France in The Middle Ages

France in the Middle Ages covers an area roughly corresponding to modern day France, from the death of Louis the Pious in 840 to the middle of the 15th century. The Middle Ages in France were marked by:

  1. West Francia (843–987) and the Viking invasions and the piecemeal dismantling of the Carolingian Empire by local powers,
  2. the elaboration of the seigneurial economic system and the feudal system of rights and obligations between lords and vassals,
  3. the growth of the region controlled by the House of Capet (987–1328) and their struggles with the expanding Norman and Angevin regions,
  4. a period of artistic and literary outpouring from the 12th to the early 14th centuries,
  5. the rise of the House of Valois (1328–1589), the protracted dynastic crisis of the Hundred Years' War with the Kingdom of England (1337–1453) and the catastrophic Black Death epidemic (1348), and
  6. the expansion of the French nation in the 15th century and the creation of a sense of French identity.
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History of France
Prehistory
  • Palaeolithic
  • Mesolithic
  • Neolithic
  • Copper Age
  • Bronze Age
  • Iron Age
Ancient
Greek colonies
Celtic Gaul
Roman Gaul 50 BC – 486 AD
Early Middle Ages
Franks
Merovingians 481–751
Carolingians 751–987
Middle Ages
Direct Capetians 987–1328
Valois 1328–1498
Early modern
Valois-Orléans 1498–1515
Valois-Angoulême 1515–1589
House of Bourbon 1589–1792
Kingdom of France 1492–1791
French Revolution 1789
Kingdom of the French 1791–1792
19th century
First Republic 1792–1804
National Convention 1792–1795
Directory 1795–1799
Consulate 1799–1804
First Empire 1804–1814
Restoration 1814–1830
July Revolution 1830
Second Republic 1848–1852
Second Empire 1852–1870
Third Republic 1870–1940
Paris Commune 1871
20th century
French State (Vichy) 1940–1944
Provisional Government 1944–1946
Fourth Republic 1946–1958
Fifth Republic 1958–
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