Capetian Kings

Rollo, the viking who captured Rouen over 1100 years ago and is ancestral to the Normandy Dukes and Norman Kings of England, was not the son of Rognvaldr, Jarl of More in Norway as has been popularly believed.  His true origin was nevertheless preserved in the sagas.  His placement among the Norwegian nobility and identity as Gongu-Hrolfr are now established with certitude.  The discovery of his true family origin, his assumed identities and the etymology of his name will fascinate and thrill scholar and layman alike.

Le cardinal Eudes de Châteauroux (1190 ?-1273) a laissé près de douze cents sermons, encore largement inédits. Certains d’entre eux possèdent des rubriques très précises, montrant les liens étroits qu’entretenait ce fameux prédicateur avec les évènements politiques et religieux de son temps. Au sein de cette masse de sermons, de nombreux textes méritent encore l’attention, tels les sermons sur saint Pierre et saint Paul. Le contenu de ses sermons et son principium biblique montrent que le célèbre cardinal a une prédilection certaine pour le sens littéral et surtout pour le sens allégorique, le premier annonçant le second par préfiguration. Les rois préfigurent Pierre et Paul. Pierre et Paul sont des figures du pape. Les renseignements fournis par notre corpus sont donc plus riches, puisqu’ils concernent non seulement le pouvoir pontifical, mais aussi le pouvoir royal.

The rise of the Capetian dynasty across the long thirteenth century, which rested in part on the family's perceived sanctity, is a story most often told through the actions of male figures, from Louis IX's metamorphosis into "Saint Louis" to Philip IV's attacks on Pope Boniface VIII. In Courting Sanctity, Sean L. Field argues that, in fact, holy women were central to the Capetian's self-presentation as being uniquely favored by God. Tracing the shifting relationship between holy women and the French royal court, he shows that the roles and influence of these women were questioned and reshaped under Philip III and increasingly assumed to pose physical, spiritual, and political threats by the time of Philip IV's death.

Field's narrative highlights six holy women. The saintly reputations of Isabelle of France and Douceline of Digne helped to crystalize the Capetians' claims of divine favor by 1260. In the 1270s, the French court faced a crisis that centered on the testimony of Elizabeth of Spalbeek, a visionary holy woman from the Low Countries. After 1300, the arrests and interrogations of Paupertas of Metz, Margueronne of Bellevillette, and Marguerite Porete served to bolster Philip IV's crusades against the dangers supposedly threatening the kingdom of France. Courting Sanctity thus reassesses key turning points in the ascent of the "most Christian" Capetian court through examinations of the lives and images of the holy women that the court sanctified or defamed.

Meredith C, e Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy. Royal Architecture in irteenth-Century Paris, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2015, 25,5 cm, 293 p., [148] fig. en n. et bl., xvi pl. h. t. en coul., cartes, index général. -ISBN : 978-1-107-02557-8, $ 120.

On the occasion of the eight hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Bouvines ( July 27, 1214), this essay examines its significance for the Capetian monarchy and its impact inside and outside the French kingdom. It argues that Philip II Augustus's victory safeguarded the administrative reforms he had undertaken since 1190, boosted royal ideology, extended royal control in northwestern and central parts of France at the expense of Anglo-Angevin claims, cleared the path for the Albigensian crusade in the south, and eliminated Flemish and German threats from the north and east; the battle's ramifications for internal English, Flemish, and German affairs were far-reaching. The battle thus secured Capetian supremacy in France throughout the thirteenth century, but at the turn of the fourteenth Flanders and Gascony again posed intractable problems.

GREAT collection of 388 books on French numismatics.
Rare books and works about coins, tokens and médals, royal and féodal.
GRANDE collection de 388 livres sur la numismatique française. Des livres et des ouvrages rares sur les monnaies, jetons et médailles, royal et féodal

È il 1354, i primi giorni di ottobre. Il ricco mercante Giannino viene convocato in Campidoglio da Cola di Rienzo, che gli rivela: "Voi siete il legittimo re di Francia, vittima di uno scambio in culla avvenuto pochi giorni dopo la vostra nascita". La grande Storia travolge la vita del tranquillo mercante senese. Nel pieno della Guerra dei Cento Anni, Giannino rivendica il proprio diritto al trono e si aggira per l'Europa in cerca di aiuto. Sostenuto in segreto da una potenza nemica della Francia, coinvolge nel suo disegno cardinali e gran signori. Si procura documenti falsi, una corona, una spada, un'armatura e, alla testa di una compagnia di mercenari, si lancia alla conquista del 'suo' regno. Carpegna Falconieri racconta con maestria e sapienza narrativa la vicenda del mercante che volle farsi re, uno dei capricci della Storia nel quale verità e menzogna vanno a braccetto

ABSTRACT
On the night of the 13th of February 1308, exactly four months after the general arrest of the Knights Templars in France on the order of King Philip IV the Fair, Giacomo da Montecucco, the master of the Templar province of northern Italy and a cubicularius of Pope Clement V, escaped from the papal Curia. A direct source provides us with a detailed account of Clement’s special frustration and great wrath after Giacomo’s flight. The master of Lombardy’s defection, it is suggested here, could hardly have come at a worse time, because it thwarted the strategy recently adopted by the pope in what had become a trial of strength with the king of France. This paper examines the meaning of this episode in the light of a general interpretation of the Templar affair.

Keywords: Templar Order - Trial of the Templars - Clement V - Philip the Fair of France

Trois papes successifs, Alexandre IV, Urbain IV et Clément IV, ont fait mener six années durant une « affaire d’enquête » ("inquisitionis negocium") contre l'évêque de Rodez Vézian. Ce dernier était accusé devant leur justice, sans qu’il soit jamais dit par qui, de « méfaits énormes » ("enormia sinistra") : profanation de l’office divin, simonie, sodomie et « autres nombreux crimes qui offensent Dieu et scandalisent les hommes ». Des auditions de témoins furent menées à Rodez et l'évêque dut se défendre vigoureusement à la Curie romaine avant d’échapper en définitive, semble-t-il, à toute condamnation. On propose ici une première analyse de cette affaire assez bien documentée, qu’il faut replacer dans la longue série, méconnue, des procédures inquisitoires lancées par la papauté contre des prélats accusés d’« excès » aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Au vu de l’histoire agitée de l’épiscopat (1247-1274) et des relations conflictuelles entretenues par Vézian avec la nouvelle administration comtale d’Alphonse de Poitiers, dans un contexte de co-gouvernement du Languedoc par l’Église et les Capétiens après l’éviction récente de la maison de Saint-Gilles, on suggère que les poursuites ont été lancées sous l’influence du comte. La désignation comme enquêteur, au début de l’affaire, de l'archevêque de Narbonne Gui Foucois, un personnage emblématique de la symbiose entre Église romaine et royauté française dans la région, constitue un élément important à l’appui de cette interprétation. L’« affaire d’enquête » mettait l'évêque en difficultés, mais elle était destinée à traîner en longueur, comme presque toutes les procédures de ce genre, sans d’ailleurs qu’une conclusion précise doive nécessairement intervenir un jour. En acceptant de faire mener ces poursuites, les papes contenaient l’irritation de leur puissant allié capétien en lui donnant partiellement satisfaction, tout en évitant de désavouer clairement un prélat fidèle aux principes de la théocratie. La justice inquisitoire est ici mise en œuvre à des fins de médiation qui ne sont jamais explicites, sans que les formes juridiques soient prises à la légère, bien au contraire. Elle apparaît bien comme un instrument politique d’usage subtil au service du gouvernement pontifical.

The aim of present paper is to demonstrate the iconographical interpretations of the
north rose window of the cathedral of Chartres. In the centre of the upper section Virgin Mary is enthroned, with prophets and kings from the Old Testament depicted around her. Between the rose and the five lancets underneath, the Capetian lilies and Castilian castles encompass the whole window. The lower part presents kings and prophets from the Old Testament, with Saint Anne holding the Virgin in their midst. The hardly explicable program suggests that the regent-queen, Blanche of Castile donated the windows. This presumption raises the question: how could the iconographical program can be read in the light of the Capetian lilies and the Castilian castles? After the reconstruction of the architectural chronology, I propose an iconographical interpretation comparing the transept- and choir windows. One part of the stained glass window, the five lancets, could be placed in the iconographical tradition of the virtues and vices. The complex relationship of the royal family in the representations of choir and transept could help to identify the queen’s role in the donation. It is well-known that in the French Kingdom that kings defined their ideal role as that of successors to the Old Testament kings. The north stained glass window could be an early instance of Capetian royal ideology.

Throughout the ninth and tenth centuries the look and language of West Frankish royal charters were extraordinarily stable. This changed with dramatic suddenness under Robert the Pious (987/996-1031). Among the most important changes in his precepts is the appearance of third-party subscriptions. Historians have seen this as evidence of Robert's weakness or of more pragmatic uses of writing. Here it is argued that they were an expression of Robert's distinctive Christian devotion, developed through his exposure to contemporary monastic reform, and that the same complex of ideas that led Robert to introduce third-party subscriptions in his acts also led him to support the Peace of God.

Actes des journées doctorales internationales “Quel lieu choisir ? Implantation, représentation et mention de l’édifice et de l’objet (XIe-XVIe siècles)” organisées les 29 et 30 mai 2018 à Amiens, par Julie Colaye et Marie Quillent, en collaboration avec les universités de Lièges et de Tours.

and teaching purposes, and we request that all citations still be to the 2014 version published in History Compass. This longer version allows us to include a section on the relations between the University and the court (which had been cut in 2014 for reasons of space), and also to update bibliography through 2016. It should be noted that the updates are not systematic, but merely reflect areas in which we have been reading over the last two years. Abstract: The sharp ascent of Capetian power between the reigns of Philip II Augustus (r. 1180-1223) and Philip IV the Fair (r. 1285-1314) is an axiom of medieval French history. In the mid-twentieth century, French and American institutional historians focused on governmental developments in analyzing the means by which the Capetian kings increased their real authority. But because Capetian power was also understood to have rested as much on ideological claims as on brute force, twentieth-century historians from Marc Bloch to Joseph Strayer already recognized cultural components as crucial to this story. Consequently, later twentieth-century turns toward cultural history and post-structural theory did not so much undermine as open up new possibilities for this established narrative. Most recently, a sophisticated new brand of institutional history has emerged to further invigorate a thriving field, which defines Capetien power in ways that necessitate the inclusion of ideology, art, sanctity, gender, crusade, persecution, and intellectual authority in an overarching conceptualization of the period's political history.

This article sets of the surviving Coffret or Casket of John of Montmirail in the context of Capetian politics and saintly practice. Focusing on the coffret as an object made to display the arms of numerous northern French aristocratic families while also functioning as a container for the relics of John of Montmirial, this article addresses the multiple functions of such an object. It also puts the use and display of heraldry into the political and sacred context, offering comparisons with other media and associated meanings of display.

It is a well known fact that medieval clergymen felt the need to seek protection from violent secular lords. They often complained about the aggression and violence of nobles, and we read their complaints and lamentations as recorded in chronicles, vitae of saints and letters about dangerous and brutal men. 1 However, sometimes members of the clergy complained of them more directly to other secular lords. How did they do this, and using what means or ideas did they attempt to legitimise their actions? What were the aims of such endeavours? How did they perceive the formulated complaints and how did others perceive them? What were the reactions? These are the questions that will be addressed in this paper.

Forgery and Memory at the End of the First Millennium takes a fresh look at documentary forgery and historical memory in the Middle Ages. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, religious houses across Europe began falsifying texts to improve local documentary records on an unprecedented scale. As Levi Roach illustrates, the resulting wave of forgery signaled major shifts in society and political culture, shifts which would lay the foundations for the European ancien régime.

Spanning documentary traditions across France, England, Germany and northern Italy, Roach examines five sets of falsified texts to demonstrate how forged records produced in this period gave voice to new collective identities within and beyond the Church. Above all, he indicates how this fad for falsification points to new attitudes toward past and present—a developing fascination with the signs of antiquity. These conclusions revise traditional master narratives about the development of antiquarianism in the modern era, showing that medieval forgers were every bit as sophisticated as their Renaissance successors. Medieval forgers were simply interested in different subjects—the history of the Church and their local realms, rather than the literary world of classical antiquity.

A comparative history of falsified records at a crucial turning point in the Middle Ages, Forgery and Memory at the End of the First Millennium offers valuable insights into how institutions and individuals rewrote and reimagined the past.

Richer of Rheims (fl. c.991 – 998) has traditionally had a poor reputation as a historian, being cast as an overly-imaginative and naïve imitator of ancient Roman historians who played fast and loose with the truth. His four books of Histories, despite their unique importance to the study of West Frankish politics in the long tenth century, have thus long
been marginalised in discussions of West Frankish political culture and political development. The present work seeks to rectify this. It intends to do so because Richer’s Histories are the only detailed narrative history covering the whole 110 years of West Frankish history following the death of the last Carolingian emperor, Charles the Fat, and
were written so close to the time of the supposed “transformation of the year 1000.” Thus, they simply cannot be ignored. Building on the recent revisionist work on Richer and the classical tradition of historical writing in the Middle Ages, it will be argued here that while Richer might not have necessarily always gotten his facts right and may have frequently
invented details, his Histories’ are nonetheless an invaluable source for the political norms and attitudes of the age. It will be argued, contrary to the traditional historiography on West Francia in the tenth century, that the political world Richer’s Histories reveal is still a king-centred one with a buoyant public order and displays much continuity with earlier
Carolingian history. This will be examined through three thematic chapters exploring assembly politics, the nature of magnate power and its legitimation in the localities and the mysterious strata of elite, sub-noble warriors that will be, for convenience’s sake, be referred to as “knights.” While no definitive statements will be pronounced on West
Frankish political development and political culture in the present work, questions for future research will be proposed

Le traité de Paris passé entre Louis IX et Henri III en 1259 est souvent perçu comme un accord bancal, préparant peu ou prou la guerre de Cent ans. L'étude contextualisée de la diplomatie franco-anglaise au XIII e siècle modifie la donne, à partir d'une nouvelle histoire du politique irriguée par l'étude de la parenté, de la communication et des contacts médiévaux.

Dans ses lettres du XIII e siècle, la papauté multiplie les privilèges à l'adresse de la monarchie française. À l'époque de la « hiérocratie » -aussi nommée théocratie -pontificale, le chef du corps ecclésial, qui n'hésite, par ailleurs, ni à excommunier, ni à déposer un empereur, choisit de prémunir la famille capétienne de certaines censures ecclésiastiques, aussi bien en ce qui concerne l'interdit que l'excommunication. Ce mémoire de recherche s'intéresse donc à l'origine ainsi qu'à l'essor de ce régime particulier, depuis l'alliance entre le roi Louis VII et le pape Alexandre III, à partir de 1159, jusqu'à l'année 1303 et sa suspension, certes temporaire, survenue au cours du conflit opposant Philippe IV à Boniface VIII. Pareil sujet, à la charnière entre histoire religieuse et politique, questionne, au-delà de la réussite d'une dynastie et des rapports que celle-ci entretient avec l'autorité religieuse, la place occupée par les pouvoirs spirituel et temporel au Moyen Âge.

The Last Judgment portal of Reims Cathedral has long played a role in histories of the cathedral's construction, yet questions of its original location and audience remain. Was the portal designed for its present location on the north transept or for an earlier plan for the west façade? This study suggests that the answer is more complex. Two iconographic themes—John the Baptist as Intercessor and the Assessors in the Court of Heaven— provide evidence that the earliest plan was for the west façade, where these sculptures publicly displayed the dependence of the French monarchy upon the archbishop of Reims. Stylistic and archaeological studies of the remaining stones of the portal support the idea that they were designed for the present location on the north transept where its audience would have been limited to the cathedral's canons. Rather than interpret the portal as entirely designed for one place and audience, this study emphasizes the complexity of the portal's meaning in light of architectural change. Most likely, the present portal is the product of at least three campaigns: the first in the mid 1220s, possibly intended for a west façade; the second, 1227/30–1233, when the first sculptures specifically for the north transept location were carved; and the final stage, occurring after the interdict was lifted, from 1236–1240.