The Late Valois (Valois dynasty) represent the last century of Valois rule over the French Kingdom from 1450-1589 CE. The period was greatly impacted by the French Renaissance, external war against the Italians and Habsburgs, and the internal Wars of Religion. First Late Valois king Louis XI (1461-1483 CE) continued to modernize the royal government, and implemented the first royal postal service.
[1]
The French Renaissance hit its cultural peak during the rule of Frances I (1515-1547 CE) and Henry II (1547-1559 CE). Artists and scholars traveled from Italy to France, and had an immense impact on architecture, culture, and art. Urban life was transformed by Renaissance culture and the printing press.
[2]
Calais was returned to France from England, and Burgundy, Dauphiné, Provence, and the Three Bishoprics in Lorraine were secured in this period.
[3]
[1]
The territory of the Kingdom of France was between 400,000 and 500,000 square meters during the rule of the Late Valois.
[4]
Outside of Europe, explorer Jacques Cartier paved the way for future French colonies in Canada, and French explorers and merchants began to exploit the west African coast.
[5]
The Valois fought the Italian Wars from 1494-1559 CE over the French crown’s claim on the kingdom of Naples. In 1519 CE, Charles V of the Spanish Habsburgs became the Holy Roman Emperor. The wars in Italy were the start of a lasting rivalry between the Habsburgs and Valois. In 1559 CE, France gave up all claims in Italy.
[3]
The last Valois kings were weakened by the Wars of Religion (Huguenot Wars) (1562-1598 CE), between the Roman Catholics and Reformed Protestants. 3 million people died in the conflict or from famine or disease during the war.
[6]
Population and political organization
Early Valois king Charles VII’s work to modernize the French government was continued by Louis XI. The royal council became less feudal and more bureaucratic, the king was advised by professional lawyers rather than feudal vassals, and the financial and judicial functions of government were separated.
[7]
[1]
The disasters of the late 14th and 15th century had decimated the population of many cities and towns in France. The nation recovered by the late 15th century.
[3]
The population of the Kingdom of France during the recovery period in 1470 CE is estimated to be between 10 million and 12 million.
[8]
In 1560 CE, the population reached 20 million.
[9]
[1]: (Haine 2000, 46) Haine, W. Scott. 2000. The History of France. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9RS462P7
[2]: (Haine 2000, 47) Haine, W. Scott. 2000. The History of France. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9RS462P7
[3]: (Jones 1999, 130) Jones, Colin. 1999. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7QCEQCM6
[4]: (Potter, 1995, 4) Potter, D. 1995. A History of France, 1460-1560. The Emergence of a Nation State. Macmillan. London. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DVCUX6RX
[5]: (Haine 2000, 48) Haine, W. Scott. 2000. The History of France. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9RS462P7
[6]: (Knetcht 2002, 91) Knecht, Robert J. 2002. The French Religious Wars 1562-1598. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7QCEQCM6
[7]: (Jones 1999, 123) Jones, Colin. 1999. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7QCEQCM6
[8]: (Potter, 1995, 170) Potter, D. 1995. A History of France, 1460-1560. The Emergence of a Nation State. Macmillan. London. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DVCUX6RX
[9]: (Potter, 1995, 8) Potter, D. 1995. A History of France, 1460-1560. The Emergence of a Nation State. Macmillan. London. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DVCUX6RX
none |
French Kingdom - Early Bourbon |
continuity |
Succeeding: French Kingdom - Early Bourbon (fr_bourbon_k_1) [continuity] | |
Preceding: French Kingdom - Early Valois (fr_valois_k_1) [continuity] |
unitary state | |
loose |
[250,000 to 300,000] people |
[400,000 to 500,000] km2 |
[10,000,000 to 12,000,000] people | 1470 CE |
16,000,000 people | 1500 CE |
18,000,000 people | 1515 CE |
20,000,000 people | 1560 CE |
inferred present |
unknown |
present |
inferred present |
inferred present |
unknown |
present |
present |
inferred present |
inferred present |
absent |
inferred absent |
inferred present | 1450 CE 1487 CE |
absent | 1488 CE 1589 CE |
inferred absent |
inferred present |
inferred absent |
present |
present |
present |
unknown |
absent |
Year Range | French Kingdom - Late Valois (fr_valois_k_2) was in: |
---|---|
(1450 CE 1588 CE) | Paris Basin |
"But the accession of Louis XI and perhaps the conclusion of the War of the Public Weal in 1465 really did coincide with a reversal of the trend of demographic and political collapse which had dominated the history of France for a century."
[1]
Reigns of Charles VIII (1483-1498 CE) and Louis VII (1498-1515 CE) witnessed "a remarkable recovery and expansion."
[1]
"The crisis of 1557-62 was an ominous prelude to civil war and collapse."
[2]
End 16th century according to Jean du Port: "France was then so ruined and depopulated that it seemed more like a desert than a flourishing kingdom, for there was no one in the fields, the country folk had fled to the churches and strongholds, not daring to emerge for fear of the gendarmerie which was usually in the countryside. It had become fallow, full of thickets and woods by the continuous wars under three kings and more like the haunt of beasts than of men."
[3]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 2)
[2]: (Potter 1995, 7)
[3]: (Potter 1995, 1)
Kingdom contained 5 languages: "French, occitan (Provencal, Auvergnat, Gascon etc.), Basque, Breton and Flemish." French language, favoured in court and central government, spread gradually into the regions. "The jurists of the chancellery and high courts had worked essentially in French from the fourteenth century and this opened the way for the triumph of French as the literary language." [1]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 6)
Catastrophic collapse: 1350-1450 CE. Patchy revival: 1450-1500 CE. Population boom: 1500-1550 CE. Hesitated: 1550-1600 CE.
[1]
[10,000,000-12,000,000]: 1470s CE
[2]
(Mousnier) 18,000,000: 1515 CE
[3]
(Pierre Chaunu) 16,000,000: 1500 CE
[3]
(Ladurie) 20,000,000: 1560 CE
[3]
Urbanization: 6-10% "much birth in the country, much death in the town."
[4]
[5]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 7-8)
[2]: (Potter 1995, 170)
[3]: (Potter 1995, 8)
[4]: (Potter 1995, 9
[5]: cite: Dupaquier 1996, 394)
Catastrophic collapse: 1350-1450 CE. Patchy revival: 1450-1500 CE. Population boom: 1500-1550 CE. Hesitated: 1550-1600 CE.
[1]
[10,000,000-12,000,000]: 1470s CE
[2]
(Mousnier) 18,000,000: 1515 CE
[3]
(Pierre Chaunu) 16,000,000: 1500 CE
[3]
(Ladurie) 20,000,000: 1560 CE
[3]
Urbanization: 6-10% "much birth in the country, much death in the town."
[4]
[5]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 7-8)
[2]: (Potter 1995, 170)
[3]: (Potter 1995, 8)
[4]: (Potter 1995, 9
[5]: cite: Dupaquier 1996, 394)
Catastrophic collapse: 1350-1450 CE. Patchy revival: 1450-1500 CE. Population boom: 1500-1550 CE. Hesitated: 1550-1600 CE.
[1]
[10,000,000-12,000,000]: 1470s CE
[2]
(Mousnier) 18,000,000: 1515 CE
[3]
(Pierre Chaunu) 16,000,000: 1500 CE
[3]
(Ladurie) 20,000,000: 1560 CE
[3]
Urbanization: 6-10% "much birth in the country, much death in the town."
[4]
[5]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 7-8)
[2]: (Potter 1995, 170)
[3]: (Potter 1995, 8)
[4]: (Potter 1995, 9
[5]: cite: Dupaquier 1996, 394)
Catastrophic collapse: 1350-1450 CE. Patchy revival: 1450-1500 CE. Population boom: 1500-1550 CE. Hesitated: 1550-1600 CE.
[1]
[10,000,000-12,000,000]: 1470s CE
[2]
(Mousnier) 18,000,000: 1515 CE
[3]
(Pierre Chaunu) 16,000,000: 1500 CE
[3]
(Ladurie) 20,000,000: 1560 CE
[3]
Urbanization: 6-10% "much birth in the country, much death in the town."
[4]
[5]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 7-8)
[2]: (Potter 1995, 170)
[3]: (Potter 1995, 8)
[4]: (Potter 1995, 9
[5]: cite: Dupaquier 1996, 394)
levels.
[1]
"The struggles over the institutional government of the church were shaped by the formation of two main strands of thinking about the church in France which can be classified as "Gallician": the theological, which sought to make of the universal church a limited monarchy and to undertake a profound "reformation" of its structure; and the political, the doctrine above all of the Parlement of Paris, which invoked the king’s supreme jurisdiction in its refusal to allow the free exercise of papal jurisdiction in France. These two strands of thought came together in the idea of hostility to Rome..."
[2]
1. Pope
de jure #1
1. King
de facto #1. made ecclesiastical appointments
2. Parlement of Paris"issued orders in January 1535 offering rewards for those who denounced heretics and punishments for concealments."
[3]
3. Council of the French ChurchCardinals, Papal legates
4. Archbishop in archbishopric5. deputy called vicar-general?
5. Bishop in Diocese1551 CE diocese of Lombez had 154 priests in 91 parishes (low density priests to parishes) where as diocese of Leon (Brittany) had "an exceptionally dense concentration of clergy."
under Francis I "only six known commoners promoted as bishops who in fact owed their positions to their scholarship and close relationship to the royal household."6. Archdeacon7. Parish priestPriest / Cures / Vicaires. "in the 392 parishes of Beauvais, there were only 80 resident cures ... distributed unevenly, the rest replaced by vicaires."
[1]: (Potter 1995, 207-250)
[2]: (Potter 1995, 220)
[3]: (Potter 1995, 247)
levels.
1. King
Commander-in-chief
2. Secretaires des guerres / senior councillor
2. ConstableConstable of France
[1]
3?. Marshall3-5 marshals
[2]
4. CaptainCaptains of heavy cavalry important role among in the staff command structure
[2]
5. Lieutenant-general"A deep pocket was a crucial advantage to a commander." Expected to lavish gifts on army.
[3]
"successful commanders had to navigate the labyrinth of politics and patronage in order to obtain funds for their armies."
[4]
6?. Marechal de camp / Maitre de camp (cavalry / infantry)
[5]
6?. Marechal de logis / maitre l’artilerie
[5]
7. Sergent de bataille
[5]
8. Colonel
[6]
9. CaptainCaptain of a company.
[7]
10. LieutenantCould be promoted to captain.
[7]
11. Sergeant
[8]
12. Individual soldier
Louis XI wanted new permanent army with: 4 royal lieutenants over 10 vicaires each commanding 10 captains who each lead 10 dizainiers who each took charge of 10 soldiers. However reforms abandoned 1483 CE.
[9]
By 1562 CE companies were formed into larger groups called regiments.
[10]
[1]: (Potter 2008, 45)
[2]: (Potter 2008, 44)
[3]: (Potter 2008, 47)
[4]: (Potter 2008, 49)
[5]: (Potter 2008, 50)
[6]: (Potter 2008, 59)
[7]: (Potter 2008, 72)
[8]: (Potter 2008, 113)
[9]: (Potter 2008, 105-106)
[10]: (Potter 2008, 78-79)
levels.
[1]
1. King
considered guardian of divine and human law
_Central government_
2. Conseil du roi3. Head of the Royal Secretariat (recorded council business and drafted acts, correspondence, etc. and archived. Head-quartered at Celestins monastery).title of Premier secretaire du roi not in use after 1460 CE but position still de facto occupied. gained further responsibilities including those of the secretaires des guerres (created 1472 CE) and greffier (clerk) of council.
4. Bureaucrats of the divisions of the Royal Secretariat head-quartered at the Celestins monastery5 Lesser bureaucrats inferred6. Lesser bureaucrats inferred
4?. secretaire des finances
Conseil du roi (highest organ of public power in 15th and 16th centuries) over-overwhelmingly composed of aristocrats, especially as cardinals from 1520s CE. councils of government reflected a strong ethos of collective decision-making process.
Grand conseil de justice emerged under Louis XI (1461-1483 CE).
Conseil Etroit (known by this name from 1484 CE) - inner councillors and princes of the blood.. Conseil secret within this conseil had 3 members. Conseil Etroit became known as Conseil prive from mid-1530s CE.
Conseil des affaires, morning council with the king which considered the latest despatches. mid-16th century?
Parlements of Paris. "Each Parlement claimed sovereign jurisdiction in its own territory and not all edicts registered at Paris were registered in the provinces. They thus remained unimplemented. However, only the Parlement of Paris could admit officiers or constitute itself as a chamber of peers."
_Provincial government_
2. Provincial Parlements"Each Parlement claimed sovereign jurisdiction in its own territory and not all edicts registered at Paris were registered in the provinces. They thus remained unimplemented. However, only the Parlement of Paris could admit officiers or constitute itself as a chamber of peers."
2. Provincial governor of provincial gouvernements (King’s lieutenant-general)"representatives of the King’s person in the provinces"
Limited terms, perhaps 3-5 years
Powers between provincial Parlements and provincial governments often contested.
3. Bailiff in a Bailliages (Northern France); seneschal in a Sénéchiaussée (Southern France)1515 CE France had about 100 bailliages
Bernard Guenee said: bailliages were not divided into chatellenies, they were made up of them.
4. Prévôt in a Prévôté (or vicomte)/Chatelleniethis level was the "bedrock of the system of law and administration."
consisted of a "castle, dependant lands and rights with, significantly, only one "custom" prevailing in it."
5. Leader of a parishwithin Chatellenies. E.g. in 1562 CE there were 43 parishes within the Pontoise chatellenie.
X. Seigneuries
Seigneuries (lordships) owned by seigneurs
The "chatellenie was the essential administrative unit, sometimes a royal chatellenie, sometimes seigneurial."
X. Great fiefs and (apanages of the crown) - level replaced by provincial bodies80 fiefs in 1480 CE, c40 in 1530 CE
Apanage of Orleans returned 1498 CE. Burgundy 1477 CE. Picardy-Artois 1477 CE. Avergne 1531 CE. Brittany 1536 CE. Maine 1481 CE. Anjou 1481 CE.
[1]: (Potter 1995)
Within the church, the papal Concordat of Bologna (negotiated between king of France and the pope) promulgated in Rome 1516 CE "dispensed princes of the blood and members of great families from the requirement of a University degree, although the king had the phrase: "the king will name a qualified person, that is to say a graduate or a noble" modified by deleting the last three words in order to minimise lobbying. However, the overwhelming noble status of the bishops appointed after 1516 CE is clear." [1]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 225. 228-229)
Provincial governor "paid fixed emoluments like other office-holders."
[1]
Roland Mousnier estimated 1515 CE at least 4,041 executive office-holders. Pierre Chaunu estimated 5,000, and with clercs and commis the "administrative technostructure" would be 7,000-8,000, making 1 bureaucrat per 57.5 sq km, or 1 per 2,000 people.
[2]
Offices could be bought and sold because they were thought of as property and thus profit-making. Sold by the state to raise money. For a price the office could be made hereditary (and thus withdrawn from market). Frequently new offices were created to raise money.
[1]: (Potter 1995, 118)
[2]: (Potter 1995, 123)
"France possesses no precious metal resources and little copper. Iron ores are abundant, and there are regional deposits of lead, zinc, and coal. All of these were exploited during the Middle Ages. Evidence for ironworking exists from Merovingian France onward." [1]
[1]: (Hall in Kibler et al 1995, 1177)
Anything written by the era’s literati.
Nicolle Gilles: "Annales et Chroniques" (1492 CE) and Robert Gaguin: "Compendium de origine et gestis Francorum" (1495 CE) important for formation of French national identity under the monarchy. The early identity had France founded by Trojans. Paolo Emilio’s "De rebus gestis Francorum" (published between 1517-1539) was "the first complete humanist history" and he told that France was founded by Clovis. [1]
[1]: (Potter 1995, 19-21)
Rabelais, La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel.
Livre tournois, of 20 sols and 240 deniers, was a unit of account. Widely used gold coin, ecu d’or soleil fixed at 36s3d in 1498 CE, 2 livres (i.e. 40s) in 1516 CE, 45s in 1533 CE, 50s in 1551 CE, 60s in 1574 CE. Widely used silver coin, teston, fixed at 10s in 1498 CE, 10s6d in 1541 CE, 12s in 1561 CE. The livre parisis was a lesser used larger unit of account: 1 sol tournois = 15 deniers parisis. [1]
[1]: (Potter 1995, xvi)