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Loading... Power and Border Lordship in Medieval France: The County of the Perche, 1000-1226 (Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series)by Kathleen Thompson
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This is a solid, if rather old-fashioned, political history of the Perche—a small county in west-central France which came into being in the eleventh century, flourished in the twelfth, and then ceased to exist in the early thirteenth century after the failure of the comital family's male line. Kathleen Thompson draws on manuscript sources from both France and England to argue that the counts and countesses of the Perche rose to power, despite the relative paucity of their territory's resources, due to their ability to play off the Angevins against the Capetians. They were powerful precisely because theirs was a border lordship. Power, too, came through marriage—Count Rotrou I married an illegitimate daughter of Henry I, while his grandson Geoffrey III married Richenza, granddaughter of the Empress Matilda. Thompson's analysis doesn't really break any new ground, but as a case study provides much useful evidence that can be employed in other larger scale or comparative studies. ( ) no reviews | add a review
This is the first modern account of the emergence of the northern French county of the Perche, and the rise of a relatively minor noble family from obscure origins to princely power. The Rotrou family ruled the Perche from around the year 1000 until 1226. They took part in many of the most famous military engagements of the middle ages, from the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 to the recovery of territory from the Muslims in twelfth-century Spain. Their involvement in crusading initiatives was told in the popular poetry of the day, and they came to number the kings of France, England, Aragon and Sicily, as well as the Holy Roman Emperor, among their kinsmen. This narrative explains the family's transformation and consolidation of its position in the context of a vibrant and expanding society in the years after 1000, looking at their territorial ambitions, construction of a feudal clientele and operation of lordship through female family. Dr KATHLEEN THOMPSON is Honorary Research Fellow, University of Sheffield. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)944.2021History and Geography Europe France and region Normandy; PicardyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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