France in the Later Middle Ages 1200-1500

by Potter, David; Doyle, William

• ISBN13: 9780199250486
• ISBN10: 0199250480
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This volume traces the development of France and its identity in a period replete with crisis, from the Albigensian crusades in the first half of the thirteenth century, through the Hundred Years War, to the beginnings of the Italian wars in the 1490s.

Author Biography

David Potter is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Kent at Canterbury and has published widely on late medieval and early modern France.

Table of Contents

General Editor's Preface	v
List of contributors	x
Note on monetary units	xiii
Introduction	1	(22)
David Potter
General characteristics of the period	1	(2)
The idea of France in the later Middle Ages	3	(2)
Centre and regions	5	(4)
The 'royal state' and its limitations	9	(3)
The expansion of the royal demesne	12	(2)
The precarious royal succession	14	(2)
Foreign war and civil war	16	(4)
Recovery and consolidation	20	(3)
1 The political world of France, c.1200-c.1336	23	(24)
Jean Dunbabin
The royal demesne	24	(5)
Money and might	29	(5)
Law and lordship	34	(4)
Royal servants and counsellors	38	(5)
Ideology	43	(3)
Conclusion	46	(1)
2 The economy and society of France in the later Middle Ages: on the eve of crisis	47	(14)
Pierre Charbonnier
General principles	47	(2)
Consumption	49	(1)
Agriculture	50	(2)
Other economic activity	52	(2)
Population	54	(2)
Social classification	56	(3)
Public disorder	59	(2)
3 The crown and the provinces in the fourteenth century	61	(29)
Michael Jones
Changing patterns of territorial lordship	63	(3)
The king and the princes	66	(4)
Apanages and principalities in the late fourteenth century	70	(3)
Burgundy in the late fourteenth century	73	(3)
The duchy of Brittany and the crown	76	(4)
The problem of Navarre	80	(3)
Estates and assemblies	83	(5)
A united kingdom?	88	(2)
4 France and the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453	90	(27)
Anne Curry
Historiography	93	(4)
The opening of the Hundred Years War	97	(3)
French politics and the Hundred Years War, 1339-1360	100	(7)
The recovery of France, 1360-1390	107	(3)
A divided France at England's mercy, 1392-1429	110	(4)
The French recovery, 1429-1453	114	(3)
5 Society and the economy: the crisis and its aftermath	117	(13)
Pierre Charbonnier
Starvation	117	(1)
Plague	118	(2)
War	120	(1)
Economic depression	121	(2)
Population during the crisis	123	(1)
New social conditions during the crisis	124	(1)
Recovery: towards a national economy	125	(2)
An easier world	127	(2)
Conclusion	129	(1)
6 The crown and the provinces in the fifteenth century	130	(25)
Graeme Small
Princes and noble affinities	132	(10)
The bonnes villes	142	(8)
Estates and representative assemblies	150	(3)
Conclusion	153	(2)
7 The king and his government under the Valois, 1328-1498	155	(27)
David Potter
Public administration	156	(4)
The royal household	160	(3)
The royal council	163	(5)
The Parlement	168	(2)
The Chambre des Comptes and gens des finances	170	(2)
The king's revenues	172	(6)
The emergence of a governing elite	178	(4)
8 The later medieval French noblesse	182	(78)
Gareth Prosser
Defining noblesse	183	(6)
Property and poverty	189	(5)
Service and the martial ethos of the noblesse	194	(9)
Household, friends, and servants	203	(4)
Conclusion	207	(3)
Conclusion	210	(7)
David Potter
Further reading	217	(18)
Chronology	235	(7)
Genealogical tables	242	(14)
Chief office-holders of France	256	(4)
Glossary	260	(3)
Maps	263	(10)
Index	273