Figure 1.--This painting by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres depicts Joan of Arc at the coronation of Charles VII (1483). Charles is the man at the extreme left. Ingres painted the scene in 1854. Who knows what the coronation really looked like. But this in the indelable image imprinted in the French mind.

The imprtant matter to bear in mind about medieval French history is what a long period it was, the country's longest hiodtorical era--essentislly a millernium. French medieval history begins with the fall of Rome and the Franks. The Franks were, however, a Germanic tribe. There was no unified Franish state until Clovis. His father was Childeric I, the king of Salian Franks (481). The Salians were one of several important Frankish tribes. Clovis unified the Franks creating a kingdom encompassing a large area including what is now modern France asnd the Merovingian dynasty. Modern France does not emerge until the division of the Frankish Caroligian empire. The division of the Caroligian Empire provided the basis for both modern Germany and France. After the Carloginians, the descendents of Hugh Capet for almost 1,000 years provided France with its kings as direct descendents and later branch families (Valois and Bourbon). France emerged as a recognizable modern country at about the time that the Viking raids began. The country thus was formed by the Celtic, Roman, Frankish, and Viking peoples. The French monarchy was initialy very weak. The monarcvhy because of the resistance of the nobility to cental authority. This left France open to attack from the Vikings and English. France played a major role in the Crusades which absorbed the energies of kings, counts, clergy, and commoners, reducing interacine conflict. Medieval French history swirls around conflicts with both a divided Germany (the Holy Roman Empire) and a united England. The Norman conquest of England in the 11th century initiated centuries of conflict between England and France. The proud French nobility competed with the monarchy for power. This coupled with regional power centers like Normandy and Burgundy had the potential to create a sutuation as in Germany that prevented the creation of a centralized French state. This was prevented by King Philip Augustus of France who defeated a coalition led by Emperor Otto of Germsny and King John of England. The French victyory at the Battle of Bovines (1214) defeated the Germans abd the coalition fellm apart. Two centuries later, France again faced dismemerment, this time it weas saved by an unlikely savior, a French peasant girl--Joan of Arc. Her victory at Orleans was crucial (1429). The French went on to expell the English in the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) and to defeat their Burgundian allies. The French nobility weakened by the War finally was forced to bow to the monarchy and its claim of absolute authority. Gradually trade revived and cities and towns begin to grow. The bourgeois of the towns engaged in a resurgent trade of agriculture and artisan crafts. The French built magnificent cathedrals to glorify God. Important universities were founded at many of these cathedrals. The quickening economy was caped by the Renaisance brining and end tp the medieval era.

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Created: 6:10 AM 8/13/2017
Last updated: 6:10 AM 8/13/2017