. Most of the latter were located in strategic proximity to the northern frontiers of the expanded royal domain; this fact, together with the obligations of service and payment specified in the charters, suggests that military motives were paramount in these foundations. More generally evident in these charters, as in others, was the desire to gain the political fidelity of a prospering class. At Paris Philip Augustus acted as did no other local lord to promote the civic interest, improving sanitation, paving streets, and building a new wall. Parisian burghers financed and administered these projects; they were associated in the fiscal supervision of the realm when the king went on Crusade, but they were not favoured with a communal charter.

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France - Medieval, Monarchy, Feudalism: The age of Gothic cathedrals and Scholastic theology was also an age of splendour for the French monarchy. Royal authority was greatly strengthened by Louis VII's successor, Philip II (Augustus; reigned 1180-1223), who could claim descent from Charlemagne through his mother.