No one kingdom ever arose in Ireland out of the numerous tribes into which the Celtic-speaking inhabitants were divided. The island was not troubled, however, by foreign invaders till the coming of the Northmen in the ninth century. [18] The English, who first entered Ireland during the reign of Henry II, did not complete its conquest till the seventeenth century. Ireland by its situation could scarcely fail to become an appanage of Great Britain, but the dividing sea has combined with differences in race, language, and religion, and with English misgovernment, to prevent anything like a genuine union of the conquerors and the conquered.
187. UNIFICATION OF FRANCE, 987-1328 A.D.
PHYSICAL FRANCE
Nature seems to have intended that France should play a leading part in European affairs. The geographical unity of the country is obvious. Mountains and seas form its permanent boundaries, except on the north-east where the frontier is not well defined. The western coast of France opens on the Atlantic, now the greatest highway of the world's commerce, while on the southeast France touches the Mediterranean, the home of classical civilization. This intermediate position between two seas helps us to understand why French history should form, as it were, a connecting link between ancient and modern times.
RACIAL FRANCE
But the greatness of France has been due, also, to the qualities of the French people. Many racial elements have contributed to the population. The blood of prehistoric tribes, whose monuments and grave mounds are scattered over the land, still flows in the veins of Frenchmen. At the opening of historic times France was chiefly occupied by the Celts, whom Julius Caesar found there and subdued. The Celts, or Gauls, have formed in later ages the main stock of the French nation, but their language gave place to Latin after the Roman conquest. In the course of five hundred years the Gauls were so thoroughly Romanized that they may best be described as Gallo-Romans. The Burgundians, Franks, and Northmen afterwards added a Teutonic element to the population, as well as some infusion of Teutonic laws and customs.
THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY
France, again, became a great nation because of the greatness of its rulers. Hugh Capet, who became the French king in 987 A.D., [19] was fortunate in his descendants. The Capetian dynasty was long lived, and for more than three centuries son followed father on the throne without a break in the succession. [20] During this time the French sovereigns worked steadily to exalt the royal power and to unite the feudal states of medieval France into a real nation under a common government. Their success in this task made them, at the close of the Middle Ages, the strongest monarchs in Europe.
FRANCE AND ITS FIEFS
Hugh Capet's duchy—the original France—included only a small stretch of inland country centering about Paris on the Seine and Orléans on the Loire. His election to the kingship did not increase his power over the great lords who ruled in Normandy, Brittany, Aquitaine, Burgundy, and other parts of the country. They did homage to the king for their fiefs and performed the usual feudal services, but otherwise regarded themselves as independent in their own territories.