West Francia During the later years of
Charlemagne's rule, the
Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the
Kingdom of the Franks. After Charlemagne's death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The
Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with
Charles the Bald ruling over
West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Charles the Bald was also crowned
King of Lotharingia after the death of
Lothair II in 869, but in the
Treaty of Meerssen (870) was forced to cede much of Lotharingia to his brothers, retaining the
Rhône and
Meuse basins (including
Verdun,
Vienne and
Besançon) but leaving the
Rhineland with
Aachen,
Metz, and
Trier in
East Francia. Viking incursions up the
Loire, the
Seine, and other inland waterways increased. During the reign of
Charles the Simple (898–922), Vikings under
Rollo from
Scandinavia settled along the Seine, downstream from Paris, in a region that came to be known as
Normandy.
High Middle Ages The
Carolingians were to share the fate of their predecessors: after an intermittent power struggle between the two dynasties, the accession in 987 of
Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, established the
Capetian dynasty on the throne. With its offshoots, the houses of
Valois and
Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. The old order left the new dynasty in immediate control of little beyond the middle Seine and adjacent territories, while powerful territorial lords such as the 10th- and 11th-century
counts of Blois accumulated large domains of their own through marriage and through private arrangements with lesser nobles for protection and support. The area around the lower Seine became a source of particular concern when Duke
William of Normandy took possession of the Kingdom of England by the
Norman Conquest of 1066, making himself and his heirs the king's equal outside France (where he was still nominally subject to the Crown).
Henry II inherited the
Duchy of Normandy and the
County of Anjou, and married France's newly single ex-queen,
Eleanor of Aquitaine, who ruled much of southwest France, in 1152. After defeating a
revolt led by Eleanor and three of their four sons, Henry had Eleanor imprisoned, made the
Duke of Brittany his vassal, and in effect ruled the western half of France as a greater power than the French throne. However, disputes among Henry's descendants over the division of his French territories, coupled with
John of England's lengthy quarrel with
Philip II, allowed Philip to recover influence over most of this territory. After the French victory at the
Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern
Duchy of Aquitaine.
Late Middle Ages and the Hundred Years' War The death of
Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line. Under
Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman (Philip IV's daughter was
Isabella, whose son was
Edward III of England), so the throne passed to
Philip VI, son of
Charles of Valois. This, in addition to a long-standing dispute over the rights to
Gascony in the south of France, and the relationship between England and the Flemish cloth towns, led to the
Hundred Years' War of 1337–1453. The following century was to see devastating warfare, the
Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War, peasant revolts (the
English peasants' revolt of 1381 and the
Jacquerie of 1358 in France) and the growth of nationalism in both countries. The losses of the century of war were enormous, particularly owing to the plague (the
Black Death, usually considered an outbreak of
bubonic plague), which arrived from Italy in 1348, spreading rapidly up the Rhône valley and thence across most of the country: it is estimated that a population of some 18–20 million in modern-day France at the time of the 1328
hearth tax returns had been reduced 150 years later by 50 percent or more.
Renaissance and Reformation The Renaissance era was noted for the emergence of powerful centralized institutions, as well as a flourishing culture (much of it imported from
Italy). The kings built a strong fiscal system, which heightened the power of the king to raise armies that overawed the local nobility. In Paris especially there emerged strong traditions in literature, art and music. The prevailing style was
classical. The
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts was signed into law by
Francis I in 1539. Largely the work of
Chancellor Guillaume Poyet, it dealt with a number of government, judicial and ecclesiastical matters. Articles 110 and 111, the most famous, called for the use of the French language in all legal acts, notarised contracts and official legislation.
Italian Wars After the Hundred Years' War,
Charles VIII of France signed three additional treaties with
Henry VII of England, Emperor
Maximilian I, and
Ferdinand II of Aragon respectively at
Étaples (1492),
Senlis (1493) and
Barcelona (1493). These three treaties cleared the way for France to undertake the long Italian Wars (1494–1559), which marked the beginning of early modern France. French efforts to gain dominance resulted only in the increased power of the
House of Habsburg.
Wars of Religion Barely were the Italian Wars over, when France was plunged into a domestic crisis with far-reaching consequences. Despite the conclusion of a
Concordat between France and the Papacy (1516), granting the crown unrivalled power in senior ecclesiastical appointments, France was deeply affected by the
Protestant Reformation's attempt to break the hegemony of Catholic Europe. A growing urban-based Protestant minority (later dubbed
Huguenots) faced ever harsher repression under the rule of Francis I's son King
Henry II. After Henry II's death in a joust, the country was ruled by his widow
Catherine de' Medici and her sons
Francis II,
Charles IX and
Henry III. Renewed Catholic reaction headed by the powerful
dukes of Guise culminated in a
massacre of Huguenots (1572), starting the first of the
French Wars of Religion, during which English, German and Spanish forces intervened on the side of rival Protestant and Catholic forces. Opposed to absolute monarchy, the Huguenot
Monarchomachs theorized during this time the
right of rebellion and the legitimacy of
tyrannicide. The Wars of Religion culminated in the
War of the Three Henrys in which Henry III assassinated
Henry de Guise, leader of the Spanish-backed
Catholic League, and the king was murdered in return. After the assassination of both Henry of Guise (1588) and Henry III (1589), the conflict was ended by the accession of the Protestant king of
Navarre as
Henry IV (first king of the
Bourbon dynasty) and his subsequent abandonment of Protestantism (Expedient of 1592) effective in 1593, his acceptance by most of the Catholic establishment (1594) and by the Pope (1595), and his issue of the toleration decree known as the
Edict of Nantes (1598), which guaranteed freedom of private worship and civil equality.
Early modern period Colonial France France's pacification under Henry IV laid much of the ground for the beginnings of France's rise to European hegemony. France was expansive during all but the end of the seventeenth century: the French began trading in India and
Madagascar, founded
Quebec and penetrated the North American
Great Lakes and
Mississippi, established plantation economies in the
West Indies and extended their trade contacts in the
Levant and enlarged their
merchant marine.
Thirty Years' War Henry IV's son
Louis XIII and his minister (1624–1642)
Cardinal Richelieu elaborated a policy against Spain and the Holy Roman Empire during the
Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) which had broken out in Germany. After the death of both king and cardinal, the
Peace of Westphalia (1648) secured universal acceptance of Germany's political and religious fragmentation, but the Regency of
Anne of Austria and her minister
Cardinal Mazarin experienced a civil uprising known as the
Fronde (1648–1653) which expanded into a
Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659). The
Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) formalised France's seizure (1642) of the Spanish territory of
Roussillon after the crushing of the ephemeral
Catalan Republic and ushered a short period of peace.
Administrative structures The
Ancien Régime, a French term rendered in English as "Old Rule", or simply "Former Regime", refers primarily to the aristocratic, social and political system of early modern France under the late Valois and Bourbon dynasties. The administrative and social structures of the Ancien Régime were the result of years of state-building, legislative acts (like the
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts), internal conflicts and civil wars, but they remained a confusing patchwork of local
privilege and historic differences until the
French Revolution brought about a radical suppression of administrative incoherence.
Louis XIV, the Sun King , a 1701 portrait by
Hyacinthe Rigaud For most of the reign of
Louis XIV (1643–1715), ("The Sun King"), France was the dominant power in Europe, aided by the diplomacy of Cardinal Richelieu's successor as the King's chief minister, (1642–61)
Cardinal Jules Mazarin, (1602–1661). Cardinal Mazarin oversaw the creation of a
French Royal Navy that rivalled
England's, expanding it from 25 ships to almost 200. The size of the
French Royal Army was also considerably increased. Renewed wars (the
War of Devolution, 1667–1668 and the
Franco-Dutch War, 1672–1678) brought further territorial gains (
Artois and western
Flanders and the free
County of Burgundy, previously left to the Empire in 1482), but at the cost of the increasingly concerted opposition of rival royal powers, and a legacy of an increasingly enormous
national debt. An adherent of the theory of the
"Divine Right of Kings", which advocates the divine origin of temporal power and any lack of earthly restraint of monarchical rule, Louis XIV continued his predecessors' work of creating a
centralized state governed from the capital of Paris. He sought to eliminate the remnants of
feudalism still persisting in parts of France and, by compelling the noble elite to regularly inhabit his lavish
Palace of Versailles, built on the outskirts of Paris, succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many members of which had participated in the earlier "
Fronde" rebellion during Louis' minority. By these means he consolidated a system of absolute monarchy in France that endured 150 years until the
French Revolution. McCabe says critics used fiction to portray the degraded Turkish court, using "the harem, the Sultan court, oriental despotism, luxury, gems and spices, carpets, and silk cushions" as an unfavorable analogy to the corruption of the French royal court. The king sought to impose total religious uniformity on the country, repealing the
Edict of Nantes in 1685. It is estimated that anywhere between 150,000 and 300,000 Protestants fled France during the wave of persecution that followed the repeal, (following "
Huguenots" beginning a hundred and fifty years earlier until the end of the 18th century) costing the country a great many intellectuals, artisans, and other valuable people. Persecution extended to unorthodox Roman Catholics like the
Jansenists, a group that denied free will and had already been condemned by the popes. In this, he garnered the friendship of the papacy, which had previously been hostile to France because of its policy of putting all church property in the country under the jurisdiction of the state rather than that of Rome. In November 1700, King
Charles II of Spain died, ending the Habsburg line in that country. Louis had long planned for this moment, but these plans were thrown into disarray by the will of King Charles, which left the entire Spanish Empire to Louis's grandson
Philip, Duke of Anjou, (1683–1746). Essentially, Spain was to become a perpetual ally and even obedient satellite of France, ruled by a king who would carry out orders from Versailles. Realizing how this would upset the balance of power, the other European rulers were outraged. However, most of the alternatives were equally undesirable. For example, putting another Habsburg on the throne would end up recreating the grand multi-national
Empire of Charles V; of the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and the Spanish territories in Italy, which would also grossly upset the power balance. However, the rest of Europe would not stand for his ambitions in Spain, and so the long
War of the Spanish Succession began (1701–1714), a mere three years after the
War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697, "War of the League of Augsburg") had just concluded.
Dissent and revolution The reign (1715–1774) of
Louis XV saw an initial return to peace and prosperity under the
regency (1715–1723) of
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, whose policies were largely continued (1726–1743) by
Cardinal Fleury, prime minister in all but name. The exhaustion of Europe after two major wars resulted in a long period of peace, only interrupted by minor conflicts like the
War of the Polish Succession from 1733 to 1735. Large-scale warfare resumed with the
War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). But alliance with the traditional Habsburg enemy (the "
Diplomatic Revolution" of 1756) against the rising power of Britain and
Prussia led to costly failure in the
Seven Years' War (1756–63) and the loss of France's North American colonies. On the whole, the 18th century saw growing discontent with the monarchy and the established order. Louis XV was a highly unpopular king for his sexual excesses, overall weakness, and for losing
New France to the British. The writings of the
philosophes such as
Voltaire were a clear sign of discontent, but the king chose to ignore them. He died of
smallpox in 1774, and the French people shed few tears at his death. While France had not yet experienced the
Industrial Revolution that was beginning in Britain, the rising middle class of the cities felt increasingly frustrated with a system and rulers that seemed silly, frivolous, aloof, and antiquated, even if true feudalism no longer existed in France. Upon Louis XV's death, his grandson
Louis XVI became king. Initially popular, he too came to be widely detested by the 1780s. He was married to an Austrian archduchess,
Marie Antoinette. French intervention in the American War of Independence was also very expensive. With the country deeply in debt, Louis XVI permitted the radical reforms of
Turgot and
Malesherbes, but noble disaffection led to Turgot's dismissal and Malesherbes' resignation in 1776. They were replaced by
Jacques Necker. Necker had resigned in 1781 to be replaced by
Calonne and
Brienne, before being restored in 1788. A harsh winter that year led to widespread food shortages, and by then France was a powder keg ready to explode. On the eve of the
French Revolution of July 1789, France was in a profound institutional and financial crisis, but the ideas of the
Enlightenment had begun to permeate the educated classes of society. In 1823, the
Trienio Liberal revolt in Spain led to a
French intervention on the royalists' side, which permitted King
Ferdinand VII of Spain to abolish the
Constitution of 1812. However, the work of Louis XVIII was frustrated when, after his death on 16 September 1824, his brother the Count of Artois became king under the name of
Charles X. Charles X was a strong
reactionary who supported the ultra-royalists and the
Catholic Church. Under his reign, the censorship of newspapers was reinforced, the
Anti-Sacrilege Act passed, and compensations to
Émigrés were increased. However, the reign also witnessed the
French intervention in the
Greek Revolution in favour of the Greek rebels, and the first phase of the
conquest of Algeria. The absolutist tendencies of the King were disliked by the Doctrinaire majority in the
Chamber of Deputies, that on 18 March 1830
sent an address to the King, upholding the rights of the Chamber and in effect supporting a transition to a full parliamentary system. Charles X received this address as a veiled threat, and in 25 July of the same year, he issued the
St. Cloud Ordinances, in an attempt to reduce Parliament's powers and re-establish absolute rule. The opposition reacted with riots in Parliament and
barricades in Paris, that resulted in the
July Revolution. The King abdicated, as did his son the Dauphin
Louis Antoine, in favour of his grandson
Henri, Count of Chambord, nominating his cousin the
Duke of Orléans as regent. However, it was too late, and the liberal opposition won out over the monarchy.
Aftermath and July Monarchy '' by
Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1841 On 9 August 1830, the Chamber of Deputies elected
Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans as "King of the French": for the first time since French Revolution, the King was designated as the ruler of the French people and not the country. The Bourbon
white flag was substituted with the
French tricolour, and a
new charter was introduced in August 1830. The
conquest of Algeria continued, and new settlements were established in the
Gulf of Guinea,
Gabon,
Madagascar, and
Mayotte, while
Tahiti was placed under
protectorate. However, despite the initial reforms, Louis Philippe was little different from his predecessors. The old
nobility was replaced by urban bourgeoisie, and the working class was excluded from voting. Louis Philippe appointed notable bourgeois as
Prime Minister, like banker
Casimir Périer, academic
François Guizot, general
Jean-de-Dieu Soult, and thus obtained the nickname of "Citizen King" (
Roi-Citoyen). The July Monarchy was beset by corruption scandals and financial crisis. The opposition of the King was composed of
Legitimists, supporting the
Count of Chambord, Bourbon claimant to the throne, and of
Bonapartists and
Republicans, who fought against royalty and supported the principles of democracy. The King tried to suppress the opposition with censorship, but when the
Campagne des banquets ("Banquets' Campaign") was repressed in February 1848, riots and seditions erupted in Paris and later all France, resulting in the
February Revolution. The
National Guard refused to repress the rebellion, resulting in Louis Philippe abdicating and fleeing to England. On 24 February 1848, the monarchy was abolished and the
Second Republic was proclaimed. Despite later attempts to re-establish the Kingdom in the 1870s, during the
Third Republic, the French monarchy has not restored. ==Territories and provinces==