1091 



FRANCE. 



FRANCE. 



1032 



Burgundians. Clovis may be considered the real founder of the French 

 monarchy : he died A.D. 511. 



The death of Clovis brought on the dismemberment of a monarchy 

 which had been established too short a time for consolidation. The 

 four sons of Clovis had each his share of the regal inheritance, but 

 though the sovereignty was divided, the nation was regarded as one, 

 and all the kings claimed their thrones by virtue of descent from 

 Clovis. The Franks now first invaded Italy, though without success : 

 but their power was increased by the subjection of the Burgundians 

 and the cession of Provence to them by the Ostrogoths : and ulti- 

 mately the dismembered monarchy of Clovis was reunited, together 

 with these accessions, under Clotaire, the youngest of his sons. Under 

 the successors of Clotaire, France was again repeatedly divided and 

 reunited : it is needless to describe changes which it is difficult to 

 trace and to remember, and which left no other permanent effects than 

 the weakness of the nation and the decline of the kingly power. The 

 Merovingian kings, the descendant* of Clovis, ceased with Childeric 

 III., who was deposed A.D. 752; but the kingly power had already 

 come into the hands of the hereditary dukes of Australia, Pepin 

 I'Herutal, Charles Martel, and Pepin le Bref ; while the governors of 

 provinces had acquired all but absolute independence of the crown. 



The accession of Pepin le Bref to the crown, upon the deposition 

 of Childeric III., reanimated the spirit and power of the Franks. 

 Pepin waged war with the Saxons and with the Saracens, who had 

 pc mined themselves of the coast of the Mediterranean, which he 

 wrested from them ; and the subjugation of the duchy of Aquitaine 

 reunited the empire of Clovis with new acquisitions in the hands of 

 Pepin, who reigned A.D. 752-768; but the splendour of his achieve- 

 ments faded before the superior glory of his son Charlemagne, who 

 extended his power over Italy, except the southern part, then held by 

 the Greek emperors, and over the greater part of Germany. His 

 reign On conjunction with his brother Carloman, A.D. 768-771 ; alone, 

 771-814) was distinguished by the attention which he paid to the 

 revival of letters. But the fabric of empire which he had raised fell 

 to pieces under the less vigorous sway of his son and successor 

 (A.D. 814-840) Louis le D<<boiinaire. 



In the confused history of tho Carlovingian princes, successors of 

 Charlemagne, it is difficult to trace the events which belong to France, 

 or to separate ito annals from those of Italy and Germany. Divisions 

 and subdivisions of the Frankish empire took place ; and the wars of 

 rival princes, and the degeneracy of the descendants of Charlemagne 

 delivered up France a prey to the ravages of the Northmen, or Nor- 

 mans, who acquired possession as a fief of the crown, by cession from 

 Charles le Simple (A.D. 911), of the territory subsequently known as 

 the Duchy of Normandie. Tho governors of provinces established 

 an hereditary authority in their several governments: the cities, 

 destitute of protection from the government, declined in wealth and 

 population, and in many cases lost their municipal rights and privi- 

 leges ; the number of serfs, or villains, increased, and the mechanic 

 arts were exercised by the slaves of the great lords. The power of 

 I Indues le Grand, count of Paris, surpassed that of the later Carlo- 

 vingi.in kings, and on the death of Louis V. the Carlovingian dynasty 

 expired, and a new family was called to a sovereignty little more than 

 nominal, in the person of Hugues Capet, son of Hugues le Grand, who 

 was elected by his army and consecrated at Reims, A.D. 987. 



From the time of Hugues Capet the history of France is less 

 involved : the crown descended with tolerable regularity to the sou 

 or other successor of each deceased king, and the divisions and reunions 

 of tho parts of the kingdom ceased. The kingly power was indeed 

 feeble ; but it gradually acquired strength, and the royal domain (as 

 distinguished from the domains of the great feudal lords) was progres- 

 sively enlarged by the conquest, forfeiture, inheritance, or acquisition 

 by other means of the greater fiefs. 



The following chronological table of the kings marks the principal 

 extensions or diminutions both of the regal domains and of the king- 

 dom at large ; and those changes which form the characteristics of the 

 periods in which they occurred : 



(987.) Hugues Capet, son of Hugues le Grand, count of Paris. 

 The dukes of Bourgogne and Normandie, the latter especially, were 

 among the most powerful of the French lords : and of the rest the 

 principal were the Count of Champagne, the Count of Vermandois 

 (part of whose inheritance passed to the counts of Blois, and elevated 

 them to a degree of consideration which they had not previously 

 I' -',!. tb>> < 'omit of r'lnnileiv, the ('omit of Anjou, the (.'mint of 



Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine, the Count of Toulouse ; and, though 

 at a somewhat later period, the Duke of Bretagne. The six paramount 

 feudatories, who afterwards became exclusively peers of France, were 

 the dukes of Bourgogne, Normandie, and Aquitaine, the counts of 

 Flanders, Champagne, and Toulouse. The vassals of Hugues, as 

 count of Paris and Orle'ans, made such approaches to independence, 

 that at his death the authority of his successor extended little beyond 

 the walU of Paris and Orle'ans. 



(996.) Robert, son of Hugues Capet, born A.D. 970. 

 (1031.) Henri I., on of Robert, born A.D. 1005. 

 (1060.) Philippe I., son of Henri I., born A.D. 1053. 

 The power of the first four Capetian kings was very small, and the 

 kingdom over which their nominal sovereignty extended was not 

 co-extensive with modern France; Lorraine, Transjurane Bourgogne, 



and Provence were subject to the imperial crown. Their reigns con- 

 stitue the era of the rise of chivalry. The reign of Philippe I. was 

 marked by the conquest of England by William of Normandie. The 

 communes or municipalities of France originated in leagues of the 

 inhabitants of towns for defence against baronial oppression, formed 

 in the reign of Philippe, though commonly ascribed to the reign of 

 his successor. Philippe was engaged repeatedly in hostilities with 

 the Anglo-Norman kings, William I. and William II. The first 

 crusade took place in Philippe's reign, and by exhausting the power 

 of the nobles prepared for the emerging of the regal authority from 

 its depressed condition. 



(1108.) Louis VI., le Gros, son of Philippe I., born A.D. 1078. 



This reign comprehends an important period in the history of the 

 French, whether by the progress of the people in the communes, the 

 rights of which had scarcely received at this epoch their first legal 

 sanction ; or by the progress, not less marked, of the central authority 

 in the power of the crown, which, instead of remaining unnoticed, as 

 under Philippe I., between the Seine and the Oise, began really to 

 make itself felt from the Meuse to the Pyrenees ; or, lastly, by the 

 development in the same interval of the feudal system. This system, 

 profiting by the progress of intelligence and the study of other systems 

 of legislation, acquired a regularity and authority which no one dared 

 any longer to dispute with it. 



(1137.) Louis VII., le Jeune, son of Louis le Gros, born A.D. 1120. 



The king carried on the poiiey of his father, of establishing hia 

 authority in his own domains. He married Eldonore of Guienne, from 

 whom he was afterwards divorced. She subsequently married Henry 

 Plantagenet, afterwards Henry II. of England ; this marriage made 

 the power of Henry superior to that of Louis : he had Normandie, 

 Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Poitou, Limousin, Angoumois, Saiutonge, 

 Berri, Marche, part of Auvergne, Guienne, and Gascogne; but his 

 quarrels with Bucket and with his sons prevented his availing himself 

 of his superiority. Louis le Jeune was personally engaged in the 

 second crusade, but he met with no success. 



(1180.) Philippe II., Auyuste, son of Louis VII., le Jeune : born 

 A.D. 1165. 



The predominance of the Anglo-Norman power united the other 

 great vassals of Philippe more closely in alliance with the crown ; 

 and the exhaustion of the Anglo-Normans from their civil dissensions, 

 from the crusades, the heavy ransom of Richard I., Oaeur de Lion, 

 and the weakness of John, enabled Philippe to raise the power of the 

 crown above that of his puissant vassals. Philippe displayed consi- 

 derable warlike activity : he was engaged in the third crusade 1189-91, 

 in conjunction with Kichard Cceur de Lion, and in hostilities with 

 Richard and John, and with the emperor Otho, whom he defeated at 

 Bouvines, near Lille, A.D. 1214. He united Normandie, Maine, Anjou, 

 Touraiue, and Berri, to the domain of the crown ; increased the pre- 

 viously small domain of the crown in Auvergue, and other parts of 

 the south of France ; and consolidated the regal power by substituting 

 constitutional forms for individual caprice. This reign was marked 

 by the blood-stained crusades against the Albigeois in the south of 

 France, which weakened the power of the count of Toulouse who 

 protected the AIbig<5ois. France, in its present extent, was at this 

 time divided between four sovereign princes the king of Frauce ; 

 the emperor, who held the provinces of the east and south-east ; the 

 king of England ; and the king of Aragon, who had considerable 

 territories near the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. 



(1223.) Louis VIII., Occur de Lion, son of Philippe Auguste, born 

 A.D. 1187. 



Louis conquered Poitou, and engaged in the crusade against the 

 Albigeois. 



(1226.) Louis IX. (St. Louis), son of Louis VIII., born A.D. 1215. 



(1270.) Philippe III., le Ilardi, son of St. Louis, born A.D. 1245. 



(1285.) Philippe IV., le Bel, son of Philippe, le Ilardi, born A.D. 

 1268. 



(1314.) Louis X., le Ilutin, son of Philippe le Bel, born A.D. 1289. 



(131C ) Jean I., a posthumous son of Louis le Hutin, lived only 

 three or four days. 



(1316.) Philippe V., le Long, second eon of Philippe le Bel, bom 

 A.D. 1294. 



The accession of Philippe established the Salic law : he was pre- 

 ferred to the daughter aud heiress of his elder brother, Louis le Hntin. " 



(1322.) Charles IV., le Bel, third son of Philippe le Bel, born A.D. 

 1295. 



The direct line of the Capetian kings ended with Charles IV. 



The reign of St. Louis, one of the most equitable and virtuous of 

 princes, and the reigns of his successors, some of them as remarkable 

 for the opposite qualities, are marked by the consolidation of the 

 power of the law as distinguished from that of arms. This beneficial 

 change was however accompanied under the successors of Louis with 

 the most revolting acts of injustice under the forms of law. Many of 

 the nobles were despoiled of their fiefs; the order of the Templars 

 was extinguished in the blood of its members ; the Jews and Lom- 

 bards griveously oppressed ; and trade ruined by the abasing of the 

 coinage. Persecution assumed a more systematic form by the esta- 

 blishment of the inquisition at Toulouse. In this period the greater 

 part of Languedoc was added to the domains of the crown, which 

 were considerably augmented in other places. 



