Stem Duchies in France
German historians have commonly restricted the term "stem duchy" to the Eastern kingdom with its variety of Germanic tribes, in contrast to the romanized and more unified Western kingdom, whose duchies were considered regional units of administration without ethnic cohesion. However, according to Flach and Kienast, the duchies of France (Brittany, Normandy, Gascony, Aquitaine, and Burgundy) also had an ethnic basis before the French kings began creating dukes in the 14th century. The nature and role of Germanic stem duchies are now often characterized by contrasting them with the oldest duchies of Francia.
The twelve paladins of Charlemagne are said to have inspired the creation of twelve ancient pairies (peers) in France: six temporal geographical units (Normandy, Burgundy, Aquitaine, Flanders, Toulouse, and Champagne) plus six ecclesiastic geographical units (Noyon, Rheims, Laon, Langres, Beauvais, and Châlons). This system was imported to the Crusader states, as the custom was known and prevalent among the Franks.
Read more about this topic: Stem Duchy
Famous quotes containing the words stem and/or france:
“All things seem mention of themselves
And the names which stem from them branch out to other referents.
Hugely, spring exists again.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the world—and if she does not intend to, she may as well perish—she must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)