France

Geo-Political Background

The political map of France in 1300 looks very different than does a modern map. Whole areas that we call "France" were either independent, belonged to some other monarchy, or were part of France only in theory but not in practice. Thanks to a run of strong kings in the 13th century, those areas that were under royal control were firmly so. But Brittany went its own way, and the southern counties of Aquitaine regarded themselves as independent and behaved accordingly. Southeastern France, known as Provence, technically belonged to the Empire, though it was likewise mainly independent. In the north, Flanders was supposedly French, but its economic interests lay with England and sometimes so did its politics. And in the east, Burgundy was likewise more or less independent.

map
France in 1328,
from Shepherd's Historical Atlas

Take a look at this map. There's far more detail on the map than you need to worry about. The main to focus on is this: only the reddish-pink bits were under royal control at all. The rest were either independent, legally or practically, or were under the control of a foreign power even though France claimed it. Even in the reddish areas, royal control was very uneven, with it getting weaker the further you moved away from Paris. As you can see, it is misleading to think of "France" as a single national territory.

In 1300, a strong king, Philip IV, was exerting royal control or at least royal influence over many of these areas. But as events would soon show, if the strong hand should fail, many "French" provinces would quickly go their own way once more.

Even so, France was by far the most powerful kingdom in Europe and its kings were the most prestigious. It was the French who gained most of the glory from the crusading movement. France was the most populous, the wealthiest, the greatest in territory. Its peasantry was largely free, for serfdom was well on its way out here, and while its merchants lacked the wealth and status of the Italians, it still had the (fading) trade fairs of Champagne and the cloth towns of Flanders.

It was also about to undergo its severest trials that would call upon all its resources. For a time, in fact, it looked like France might fall apart completely.