Grade 10 Western Civilization Lesson 107

Today I learned about France from Capetians to Louis IX.

• Too large for monarch to protect
• Power and defense devolve to more local units and individuals
• Under Carolingians, aristocracy had administered lands, taxation, etc., for the monarch
• Now they did and held these things for themselves
• Local strongmen assert right to fill Church offices
  • Surviving monasteries had their resources exploited; Church wealth seized

France, Last Carolingian Dies in 987

• Replaced by Hugh Capet, Capetian kings
  • Very weak; king just like another lord
  • Elected by the great lords of the realm
  • Managed to become hereditary, thanks to male heirs

Three Major Capetian Challenges

• Get full control over the Île de France
• Bring additional French territory under their control
• Exercise real lordship over large principalities (real rather than nominal)
  • Vikings given land: Normandy
  • Capetian want real ownership over French land
• Managed to accomplish all this
• Used astute marriage policy
• Grabbed fiefs of deceased vassals who lacked heirs
• Vassals who were unfaithful to feudal obligations were dispossessed
• Twelfth century, King Philip I (r. 1060-1108) and Louis the Fat (1108-1137)

Philip II Augustus (r. 1180-1223)

• Destroys Angevin Empire, crushing King John of England
• France becomes dominant power in Europe
• Centralization, administrative sophistication

Louis IX (r. 1226-1270)

• Peacemaker throughout Europe
• Sought to improve administration of justice
• Acts of charity, often performed anonymously