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The political history of France covers the history of political movements and systems of government in the nation of France, from the earliest stages of the history of France until the present day. This political history might be considered to start with the formation of the Kingdom of France, and continue until the present day.
- Overview
- Principalities north of the Loire
The fragmentation of political power resulting from the decline of the Carolingians meant that the kings of France were forced into rivalries, alliances, and conflicts with the princes, who were for many generations the real rulers of their territories. Even after a new dynasty, the Capetians, took over the crown in 987, it took several centuries b...
Outside the dynastic royal domain (centred around Paris) the foremost northern powers were Flanders, Normandy, Anjou, Brittany, Blois-Champagne, and Burgundy.
The northernmost of these was Flanders, whose founder, Baldwin I (Iron-Arm; reigned 862–879), managed not only to abduct the Carolingian king’s daughter and marry her but also to win that king’s approval as count of Ghent. His authority was consolidated under his son Baldwin II (879–918) and grandson Arnulf I (918–965), the latter a violent and ambitious prince who undertook to restore the Flemish church as if he were an emperor. Fertile and precocious in trading activity, Flanders became home to a dense network of prosperous cities and monasteries; monks at Saint-Bertin and Ghent celebrated the dynastic feats of the counts.
In the time of Robert I (the Frisian; 1071–93), efforts were made to systematize the count’s lordship over castles as well as his fiscal rights, but the results fell short of giving the count effective sovereign power. When the foreign-born Charles the Good (1119–27) tried to pacify the county at the expense of lesser knightly families, he was murdered. Stability together with a new and centralized mode of fiscal accountancy was achieved by Thierry of Alsace (1128–68) and his son Philip (1163–91). Toward 1180 Flanders was a major power in northern France.
The duchy of Normandy was created in 911, when the Viking chieftain Rollo (Hrolf) accepted lands around Rouen and Evreux from King Charles III (the Simple). With its pastures, fisheries, and forests, this territory was a rich prize, and Rollo’s successors extended their domination of it aggressively. Early Norman history, however, is more obscure than Flemish, lacking the records that only Christian clerics could write. The acquisitions of the second duke of Normandy, William I (Longsword; 927–942), were threatened when he was murdered by Arnulf I of Flanders in 942. It was only in the reign of his son Richard I (942–996) that something like administrative continuity based on succession to fiscal domains and control of the church was achieved. The dukes (as they then came to be styled) allied with the ascendant duke Hugh Capet had little to lose from the latter’s accession to the kingship in 987; it was at this time that a new Norman aristocracy in ducal control took shape. Under Robert I (the Devil; 1027–35) agrarian and commercial prosperity favoured the multiplication of castellanies and knights, and Duke William II (1035–87; William the Conqueror) had to put down a dangerous rising of Norman barons and castellans in 1047 before proceeding, surely in deliberate consequence, to establish a firmly central control of castles that was without precedent in France. His conquest of England in 1066 made William the most powerful ruler in France. At the same time, knights from lesser elite families in Normandy were establishing territorial lordships in southern Italy.
Norman ducal lordship was crude but effective. Under Henry I (1106–35) a unified exploitation of patronage, castles, and revenues was developed for the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy alike. Normandy passed to Henry’s son-in-law Count Geoffrey of Anjou in 1135 and to his grandson Henry II (1150–89), in whose time it became the heartland of an Angevin dynastic empire.
Anjou, in the lower Loire valley, was among the lands delegated to Robert the Strong in 866. In the 10th century a series of vigorous counts established a dynastic patrimony that expanded under the great Fulk III Nerra (987–1040) and his son Geoffrey Martel (1040–60) to include Maine and Touraine. Strategically situated, this principality prospered in its early times of external danger, but it was surrounded by aggressive dynasts; the control of castles and vassalic fidelities were the count’s somewhat precarious means of power.
Apr 19, 2024 · Last Updated: Apr 19, 2024 • Article History. France. history of France, a survey of important events and people in the history of France from ancient times to the present.
The French 75-mm cannon, the archetypal rapid-firing gun from its introduction in 1897 through World War I.- French tanks and soldiers in the streets of Katowice (Kattowitz), Upper Silesia, during one of the Silesian uprisings, 1919–21.
- Europe in 1812.
- European penetration into western Africa in the late 19th century.
- The Frankish domains in the time of Charles Martel (boundaries approximate).
- The growth of the French royal domain, 1180–1328.
- France in 1453.
- Islands in the South Pacific were used extensively for nuclear tests between 1945 and 1995.
- Between May 26 and June 4, 1940, some 340,000 Allied troops were evacuated from the French seaport of Dunkirk to England.
History of Paris; Legal history of France. Fundamental laws of the Kingdom of France; List of French monarchs. List of presidents of France; List of prime ministers of France; Military history of France; Politics of France; Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine; Territorial evolution of France; Timeline of French history; Women in France
Timeline of French history. This is a timeline of French history, comprising important legal changes and political events in France and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of France. See also the list of Frankish kings, French monarchs, and presidents of France . 5th century. 6th century. 7th century.
YearDateEvent18019 FebruaryWar of the Second Coalition: The Treaty ...180115 JulyThe Concordat of 1801 was signed between ...18023 FebruarySaint-Domingue expedition: French Army ...180225 MarchWar of the Second Coalition: The Treaty ...Oct 19, 2019 · France is currently in its Fifth Republic, established in 1959 during upheavals in society. Key People from the History of France King Louis XIV (1638–1715): Louis XIV succeeded to the French throne as a minor in 1642 and ruled until 1715; for many contemporaries, he was the only monarch they ever knew.
The emergence of France. French society in the early Middle Ages; The political history of France (c. 850–1180) Principalities north of the Loire; The principalities of the south; The monarchy; Economy, society, and culture in the Middle Ages (c. 900–1300) Economic expansion; Urban prosperity; Rural society; Religious and cultural life
