biographical portrait by his close friend Joinville. Though revered more for his personal
qualities, his dispensing of justice, and his crusading activities than for administrative
innovation, he presided over a well-organized government. The Parlement de Paris
became the highest judicial court in France, to which the decisions of all other courts
could be appealed.
During the 13th century, the issue of the “dynastic legitimacy” of the Capetians began
to be important. After nearly three centuries of rule, no one was likely to challenge their
dynasty, but at a time when the kings were greatly expanding their territory beyond
Francia it became important to establish that they were the heirs to Charlemagne. The
tombs of both Capetians and Carolingians at the abbey of Saint-Denis were rebuilt and
carefully rearranged. Most of the queens of France were construed as being in some way
Charlemagne’s descendants.
Louis IX’s grandson, Philip IV the Fair (r. 1285–1314), has had none of the personal
appeal of St. Louis, with his suppression of the Templars, battles with the papacy, wars
with the English, and repeated devaluations of the currency. But he presided over a
France that was firmly united. When the third and last of his sons, Charles IV, died
without sons of his own in 1328, no parts of the kingdom broke away, and no one from
outside the lineage claimed the throne. The only question was whether succession should
go to a woman, or, as it eventually did, to Philip VI, first cousin of Charles IV and first of
the Valois kings.
The history of the kingdom of France in the central Middle Ages has to be considered
in relationship to the history of its ruling family. Between 987 and 1328, these rulers
went from being one family of princes among many to being the leaders of the highly
centralized government of one of Europe’s most powerful countries.
Constance B.Bouchard
[See also: ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE; APANAGE; AVIGNON PAPACY;
ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE; HUGH CAPET; LAW AND JUSTICE; LOUIS VI THE
FAT; LOUIS VII; LOUIS VIII; LOUIS IX; PHILIP I; PHILIP II AUGUSTUS; PHILIP
III THE BOLD; PHILIP IV THE FAIR; ROBERT II THE PIOUS; SUGER]
Brown, Elizabeth A.R. The Monarchy of Capetian France and Royal Ceremonial. London:
Variorum, 1991.
Joinville, Jean de. The History of St. Louis, trans. Joan Evans. New York: Oxford University Press,
1938.
Suger. Vie de Louis VI le Gros, ed. and trans. Henri Waquet. Paris: Champion, 1929.
Baldwin, John W. The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the
Middle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
Dunbabin, Jean. France in the Making, 843–1180. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Fawtier, Robert. The Capetian Kings of France: Monarchy and Nation, 987–1328, trans. Lionel
Butler and R.J.Adam. New York: St. Martin, 1960.
Hallam, Elizabeth M. Capetian France, 987–1328. London: Longman, 1980.
Lewis, Andrew W. Royal Succession in Capetian France: Studies on Familial Order and the State.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Spiegel, Gabrielle M. “The Reditus regni ad stirpem Karoli Magni: A New Look.” French
Historical Studies 7 (1971): 145–74.
Strayer, Joseph R. The Reign of Philip the Fair. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980.
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