The French Monarchical Commonwealth, 1356–1560

322 Pages·2022·7.222 MB·English

by  James B. Collins

THE FRENCH MONARCHICAL
–
COMMONWEALTH, 1356 1560
How does authority become power? How does power justify itself to
achieveitsends?Forovertwohundredyears,theValoiskingsreliedon
a complex mixture of ideologies, ruling a monarchical commonwealth
with a coherent theory of shared governance. Forged in the Hundred
YearsWar,thiscommonwealthbuiltonthedefenseofthepublicgood
(bienpublic)cameundonebothpracticallyandtheoreticallyduringthe
Wars of Religion. Just as certain kings sought to expand the royal pre-
rogative,so,too,elitesfoughttopreservetheircontroloverlocalgovern-
ment.Usingtownarchivesfrommorethantwentycitiestocomplement
traditional sources of political theory, The French Monarchical
Commonwealth, 1356–1560 establishes the relationship between seem-
inglytheoreticalconstructs,liketheSalicLaw,andtherealityofeveryday
politics.
jamesb.collinsisProfessorofHistoryatGeorgetownUniversity.His
seven books include The State in Early Modern France (Cambridge
University Press, 1995; 2nd ed. 2008) and La monarchie républicaine
(2016), based on his lectures at the Collège de France. His work has
beentranslatedintoFrench,Spanish,Polish,andChinese.

THE FRENCH
MONARCHICAL
COMMONWEALTH,
–
1356 1560
JAMES B. COLLINS
GeorgetownUniversity,WashingtonDC
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DOI:10.1017/9781108593045
©JamesB.Collins2022
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Firstpublished2022
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Names:Collins,JamesB,author.
Title:TheFrenchmonarchicalcommonwealth,1356–1560/JamesBCollins,Georgetown
University,WashingtonDC.
Description:Cambridge;NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2022.|Includes
bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2021045504(print)|LCCN2021045505(ebook)|ISBN9781108473309
(hardback)|ISBN9781108461283(paperback)|ISBN9781108593045(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Monarchy–France–History.|Politicalscience–France–History.|France–
History–HouseofValois,1328–1589.|France–Politicsandgovernment–History.|BISAC:
HISTORY/Europe/General
Classification:LCCJN2358.C652022(print)|LCCJN2358(ebook)|DDC320.444/0903–
dc23/eng/20211128
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CONTENTS
ListofIllustrations pagevi
Preface vii
Introduction 1
1 Lachosepubliquedenostreroyaume 29
2 PoliticalVocabularyinAction 73
3 Murder,Justice,andlachosepubliqueinanAgeof
Madness 110
4 TheCommonwealthunderSiege:LouisXI 147
5 ThechosepubliqueandUrbanGovernment 189
6 TheOrléanistOffensive:Puissanceabsolueand
Republicanism 228
Conclusion 265
Bibliography 277
Index 299
v
ILLUSTRATIONS
0.1a–b Citizens(Gensd’armes;Gensdeconseil;Genssacerdotal)andnon-citizens
(Cultivateursdeterre;Gensdemestier;marchans),BNF,MFr9106,fols.
243v–244r.PermissionBNF page8
1.1 ExecutionofNormannobles,1356:GrandesChroniquesdeFrance,MFr
2608,fol.454r.PermissionBNF 51
1.2 RobertLeCoqaddressestheEstatesGeneralofLanguedoïl,March3,1357,at
thePalaisduParlement;theaccusedofficialslookoninfear:BNF,MFrançais
2813,GrandesChroniquesdeFrancefol.402v.PermissionBNF 61
2.1 NegotiationsatCalais,1360:BNF,MFr2608,GrandesChroniquesdeFrance,
fol.483v.PermissionBNF 79
2.2 CharlesVbeingvestedwiththescepterofCharlemagneandthehandof
justiceathiscoronation:CoronationBookofCharlesVofFrance,British
Library,CottonMSTiberiusB.viii/2,fol.59v.permissionBL 97
2.3 SongeduVergier,1378,CharlesVbetweenthespiritual(hisright)andsecular
powers,representedbytwoqueensandbytheclericandknightwhodebatein
thetext:BL,RoyalManuscript19CIV,frontispiece.PermissionBL 99
2.4 TraictédesvertusofBlancheofNavarre,madeforPhilipIV:BLM54180,fol.
91v.PermissionBL 105
3.1 Bodypolitic:Avisausroys:MorganLibrary,ManuscriptM456,fol.5r.
PermissionMorganLibrary 128
4.1 CharlesVIIreceivesthePragmaticSanction;BNF,MFrançais203,fol.2r.
PermissionBNF 162
5.1 Jeanned’ArcandCharlesVII:LesVigilesdeCharlesVII,MartialdeParis,dit
d’Auvergne,BNF,MFrançais5054,fol.61v.PermissionBNF 211
vi
PREFACE
This project began innocently enough: colleagues in France invited me to
a conference in Vervins, for the 400th anniversary of the peace signed there
in1598.Istillhavethewarmestmemoriesofthefabulousconcertprovidedby
JordiSavallandHesperionintheÉgliseNotre-Dame,andofthepoormayor
andgoodcitizensofVervinsdrenchedinadownpourduringthereenactment.
My paper, on the “bien public” vocabulary of the 1590s, got me started on
aprojectaboutpoliticalvocabularyinHenryIV’sFrance.Afewyearslater,at
aconferenceonPhilippeDuplessisMornayorganizedbyHuguesDaussyand
VéroniqueFerrer,IjoinedMackHoltandMarkGreengrassforasumptuous
dinneratarestaurantinSaumur.They,too,wereworkingonrelatedsubjects,
which turned into prize-winning books: Mack’s The Politics of Wine and
Mark’sGoverningPassions.Sharingideaswiththem,Iwashooked.
Whatbeganasabookonpoliticalvocabularyandpracticalpoliticsinlate
sixteenth-andearlyseventeenth-centuryFranceledinunexpecteddirections.
Ikeptwonderingwhencecamethisvocabularyofthe“bienpublic?”AndIkept
moving backwards, finally landing in the 1350s. French political society had
long had various phrases for the interests of the community as a whole, of
course, but I found that the phrase “bien de la chose publique” took over
mainstreampoliticaldiscourseinlandscontrolledbytheroyalfamily,andin
Brittany, in the 1350s and 1360s. I set out to trace the evolution of this
vocabulary down to the period of my initial interest. This book follows the
trailIfound;asecondbookpicksupthestoryin1560–1561andexamineshow
the vocabulary of the “bien public” turned into a discourse of the “bien de
l’Estat,”withthewordEstatnowcapitalizedandwithaspecificnewmeaning.
Myparentswereprofessionalpoliticians,soIlearnedtounderstandpolitics
from the ground level. As friends and colleagues know, I learned a cold-
blooded analysis of contemporary politics from my parents, and I have
brought that characteristic to this consideration of late medieval and
Renaissance France’s political life. I urge readers to remember that I offer
hereadifferentperspectivefromtheonedevelopedbyhistorianslikeQuentin
SkinnerorJacquesKrynen,oneIviewascomplementary,notcontradictory.
Remember,too,thatmyexaminationofpoliticalpracticehasreliedthrough-
outonthescholarshipofcolleaguesworkinginthehistoryofpoliticalthought
vii
viii preface
and of law: with respect to the French monarchy, the remarkable work of
scholars like Krynen, Jean Barbey, Jean Bart, Michel Hébert, and Éliane
Viannotquiteliterallymadethisbookpossible.Anewgenerationofscholars
have brought out in the last decade important works, both in French and
English,coveringsomanyaspectsofthisproject,fromroyalentriestoreligious
reform,togenderandpolitics,thelattermadepossiblebyoutstandingschol-
arshiprecentlyproducedonmedievalFrenchwomen–JeannedePenthièvre,
IsabeauofBavaria,YolandeofAragon,AnneofBrittany,etal.–involvedin
politics.Considerationsofspacemadeitimpracticaltofollowupasdeeplyas
Iwouldhavelikedonwomen,gender,andFrenchpolitics,butIhopetobeable
todosoinabookthatisalreadyinprogress.
My previous work as a historian undergirds this book. Yes, I have read
major(andminor)worksofpoliticalphilosophy,law,andhistory,andmany
Parisianrecords,butIhavespentmostofthelastfivedecadesinlocalarchives,
reading tax rolls, municipal deliberations, local court records, notarial arch-
ives,civilregisters,andahostofotherdocumentsgeneratedoutinthefield.
Mygoalhereistorelatethepoliticalvocabularyfoundinintellectualtreatises
and in royal actions to the vocabulary used in actual politics, from the local
leveluptothekingdom-widestage.IfIstartbytryingtounderstandwhygiven
politicalactorstookgivenactions,Ialsowanttounderstandwhytheyjustified
those actions with the rhetoric they chose. Words matter; they have a life of
theirownandbecomepoliticalcontextsintheirownright.Moreover,themost
contentious political words, like ‘justice’ or even the broader concept of the
politicalcommunityitself,defyeasydefinition.
The works of people from Nicole Oresme to Christine de Pizan to Jean
Bodinplaytheirpart,butmyprimaryfocuslieswiththeusetowhichothers
puttheirterminology.Thisbook–likethesecondone(1560–1651)–interacts
withthehistoriographyofpoliticalphilosophy,butIseekheretogetoutside
thatfield’sboundaries,toshowwhatthehistoryofpoliticscanteachusabout
political theory. The chosen vocabulary – what Pierre Bourdieu called the
langage, or specialized vocabulary – often circumscribed later actions within
the realm of politics. Political actors usually pursued specific practical ends,
whichfundamentallyvariedlittle,buttheirchosenmethodofjustifyingthose
actionsevolvedconsiderablyand,intheend,helpedchangethenatureofthe
polity.
Aprojectthathasgoneonaslongasthisonebuildsupalistofobligations
impossible to be given in detail, but I do want to offer some specific thanks.
Firstofall,mythankstoGeorgetownUniversityforfinancialsupportofmuch
of the research done for the book. The Leverhulme Trust enabled me to be
aResearchProfessorintheUKforasemester;manycolleaguesinEnglandand
Scotlandofferedinsightsand,beginningwithPeterCampbell,sponsoredsome
ofmytalksthere.ThroughthekindnessofÉlieBarnavi,FannyCosandey,and
RobertDescimon,IwasaprofesseurinvitéattheirFridaymorningseminarat