13351 m231

FRENCH MEDIEYAL ARMIES

^ A U-

round shields, and the fact thatsome men lack body armour. (Ms. 435, Bib. Munic., Arras)

INTRODUCTION

The Capetian kings, who ruled France from AD 987 to 1328, saw their country take the lead in almost every aspect of Western civilisation while la douce France became, for the military aristocracy, the hub of their universe. Despite a slow start when compared with neighbours like England, the Kingdom of France had, by the i3th century, also risen to become the most powerful State in Western Europę. During the late 1 ith and i2th centuries the military elites of regions north of the River Loire were the true ‘French’ of the day, while those who lived to the south remained basically separate, with a distinct language—Occitan. In the opinion of most West-erners these French had greater promess (military skill, courage and physical strength) than any other military group, and could only be rivalled by the much-admired ‘Turks’ w ho, however, were ‘infidels’. The Church was still struggling to control the warlike energies of French noblemen, and only reluctantly accepted the glorification of the ‘Christian knight’ in the later i2th century. Chivalry, as an ideał combin-ing courage with humility, prowess with gentleness and respect for ladies, had to await the i3th century.

Southern France played a different role in the military history of medieval France—mostly in the development of the chivalric ideał. Here the trouba-dours, singing in the Occitan tongue, had been influenced by the poetry of Arab-Islamic Spain, and they in turn taught the trouveres of the north. While Southern troubadours did celebrate heroism and war, they also extolled Courtly Love as the correct way for a knight to treat his (and other’s) ladies. This new ideał was encouraged by the ladies and by the Church, who saw' it as another way of curbing the homicidal tendencies of the military elite. In fact fin amour or Romantic Love was a medieval invention rooted in Arab-Islamic ideas, distinct from the ‘god-sent madness’ of the Ancient Greeks or the ‘pleasant appetite’ of the Romans. Southern Courtly Love and

‘Vision ofHabukuk’, Bibie de St. Vaast, north French, early nth century. IWotc the overarm spears, large

northern prowess eventually united in the concept of Knightly Chivalrv, which became the aristocratic ideał of the later Middle Ages.

The roots of French military might

The late ioth century saw^r the end of the great invasions of Western Europę by Vikings, Magyars and North African Muslims. Now Christendom started to expand. The Vikings and Hungarians were converted, while the Muslims were forced back in many parts of the Mediterranean. But this did not bring peace to France. By the nth century the king had lost control of border regions, while local warfare had grown alarmingly freąuent. In fact the energies

3