Louis IV. (“the Fat”), in 1108, was the first king of any ability. He judicially overcame a robber count, and in his time (though not on any fixed principles) cities began to be allowed to purchase their power of self-government, such as the southern one had preserved from Roman times. This was called the right of commune. Except in these cities, the lot of the people of Gallo-Roman blood was wretched. They were called villeins, and, except that they were attached to the soil, were almost slaves, cruelly oppressed and downtrodden by their irresponsible lords, mostly Franks, who covered the land with fortified castles. There was, however, much religious zeal, which found its outlet in the Crusades, first proclaimed at Clermont, in Auvergne, in 1095, and in the religious orders, whose beautiful monasteries and splendid cathedrals still exist.
France was at its weakest under Louis VII., when Henry II. of England, by inheritance Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, had married the heiress of the great Duchy of Aquitaine, and obtained the heiress of Brittany for his son. Philip II., called Augustus, spent his life in undermining the power of the English kings, and when King John murdered his nephew Arthur of Brittany, Philip held a court of justice, cited him thither, and, on his non-appearance, adjudged him to have forfeited Normandy and Anjou, which easily were conquered, leaving only Aquitaine as the possession of John’s mother, and these lands, being held direct of the crown, much added to the royal power.
Under Louis IX.—The king, Louis IX., was the best and most blameless of French sovereigns. It was he who, in 1258, established the Parliament of Paris. In every Teuton nation the king was supposed to take counsel and do justice among the other nobles and freemen; but to attend courts of law in a large territory was a great vexation to the nobles, who would not come, and yet resented decisions made in their absence. Louis arranged that though every immediate vassal of the crown had a right to sit in it, yet in its working state it should only consist of men trained in the law, with just nobles enough to give authority. In this parliament the wills and edicts of the king, and the taxes he imposed, were registered. The provinces, likewise, had parliaments to serve as courts of law. Louis’s devotion led him to attempt two unfortunate crusades, and he died in the second, in 1270.
His grandson Philip IV. (“the Fair”), had a desperate quarrel with the Papacy, and by underhand means succeeded in forcing Pope Clement V. to reside in his dominions. The Popes fixed their residence at Avignon, in Provence, a province belonging to the Empire, and held at the time by Philip’s uncle, Charles, Count of Anjou, but near enough for French influence. Here the Papal court continued for seventy years. Philip V. was a violent and unscrupulous man, and the three sons who reigned in succession after him had not his force of character.
Philip was succeeded in turn by Louis X., Philip V., and Charles IV. The rivalry between France and England, consequent upon the accession of Duke William of Normandy to the throne of the latter, came to a decisive crisis during the first half of the fourteenth century.
House of Valois and the “Hundred Years’ War.”—On the death of Charles IV. (1328) Philip of Valois succeeded to the throne, beginning the Valois dynasty; but Edward III. of England, by virtue of hereditary right derived from his mother’s side, claimed not only such provinces as had been taken from his ancestors, but the whole kingdom. In this way began the protracted conflict which French historians call the “hundred years’ war” (1337-1453), a period covering the reigns of John II. (1350-1364), Charles V. (1364-1380), Charles VI. (1380-1422), and the greater part of the reign of Charles VII. (1422-1461). In 1340 an English fleet destroyed the naval force of France at Sluis, on the coast of Flanders; in 1346, at Crécy, the English archers overcame the flower of French chivalry; and at Poitiers (1356) the Black Prince defeated King John and made him prisoner.
The States-General were also the scene of a deadly struggle between the regent and the third estate, and the peasantry of several districts broke out into a fearful insurrection, which was named the Jacquerie, and marked by all the horrors of a servile war. Charles V., with the help of his great constable, Du Guesclin, regained in a few campaigns almost all the English acquisitions in France. On his death, in 1380, his son Charles VI., surnamed the Well-Beloved, ascended the throne.
The reign of this sovereign was signally unfortunate. He fell into a state of insanity, which rendered him incapable of attending to the administration of the government, and in consequence regents were appointed, whose misconduct threw the kingdom into a civil war. During these calamities which afflicted France, Henry V. of England invaded the country, and gained the memorable battle of Agincourt. The consequence of this victory, and other advantages gained by Henry, enabled him to conclude a treaty by which his succession to the throne of France was acknowledged on the death of Charles. Henry and Charles both died shortly after this event, A. D. 1422.
Charles VII. and Joan of Arc.—Charles VII., surnamed the Victorious, asserted his right to the throne of his father, while at the same time the infant Henry VI. of England was proclaimed King of France under the regency of his uncle, the Duke of Bedford. The English laid siege to Orleans, a place of the greatest importance, and so successful were they in their operations against this and other places that the affairs of France began to wear a most gloomy aspect. The tide of misfortune, however, was successfully turned by one of the most extraordinary events recorded in history.