The Great Fiefs

Abstract

The consolidation of the royal domain in the twelfth century was matched by a similar process in the great feudal principalities of Flanders, Anjou, Brittany, Champagne, Burgundy, and (to a lesser degree) Aquitaine and Toulouse in the south. The leaders, and possible models, were the Dukes of Normandy, who on their own account also applied the new methods in their conquests across the English Channel. The process made for stability. As a result of it, France ceased to be a conglomeration of petty lordships over which individual adventurers tried to establish a rule of force. Instead, hereditary succession to fiefs became the rule, dynasties were consolidated, and the greater families were able to build up considerable domains. More regular administrative methods followed, in Flanders, Anjou and Champagne. Philip Augustus was, in consequence, confronted in 1180 by a ring of feudal principalities as well organised as his own — if not more so.