Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Carolingian monarchs have difficulty producing male heirs that live to see adulthood.
Viking attacks continue to increase, as many Viking tribes see the Franks as the true heirs
to Charlemagne’s Empire. The fact that this was also the most agriculturally productive
area also played a factor.
Important/Notable Personalities:
Robert II (996-1031)
Practices “royal touch” ceremony to cure people of scrofula.
Louis IX (1226-1270)
Becomes “Saint Louis” after successful campaigns in southern France that wipe out the
Albigensian heresy.
General Information:
Capetian kings do not control much outside of the region surrounding Paris for most of
the tenth and eleventh centuries. To gain influence, the kings
promoted/supported/controlled the shrine of St. Denis, the legendary first bishop of Paris
as a “national shrine” for the French people. The intermingling of church and state, along
with control of key resources and the use of bribes, allowed the kings to lure more and
more of the most powerful men in France to the city to, among other things, take an oath
of loyalty to the Capetians. Purely ceremonial at first, this sets a precedent for the
eventual consolidation of royal authority. Although the Capetians controlled roughly 24
bishoprics and 50 monasteries in northern France, the kings for the most part avoided
Papal controversy during this time period.
Other:
Southern France is the center of the “Albigensian Heresy” during the last part of the 12th
century. Local church and Catholic Church officials begged the French monarchs for
intervention, and the French, under Louis VIII and Louis IX did invade, adding
considerable territory to the Capetian dynasty’s power. The later sainting of Louis IX
gives the descendants considerable religious clout, which will culminate in King Philip
IV (1285-1314) and Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303).