Crown lands of France

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The

territory of the kingdom of France
and for much of the Middle Ages significant portions of the kingdom were the direct possessions of other feudal lords.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the first Capetians—while being the kings of France—were among the least powerful of the great feudal lords of France in terms of territory possessed. Patiently, through the use of feudal law (and, in particular, the confiscation of fiefs from rebellious vassals), conquest, annexation, skillful marriages with heiresses of large fiefs, and even by purchase, the kings of France were able to increase the royal domain. By the time of Philip IV, the meaning of "royal domain" began to shift from a mere collection of lands and rights to a fixed territorial unit,[3] and by the sixteenth century the "royal domain" began to coincide with the entire kingdom. However, the medieval system of appanage (a concession of a fief with its land rights by the sovereign to his younger sons, which reverts to the crown upon the extinction of the male line of the original holder) alienated large territories from the royal domain and sometimes created dangerous rivals (especially the Duchy of Burgundy from the 14th to the 15th centuries).

During the

Edict of Moulins
(1566) declared that the royal domain (defined in the second article as all the land controlled by the crown for more than ten years) could not be alienated, except in two cases: by interlocking, in the case of financial emergency, with a perpetual option to repurchase the land; and to form an appanage, which must return to the crown in its original state on the extinction of the male line.

Traditionally, the king was expected to survive from the revenues generated from the royal domain, but fiscal necessity, especially in times of war, led the kings to enact "exceptional" taxes, like the taille, upon the whole of the kingdom (the taille became permanent in 1439).

Chronology of the formation of the royal domain

The Kingdom of France at the time of Hugh Capet. French royal domain in blue.

House of Capet

Reign of Hugh Capet

At the beginning of

Orléans), with several other isolated pockets, such as Attigny. These lands were largely the inheritance of the Robertians, the direct ancestors of the Capetians
.

Reign of Robert II

  • 1016: acquisition of the Duchy of Burgundy. The king was the nephew of Duke Henry of Burgundy, who died without heirs.
  • Robert gains the counties of Paris, Dreux and Melun, and negotiates the ultimate acquisition (1055) of a part of Sens.[4]

Reign of Henry I

The Kingdom of France in 1030. French royal domain in blue.

Reign of Philip I

Reign of Louis VI

Reign of Louis VII

The Kingdom of France in 1154. French royal domain in dark blue.

Reign of Philip II Augustus

The territorial conquests of Philip Augustus of France, at the time of his coronation (1180) and at the time of his death (1223).

Reign of Louis VIII

  • 1223:
    Aumale
    .
  • Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois, Périgord and a part of the Bordelais were confiscated from the king of England.
  • following the
    Alphonse, Count of Poitou
    , son of the king, in 1237.
  • 1225: in his will, Louis grants the appanages of
    Charles).[15]

Reign of Louis IX

Reign of Philip III

  • 1271: reversion of the
    Alfonso, Count of Poitou
    , to the royal domain
  • 1274: purchase of the County of Nemours
  • 1274: the king cedes half of the
    Gregory X
  • 1283:
    County of Alençon
    are inherited from the king's brother Pierre I of Alençon.
  • 1284: purchase of the
    County of Chartres
    .
  • the king makes appanage grants of
    Louis.[17]

Reigns of Philip IV, the Fair and his sons

House of Valois

Reign of Philip VI of Valois

  • the appanages of the new king (
    Alençon
    ) are reunited to the royal domain.
  • 1336: conquest of the
    County of Ponthieu
    , given to the king of England in 1360.
  • 1343–1349: the Dauphiné is sold to the kingdom of France by the Dauphin of Viennois
  • 1349: purchase for the kingdom of France of the seigneurie of Montpellier from James III of Majorca, the dispossessed king of Majorca, for 120 000 écus.

Reign of
John II

Reign of Charles V

Reign of Charles VI

The royal domain and the appanages early in the reign of Charles VI.

Reign of Charles VII

Reign of
Louis XI

Map of France in 1477

Reign of Charles VIII

Reign of
Louis XII

Reign of Francis I

From the reign of Francis I, the concept of "royal domain" begins to coincide with the French kingdom in general; the appanage of the House of Bourbon however remains alienated.

Reign of Henry II

  • 1547: for the first time the title Duke of Brittany and King of France is held by the same male primogeniture descendant. This marks the final step in the personal union of Brittany with France.
  • 1548:
    James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran
    .
  • 1558: French reconquest and incorporation of Calais into the Crown lands under the leadership of Henry II, which ended 150 years of English rule.

House of Bourbon

Reign of Henry IV

Reign of
Louis XIII

  • 1620: The king leads an army over Béarn and issues an edict at Pau, incorporating the Kingdom of Navarre and Béarn to the crown of France. From then on, while some prerogatives and the name were kept, the Kingdom of Navarre (Basse Navarre) with Béarn was no longer sovereign.

See also

References

  • Elizabeth M. Hallam. Capetian France: 987–1328. London: Longman, 1980.
    ISBN 0-582-48910-5
  1. ^ Hallam, 79 and 247.
  2. ^ Hallam, 80–82.
  3. ^ Hallam, 247.
  4. ^ Hallam, 82.
  5. ^ Hallam, 250.
  6. ^ Hallam, 157.
  7. ^ Hallam, 250.
  8. ^ Hallam, 157.
  9. ^ Hallam, 158.
  10. ^ Hallam, 158.
  11. ^ Hallam, 158.
  12. ^ Hallam, 158.
  13. ^ Hallam, 158.
  14. ^ Hallam, 158.
  15. ^ Hallam, 248.
  16. ^ Hallam, 248.
  17. ^ Hallam, 250.
  18. ^ Hallam, 250.
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