THE KINGS OF FRANCE
King Louis IX
Philip IV
Charles VI
Charles VII
By Savannah Arnold, Margaret D’Auria, Alex So, Erin Toohey and Becca Warren
KING LOUIS IX
April 15,1214August 25,
1270
November 8,
1226- August
25, 1270
LEGACIES, RELIGION
Honor and fairness in the kingdom
Created the supreme court
Something that Louis IX is very well known for
is his passion for God, he was Roman Catholic
he risked his life for his people and his
kingdom as if he was Jesus
Louis IX strengthened the monarchy and
weakened feudal ties.
ECONOMY, TRADE, TECHNOLOGY
When Louis IX began, he gained trade
with many countries and he allowed the
kingdoms wealth to flourish
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Louis IX helped neighboring rulers with
conflicts, he settled their disagreements
the fairest way possible
Throughout his rule from 1226-1270
Louis IX had a passion for fair justice
NOTABLE PEOPLE AND EVENTS
Louis IX became king at the age of twelve. In
the early years of his rule his mother Queen
Blanche actually made all of the call
April 11, 1229 a treaty was signed with Paris,
this treaty was called Parliament of Paris this
gave power to the ruler to overturn decisions
of local courts
PHILIP IV
1258-1314
GENERAL
Philip was born in 1258 and died in 1314.
He was nicknamed Philip the Fair, and
ruled from 1285-1314. He suffered from a
seizure and died in Fontainbleau, where
he was born, on November 29, 1314.
GOVERNMENT
One reform he made was The Chamber of
Accounts which was made to supervise
finances. In 1302, Philip created the
States General, which included people
such as clergy, nobles, and commoners.
This was used to gain support against
papacy.
TECHNOLOGY/WARFARE/BORDERS
In order to keep his nation under rule, Philip
had to keep the boundary lines from becoming
blurred. A lot of towns were self-governing,
making it harder to keep control over them. The
Flanders, for example, fought to keep their
independence.
RELIGION
Philip the Fair was a pious and devoted
Christian; however, he wouldn’t let the pope
stand in his way of full power over France. His
relation with Pope Boniface VIII was not strong.
He wanted to tax the clergy without the pope’s
knowledge or consent; this was forbidden by the
pope in the bull called Clericis Laicos in 1296.
Many other disputes with the pope happened
afterwards.
ECONOMY/TRADE
A long and expensive war with England,
conducted by Philip, lead to a financial crisis.
Philip raised money by forcing loans, raising
taxes, and increasing the amount of currency,
among other things. He sent away the Lombards
and Jews from France and overtook their land.
NOTABLES
Philip IV was the son of King Philip III
and Joan of Navarre.
He fought back and forth with Boniface
VIII for control
Because of the fact Charles was insane many royalty of
French blood tried to take advantage of this fact which
result in much discord. His uncles Philip the Bold and John
did this by taking the place of the officials (fighting over
who gets the position). Another person was his well loved
brother Louis. He tried to fill in for the king’s power vacuum
(which is a person who filled the position of king when the
king was unable to function). In the end Louis was killed
and Philips died.
The decline of Charles VI started in the 1390’s when he was in his
twenties. He started to go insane and had many crazed out breaks that
got his the nickname “Charles the Mad”. Having a crazy leader allowed
France to easily be defeated by the English in Battle of Agincourt. After
this King Henry V forced him to disinherit his son for the throne and put
Henry V as the successor, this was known as The Treaty of Troyes.
Charles died in 1422 in Paris at the age of 53. He was buried at
Basilique Saint Denis.
In the time Charles VI was ruling the Hundred Years
War took place. This being said the French used a
variety of weapon. First was the two handed long
sword which was a weapon favored by the knight.
This had two edges which would be used for slicing
and a sharp tip to impale enemies. They also used a
crossbow which was the choice of long range weapon
for it did not require training or strength to wield. But
this was not effective in the wars since the strings got
wet making the bow useless.
CHARLES VII
1403 - 1462
CHARLES VII
 Charles VII was a French King born on February 22 nd , 1403. He
was the son of Charles VI. Charles VII was considered sickly,
frail and unattractive.
 In 1428, Joan of Arc came to Charles and promised her faith
to him, so he granted her permission to lay siege on the city
of Orleans. Orleans was captured in 1429, the same year that
Charles was crowned king at the city of Rheims.
 Only 2 years later, Joan was put to death as a heretic. Charles
did nothing to save her, being a weak king, but stepped up his
act from there on.
CHARLES VII
 Charles issued the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges in 1438.
This document limited the Pope’s control of the French
Church. As a result, France had much more freedom from the
Church which contributed to France forming as a nation.
 In 1444, in the midst of the Hundred Years War with England,
Charles signed a five year truce so he could bring more
attention to the development of France. In this time, he
helped restore its economy greatly.
CHARLES VII
 The king had created his own army in 1449. By 1450, Charles
had won back Normandy, and in 1453 Gascony was part of
French territory. The Hundred Years War finally ended.
 In his final years of ruling, Charles focusing and strengthening
the regal power. Throughout his rule, in 1437, 1440, and
1442, Charles had to overpower revolts. When he died on July
22 nd , 1462, the French empire went to his son, Louis XI.
KING LOUIS XI
July 3 rd , 1423August 30 th ,
1483
Ruled from
1461-1483
Yellow Words
are Key
King Louis XI was also
called the Spider King
because of his thin, lanky
looks and his
authoritarian,
unscrupulous character
King Charles VII was his
father, King Charles VIII
was his successor
GENERAL INFORMATION
He was a great listener
and his memory was
perfect, better than
some people would have
liked
He had two wives: Margaret
and Charlotte of Savoy.
After Margaret died, Louis
remarried to Charlotte.
Green line=French
boundary under
King Louis XI. The
ocean (blue) is
also a border.
Borders were
formed through
wars and
conquering lands
His military was
skilled and won a lot
of battles. However,
there was no real new
technology or warfare
at the time.
Religion: Roman Catholic
He rebuilt churches and
sought prayers of the Pope
and his clergymen
Collected relics, which
are any old objects
TECHNOLOGY, RELIGION, GOVERNMENT
Louis XI was given the task of reorganizing the civil institutions of France because
they were in very bad quality when they were given to him. To edit these, Louis
raised taxes and created new ones. No one complained when he collected them,
either. Big taxes that Louis earned money on were tailles, taxes on land, and
gabelles, taxes on salt. They made France’s treasury a rich one. Also, Louis
stopped abuses.
REVOLT OF NOBLES: 1464
 Nobles in the League of Public Weal revolted from Louis and
his laws
 Fought against the Count of Armagnac, the Prince of Calabria,
Charles of France, and nobles from Brittany, Bourbon, and
Burgundy
 Settled in 1465 by granting other nobles financial and legal
yields
 Charles the Bold of Burgundy had another revolt with King
Edward IV of England in 1468 that ended in more legal yields
 Charles the Bold and Edward IV had more uprisings in 1472
and 1475
LAST OF CHARLES THE BOLD AND EDWARD:
1475-1477
 Huge revolt founded by Charles and Edward
 England and France made a truce called the Treaty of
Picqugny that stopped conflict between the English and the
French for the first time in 1½ centuries.
 Charles the Bold is killed in 1477 in a battle with the Swiss,
Louis’ ally, and the big threat was removed.
 Burgundy is captured by Louis in 1482
One desire of Louis’ was to
Practiced economic
have excellent trade in France
warfare and effective
and with other countries
economic
protectionism
Tried state-owned shipping in the
Mediterranean, state-operated
arsenals, and silk trade control at
different times. They worked to
an extent.
ECONOMY, TRADE, DECLINES
Urged for more great and local fairs
When Louis was in war,
France had a slight decline
every time
He wanted abolition of all tariff,
or fee, restrictions in France
Gave Charles VIII an
almost unlimited and one
of the strongest
monarchies and militaries
He rebuilt churches in France,
and most of France both
physically and economically
and he worked very hard at it
LEGACIES OF LOUIS XI
Created a France
that had a big sense
of nationalism and
patriotism, one of
the key elements in
a successful nation
Louis
reassembled the
kingdom in a
good way
Charles VIII had a full
treasury, four times the
money, and a much higher
economic position than
Louis XI had started with
CURRENT EVENT:
FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2012
ARS:
1. What is the socialist party?
2. How many terms can you be a president and how many
years is a term?
3. I predict that Mr. Hollande will win the election.
4. I predict Mr. Hollande will win 2 of the 3 rounds of voting.
The first round of the French presidential election occurred on April 20th, 2012. Françoise
Hollande beat the current president Nicolas Sarkozy by 2.9% of the vote (28.4%-25.9%).
The next closest candidate was Marine Le Pen who had a mild 18.5% of the vote. Only the
top two candidates move on to the second round, though, so she was eliminated. On May
6th, the French will have to choose between Hollande and Sarkozy. Sarkozy is the current
president, but his term is almost up. He can run again, though, so he is going to. Some
people don’t like him because of all of his scandals and some just don’t like him. All of
those votes will go to Hollande in the second round of three. Also, there will be Marine’s
votes and others who received votes besides Sarkozy and Hollande to watch for. This will be
close and interesting.
This falls under the category of peace and security. It is dealing with the politics of a nation.
The security of France lies in the hands of the public because they are about to choose the
next leader that will create the laws and either keep peace in their nation or go into a major
debt and create a war. If they decide on the wrong person as a nation, like some have in the
past, major changes or declines could happen. Or you could vote correctly and choose the
man who is the most likely to benefit France the most. It is all political, and politics is peace
and security.
This relates to French kings in a couple of ways. One way is that certain people always like
them, and some people always are opposed to the leaders. When people opposed leaders
in the 1400s, though, the kings usually fought a war with them. Now, the person is thrown
in jail or executed. Also, the fate of the country lies in the leader’s hands. Once they’re the
leader, they can do anything they want, whether they said that they would or not. Next, you
have that leader for a certain amount of time. They can be there for their whole life or only
a portion. During the research, we found out that kings have benefited and hurt their
countries, and there has been a fair share of both of them. Mr. Sarkozy has done France
some good and some bad. His scandals have hurt the country, but some of his decisions
were very smart ones. Mr. Hollande is like a prince. He could be the next one, and people
think he has the potential. He could be a major fail, though, even though everyone loves
him. That is like a king’s son. People may think that he will make a great king, but he may
wind up harming the country, or vice versa. All countries always hope for the best, though.
I was surprised by this. Usually, people get the maximum amount of terms unless they did
something really bad. Also, I thought that women would love Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc
Melenchon more than they did. Also, I am shocked to see the top two runners within 3% of
each other for votes. I also get a better understanding of cultural diffusion. We have seen
cultural diffusion work its way around forever. It is still affecting us today. People want to
vote on who is their leader, not just follow one family. We were the first nation to do that. I
thought that France had a prime minister, but we have obviously shown them that
presidency is better. Even though they have an election, I was surprised that the man in first
place is a socialist. I thought it would be someone from the far-left or the far-right. I guess
that French people like everyone to be accounted for. It will be interesting to find the results
out for this tight election. I can’t wait to see where the losing candidates and their
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