England and
France: Developing a Robust Feudalism
The development of trade, commerce and cities, with their different values from the rural region, threatened the existence of feudalism. On the other hand, with the general improvement of economy across Europe by the 11th century, European monarchs were also gradually growing stronger. They wanted to assert their power over the insubordinate nobles. Two countries were especially notable in this attempt, England and France. England managed to do it because of the Norman foreign invasion of England and replacement of Anglo-Saxon nobles with the Norman ones in 1066, and French kings succeeded in strengthening their power by sheer persistence, successful strategies, and luck. Although the monarchs of both countries were strong by the 13th century, these two countries were quite different and their nobles also reacted differently to the king's power, with significant consequences for the future.
1. England and the Norman Conquest (1066)
Danish conquests of England ended in 878, but the Danish armies that settled in England were beyond the rule of King Alfred. By the 11th century all of eastern England formed the Danelaw (Dane’s law) that followed Danish customary law rather than Anglo-Saxon law. From 1016-42, Danes ruled England. A new Norman conquest (1066)
King Edward the Confessor(1042-66) grew up in Normandy. After his death, William Duke of Normandy and Edward’s cousin invaded England to challenge the new English king Harold in 1066 (Battle of Hastings).
Centralized feudal rule in England
William’s establishment of true feudal power: making himself the liege lord to all vassals in England. Domesday (Doomsday) Book (1086): exhaustive survey of the king’s land, those who held land directly from him, and the resources on the land. It was completed within a year or so, showing the power and will of King William I of England.
View sample of Domesday Book.
Q: What does Domesday Book say about English social structure?
Q: What did William's doing of the book show his power?
2. The Angevin kings of England
Henry II and law
Henry II expanded royal control of justices. John I (r.1199-1216) and nobles’ rebellion. John I and the Magna Carta (Great Charter),
1215 It established a committee of
25 barons to oversee the behavior of the king. This committee served
as a prototypical parliament in that the king, like those he ruled,
was subject to the rule of law (i.e., the king could not rule arbitrarily).
It guaranteed that no free man was to be punished without a judgment
by his peers. Granted, the barons who wrote the document only intended
these provisions to be applied to the feudal nobility; but by the
14th century, rights and due process had been extended to free men. Edward I (1272-1307) and the parliament
John I then repealed the Magna Carta, leading to the barons’ rebellion that resulted in John’s death (1216). It wasn’t until Edward I when the first parliament was convened (1297) where Edward reestablished the Magna Carta and agreed never to tax the nobles without their consent.
Starting from Henry II (r.1154-89), great grandson of William the Conqueror, England was ruled by a line of kings called
Angevin kings because Henry II inherited the title of Count of Anjou from his French father. Henry II’s domain in France: Normandy, Anjou, Brittany, Maine, and marriage to Eleanor gave him Aquitaine, Poitou, and Gasgony.
3. Expansion of royal power in France
The rise of Capetian rulers (987) and the steady centralization of the French kings. Philip Augustus (1180-1223):
- took Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine;
- Hired salaried officials, mostly graduates of the University of Paris.
Louis IX (1226-1270) (St. Louis):
- strengthened the French court.
- Continued a close alliance with the church; assisting in the crusade against Holy Roman emperor Frederick II disfavored by the pope.
- His father Louis XIII had reconquered southern France by championing a crusade against the Cathars (heretic Christians who wanted to do away with the church and have direct communication with God).
Philip IV (r.1285-1314)
- Philip IV got into a ferocious fight with Pope Boniface VIII over taxing the clergy. From then on, the French king subdued the popes.
- Philip also started the practice of summoning the Estates General: church, nobility, and towns, to raise money to aid him in 1302 against Pope Boniface VIII. He also used the estates to get money for the Hundred Years’ War.
The French Estates-General
The provincial estates usually granted taxes without discussing the king’s policies. Thus, they undermined their own opportunity to garner the power that the English Parliament had achieved with each of the many financial requests the English kings made during the War. Instead, the French Estates General became too unwieldy and hard to manage to become an institution; eventually, it fell into disuse until the late-17th century. The king remained dominant with centralized power.