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98-821: At first, a disconnected branch of the Meuse joins the Waal at Woudrichem to form the Boven Merwede (Upper Merwede). A few kilometers downstream it splits into the Beneden Merwede (Lower Merwede) on the right and the Nieuwe Merwede (New Merwede) on the left. All these rivers are tidal. The Nieuwe Merwede joins the Bergse Maas near Lage Zwaluwe to form the Hollands Diep estuary, and separates

196-565: A connection between the Maas and the Merwede at the town of Woudrichem . From that moment on, the current Afgedamde Maas was the main branch of the lower Meuse. The former main branch eventually silted up and is today called the Oude Maasje . In the late 19th century and early 20th century the connection between the Maas and Rhine was closed off and the Maas was given a new, artificial mouth –

294-749: A key objective of the Battle of France , the Battle of Sedan and also for the last major German WWII counter-offensive on the Western Front , the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. The Meuse is represented in the documentary The River People released in 2012 by Xavier Istasse. In July 2021, the Meuse basin was one of the many regions in Europe to experience catastrophic flooding during

392-549: A major communication route the River Meuse is the origin of Mosan art , principally (Wallonia and France). The first landscape painted in the Renaissance was the landscape of Meuse by Joachim Patinir . He was likely the uncle of Henri Blès , who is sometimes defined as a Mosan landscape painter active during the second third of the 16th century (i.e. second generation of landscape painters). The main tributaries of

490-512: A part of France. North of the Loire, the King of France at times fought or allied with one of the great principalities of Normandy, Anjou, Blois-Champagne, Flanders and Burgundy. The duke of Normandy was overlord of the duke of Brittany. South of the Loire were the principalities of Aquitaine, Toulouse and Barcelona. Normandy became the strongest power in the north, while Barcelona became the strongest in

588-465: A practice which grew out of Late Antiquity. This practice would develop into the system of vassalage and feudalism in the Middle Ages. Originally, vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the eighth century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard. The granting of a landholding to a vassal did not relinquish

686-1179: A recurring problem in the coming decades. The Meuse flows through the following departments of France , provinces of Belgium , provinces of the Netherlands and towns: Main cities and tributaries will be in bold . France Grand Est Region Haute-Marne Department [REDACTED] Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse [REDACTED] Premier pont de la Meuse [REDACTED] Pont de Malroy [REDACTED] Pont du Pâtis des Vannees [REDACTED] Ruisseau de Pré Chatenay [REDACTED] Pont de Meuse (D429 Val-de-Meuse - Dombrot-le-Sec ) [REDACTED] Ruisseau d'Avrecourt [REDACTED] Railway bridge Culmont-Chalindrey - Toul line [REDACTED] Ru d'Ouette [REDACTED] Ru des Fossés [REDACTED] Ruisseau de Bocheret [REDACTED] Provenchères-sur-Meuse [REDACTED] Pont de Val-de-Meuse (D189) [REDACTED] Ruisseau des Aimeguenons [REDACTED] Pont de l'A31 ( A31 Nancy - Dijon ) [REDACTED] Ruisseau de Joncourt [REDACTED] Pont de D132 [REDACTED] Ruisseau de l'Étange France in

784-611: A series of expulsions in the 14th century, caused considerable suffering for French Jews; see History of the Jews in France . During the Middle Ages in France, Medieval Latin was the primary medium of scholarly exchange as well as the liturgical language of the Catholic Church ; it was also the language of science, literature, law, and administration. From 1200 on, vernacular languages began to be used in administrative work and

882-413: A steady increase of aristocratic and monastic control of the land, at the expense of landowning peasants. At the same time, the traditional notion of "unfree" dependents and the distinction between "unfree" and "free" tenants was eroded as the concept of serfdom (see also History of serfdom ) came to dominate. From the mid-8th century on, particularly in the north, the relationship between peasants and

980-759: Is a major European river , rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta . It has a total length of 925 km (575 miles). From 1301, the upper Meuse roughly marked the western border of the Holy Roman Empire with the Kingdom of France , after Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the western part of

1078-521: Is joined by the Sambre . Beyond Namur the Meuse winds eastwards and passes Liège before turning north. The river then forms part of the Belgian-Dutch border, except that at Maastricht the border lies further to the west. In the Netherlands it continues northwards through Venlo closely along the border to Germany, then turns towards the west, where it runs parallel to the Waal and forms part of

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1176-543: Is navigable over a substantial part of its total length: In the Netherlands and Belgium, the river is part of the major inland navigation infrastructure, connecting the Rotterdam-Amsterdam-Antwerp port areas to the industrial areas upstream: 's-Hertogenbosch, Venlo, Maastricht, Liège, Namur. Between Maastricht and Maasbracht , an unnavigable section of the Meuse is bypassed by the 36 km (22.4 mi) Juliana Canal . South of Namur, further upstream,

1274-675: The 2021 European floods . The name Meuse is derived from the French name of the river, derived from its Latin name, Mosa , which ultimately derives from the Celtic or Proto-Celtic name * Mosā . This probably derives from the same root as English " maze ", referring to the river's twists and turns. The Dutch name Maas descends from Middle Dutch Mase , which comes from the presumed but unattested Old Dutch form * Masa , from Proto-Germanic * Masō . Modern Dutch and German Maas and Limburgish Maos preserve this Germanic form. Despite

1372-716: The Afgedamde Maas ) so that little water from the Meuse entered the old Maas courses or the Rhine distributaries. The resulting separation of the rivers Rhine and Meuse is considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the Zuiderzee Works and Delta Works . In 1970 the Haringvlietdam has been finished. Since then the reunited Rhine and Meuse waters have reached

1470-441: The Bergse Maas . The resulting separation of the rivers Rhine and Maas reduced the risk of flooding and was considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the Zuiderzee Works and Delta Works . The former main branch was, after the dam at its southern inlet was completed in 1904, renamed Afgedamde Maas and no longer receives water from the Maas. The Meuse and its crossings were

1568-601: The County of Bar ( Barrois mouvant ) as a French fief from the hands of King Philip IV . In 1408, a Burgundian army led by John the Fearless went to the aid of John III against the citizens of Liège, who were in open revolt. After the battle , which saw the men from Liège defeated, John ordered the drowning in the Meuse of burghers and noblemen in Liège whose loyalties he suspected. The border remained relatively stable until

1666-658: The English Channel , both for reasons of trade and of flight from the Anglo-Saxon invasions of England, and established themselves in Armorica in northwest France. Their dialect evolved into the Breton language in more recent centuries, and they gave their name to the peninsula they inhabited: Brittany . Attested since the time of Julius Caesar , a non-Celtic people who spoke a Basque -related language inhabited

1764-536: The Estates General , and also to an effective end to serfdom. From the 12th and 13th centuries on, France was at the center of a vibrant cultural production that extended across much of western Europe, including the transition from Romanesque architecture to Gothic architecture and Gothic art ; the foundation of medieval universities (such as the universities of Paris (recognized in 1150), Montpellier (1220), Toulouse (1229), and Orleans (1235)) and

1862-669: The Novempopulania ( Aquitania Tertia ) in southwestern France, though the language gradually lost ground to the expanding Romance during a period spanning most of the Early Middle Ages. This Proto-Basque influenced the emerging Latin-based language spoken in the area between the Garonne and the Pyrenees , eventually resulting in the dialect of Occitan called Gascon . Scandinavian Vikings invaded France from

1960-477: The Romance languages into three groups by their respective words for "yes": Nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero dicunt oil ("For some say oc , others say si , others say oïl "). The oïl languages – from Latin hoc ille , "that is it" – were spoken primarily in northern France, the oc languages – from Latin hoc , "that" – in southern France, and

2058-517: The si languages – from Latin sic , "thus" – on the Italian and Iberian peninsulas . Modern linguists typically add a third group within France around Lyon , the "Arpitan" or " Franco-Provençal language ", whose modern word for "yes" is ouè . The Gallo-Romance group in the north of France, consisting of langues d'oïl such as Picard , Walloon , and Francien , were influenced by Germanic languages spoken by

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2156-483: The 10th to the 11th centuries, the urban development of the country expanded (particularly on the northern coasts): new ports appeared and dukes and counts encouraged and created new towns. In other areas, urban growth was slower and centered on the monastic houses. In many regions, market towns ( burgs ) with limited privileges were established by local lords. In the late 11th century, " communes ", governing assemblies, began to develop in towns. Starting sporadically in

2254-400: The 11th century. The traditional rights of "free" peasants—such as service in royal armies (they had been able to serve in the royal armies as late as Charlemagne's reign) and participation in public assemblies and law courts—were lost through the 9th to the 10th centuries, and they were increasingly made dependents of nobles, churches and large landholders. The mid-8th century to 1000 also saw

2352-403: The 12th century. The economic and demographic crises of the 14th–15th centuries ( agricultural expansion had lost many of the gains made in the 12th and 13th centuries ) reversed this trend: landlords offered serfs their freedom in exchange for working abandoned lands, ecclesiastical and royal authorities created new "free" cities ( villefranches ) or granted freedom to existing cities, etc. By

2450-459: The 14th century, before the arrival of the Black Death, the total population of the area covered by modern-day France has been estimated at 16 million. The population of Paris is controversial. Josiah Russell argued for about 80,000 in the early 14th century, although he noted that some other scholars suggested 200,000. The higher count would make it by far the largest city in western Europe;

2548-548: The 9th century onwards and established themselves mostly in what would come to be called Normandy . The Normans took up the langue d'oïl spoken there, although Norman French remained heavily influenced by Old Norse and its dialects. They also contributed many words to French related to sailing and farming. After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the Normans' language developed into Anglo-Norman . Anglo-Norman served as

2646-700: The Carolingian period, by the 11th century and continuing into the 13th century, the lay (secular) public in France—both nobles and peasants—was largely illiterate , except for (at least to the end of the 12th century) members of the great courts and, in the south, smaller noble families. This situation began to change in the 13th century, where we find highly literate members of the French nobility like Guillaume de Lorris , Geoffrey of Villehardouin (sometimes referred to as Villehardouin), and Jean de Joinville (sometimes referred to as Joinville). Similarly, due to

2744-573: The French kingdom was more or less a fiction. The "domaine royal" of the Capetians was limited to the regions around Paris , Bourges and Sens . The great majority of French territory was part of Aquitaine , the Duchy of Normandy , the Duchy of Brittany , the Comté of Champagne , the Duchy of Burgundy , the County of Flanders and other territories (for a map, see Provinces of France ). In principle,

2842-446: The French system of peers. Peerage was attached to a specific territorial jurisdiction, either an episcopal see for episcopal peerages or a fief for secular. Peerages attached to fiefs were transmissible or inheritable with the fief, and these fiefs are often designated as pairie-duché (for duchies) and pairie-comté (for counties). By 1216 there were nine peers: A few years later and before 1228 three peers were added to make

2940-599: The Gallo-Roman urban network of cities survived (albeit much changed) into the Middle Ages as regional centers and capitals: certain cities had been chosen as centers of bishoprics by the church (for example, Paris , Reims , Aix , Tours , Carcassonne and Narbonne , Auch , Albi , Bourges , Lyon , etc.), others as seats of local (county, duchy) administrative power (such as Angers , Blois , Poitiers , Toulouse ). In many cases (such as with Poitiers ) cities were seats of both episcopal and administrative power. From

3038-711: The Island of Dordrecht from the Biesbosch National Park. The Beneden Merwede splits into the Noord River and Oude Maas near Papendrecht. In medieval times the name Merwede (or "Merwe" in Middle Dutch) was the name of a continuous stretch of river, considered to be the lower part of the river Waal (a major distributary branch of the Rhine ), and carried on its name all the way to the sea. Later on,

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3136-526: The Merwede, thus creating a new, more southerly and shorter path to the sea. Most of the flow of the river Meuse , and a considerable part of the flow of the Rhine (by means of the Waal ), were rerouted to this new pathway (the current Biesbosch , Hollands Diep and Haringvliet ). From that time on, the Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas received little water from the Meuse. In recent centuries the influence of

3234-461: The Meuse are listed below in downstream-upstream order, with the town where the tributary meets the river: The mean annual discharge rate of the Meuse has been relatively stable over the last few thousand years. One recent study estimates that average flow has increased by about 10% since 2000 BC. The hydrological distribution of the Meuse changed during the later Middle Ages, when a major flood forced it to shift its main course northwards towards

3332-434: The Meuse has decreased even further, to the point that the major stretches of river called Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas have been essentially cut off from the river Meuse completely. Both the current Merwede and all of its lower stretches (now called Noord river , Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas ) are now consequently almost exclusively fed by the Rhine, while the Meuse has been given its own artificial mouth, Bergse Maas , and

3430-494: The Meuse has the responsibility of the implementation of the treaty. The costs of this Commission are met by all these countries, in proportion of their own territory in the basin of the Meuse: Netherlands 30%, Wallonia 30%, France 15%, Germany 14.5%, Flanders 5%, Brussels 4.5%, Kingdom of Belgium 0.5%, and Luxembourg 0.5%. The map of the basin area of Meuse was joined to the text of the treaty. As for culture, as

3528-448: The Meuse split near Heusden into two main distributaries, one flowing north to join the Merwede and one flowing direct to the sea. The branch of the Meuse leading direct to the sea eventually silted up (and now forms the Oude Maasje stream), but in 1904 the canalised Bergse Maas was dug to take over the functions of the silted-up branch. At the same time the branch leading to the Merwede was dammed at Heusden (and has since been known as

3626-687: The Middle Ages The Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages (roughly, from the 10th century to the middle of the 15th century) was marked by the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and West Francia (843–987); the expansion of royal control by the House of Capet (987–1328), including their struggles with the virtually independent principalities (duchies and counties, such as the Norman and Angevin regions), and

3724-664: The Netherlands, and Belgium. Also participating in the agreement were the Belgian regional governments of Flanders , Wallonia , and Brussels (which is not in the basin of the Meuse but pumps running water into the Meuse). Most of the basin area (approximately 36,000 km ) is in Wallonia (12,000 km ), followed by France (9,000 km ), the Netherlands (8,000 km ), Germany (2,000 km ), Flanders (2,000 km ) and Luxembourg (a few km ). An International Commission on

3822-474: The North Sea either at this site or, during times of lower discharges of the Rhine, at Hook of Holland . A 2008 study notes that the difference between summer and winter flow volumes has increased significantly in the last 100–200 years. It points out that the frequency of serious floods ( i.e. flows > 1000% of normal) has increased markedly. They predict that winter flooding of the Meuse may become

3920-470: The Rhine. This was used as a pretext for an aggressive policy and repeated invasions. The belief, however, had mere basis in reality for not all of these territories were part of the Kingdom and the authority of the King within his kingdom would be quite fluctuant. The lands that composed the Kingdom of France showed great geographical diversity; the northern and central parts enjoyed a temperate climate while

4018-565: The Romans; one was "noble" if he or she possessed significant land holdings, had access to the king and royal court, could receive honores and benefices for service (such as being named count or duke ). Their access to political power in the Carolingian period might also necessitate a need for education. Their wealth and power was also evident in their lifestyle and purchase of luxury goods, and in their maintenance of an armed entourage of fideles (men who had sworn oaths to serve them). From

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4116-471: The annexation of the Three Bishoprics Metz, Toul and Verdun by King Henry II in 1552 and the occupation of the Duchy of Lorraine by the forces of King Louis XIII in 1633. Its lower Belgian ( Walloon ) portion, part of the sillon industriel , was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe. The Afgedamde Maas was created in the late Middle Ages, when a major flood made

4214-503: The area north of the Loire was dominated by six or seven of these virtually independent states. ) After 1000, these counties in turn began to break down into smaller lordships, as smaller lords wrest control of local lands in the so-called "feudal revolution" and seized control over many elements of comital powers (see vassal/feudal below). Secondly, from the 9th century on, military ability was increasingly seen as conferring special status, and professional soldiers or milites , generally in

4312-550: The communal movement and growing trade. The 13th to 14th centuries were a period of significant urbanization. Paris was the largest city in the realm, and indeed one of the largest cities in Europe, with an estimated population of 200,000 or more at the end of the century. The second-largest city was Rouen ; the other major cities (with populations over 10,000) were Orléans , Tours , Bordeaux , Lyon , Dijon , and Reims . In addition to these, there also existed zones with an extended urban network of medium to small cities, as in

4410-411: The concession of the usufruct of lands (a beneficatium or " benefice " in the documents) for the lifetime of the vassal, or, sometimes extending to the second or third generation. By the middle of the 10th century, feudal land grants (fee, fiefs) had largely become hereditary. The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord and pay a " relief " for

4508-423: The conditions under which the fief could be transmitted (e.g. only male heirs) for princes of the blood who held an apanage . By 1328 all apanagists would be peers. The number of lay peerages increased over time from 7 in 1297 to 26 in 1400, 21 in 1505, and 24 in 1588. France was a very decentralised state during the Middle Ages. At the time, Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not

4606-420: The coronation in early periods, due to the fact that most lay peerages were forfeited to or merged in the crown, delegates were chosen by the king, mainly from the princes of the blood. In later periods peers also held up by poles a baldaquin or cloth of honour over the king during much of the ceremony. In 1204 the Duchy of Normandy was absorbed by the French crown, and later in the 13th century two more of

4704-520: The creation and extension of administrative/state control (notably under Philip II Augustus and Louis IX ) in the 13th century; and the rise of the House of Valois (1328–1589), including the protracted dynastic crisis against the House of Plantagenet and their Angevin Empire , culminating in the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) (compounded by the catastrophic Black Death in 1348), which laid

4802-639: The crusades, and French knights founded and ruled the Crusader states . An example of the legacy left in the Middle East by these nobles is the Krak des Chevaliers ' enlargement by the Counts of Tripoli and Toulouse . The history of the monarchy is how it overcame the powerful barons over ensuing centuries, and established absolute sovereignty over France in the 16th century. A number of factors contributed to

4900-575: The earliest Frankish invaders. From the time of Clovis I on, the Franks expanded their rule over northern Gaul. Over time, the French language developed from either the Oïl languages found around Paris and Île-de-France (the Francien theory) or from a standard administrative language based on common characteristics found in all Oïl languages (the lingua franca theory). The langue d'oc , consisting of

4998-528: The end of the 15th century, serfdom was largely extinct; henceforth "free" peasants paid rents for their own lands, and the lord's demesne was worked by hired labor. This liberated the peasantry to a certain degree, but also made their lives more precarious in times of economic uncertainty. For lords who rented out more and more of their holdings for fixed rents, the initial benefits were positive, but over time they found themselves increasingly cash-strapped as inflationary pressures reduced their incomes. Much of

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5096-446: The entourage of sworn lords, began to establish themselves in the ranks of the aristocracy (acquiring local lands, building private castles, seizing elements of justice), thereby transforming into the military noble class historians refer to as " knights ". The Merovingians and Carolingians maintained relations of power with their aristocracy through the use of clientele systems and the granting of honores and benefices, including land,

5194-519: The extensive Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta , together with the Scheldt to its south and the Rhine to the north. The river has been divided near Heusden into the Afgedamde Maas on the right and the Bergse Maas on the left. The Bergse Maas continues under the name of Amer , which is part of De Biesbosch . The Afgedamde Maas joins the Waal, the main stem of the Rhine at Woudrichem , and then flows under

5292-588: The invaders. Discussion of the size of France in the Middle Ages is complicated by distinctions between lands personally held by the king (the " domaine royal ") and lands held in homage by another lord. The notion of res publica inherited from the Roman province of Gaul was not fully maintained by the Frankish kingdom and the Carolingian Empire , and by the early years of the Direct Capetians ,

5390-491: The land (a monetary recognition of the lord's continuing proprietary rights over the property). By the 11th century, the bonds of vassalage and the granting of fiefs had spread throughout much of French society, but it was in no ways universal in France: in the south, feudal grants of land or of rights were unknown. In its origin, the feudal grant had been seen in terms of a personal bond between lord and vassal, but with time and

5488-425: The land became increasingly characterized by the extension of the new "bipartite estate" system ( manorialism ), in which peasants (who were bound to the land) held tenant holdings from a lord or monastery (for which they paid rent), but were also required to work the lord's own " demesne "; in the north, some of these estates could be quite substantial. This system remained a standard part of lord-tenant relations into

5586-755: The language of the ruling classes and commerce in England from the time of the conquest until the Hundred Years' War , by which time the use of French-influenced English had spread throughout English society. Also around this time period, many words from the Arabic language entered French, mainly indirectly through Medieval Latin , Italian and Spanish. There are words for luxury goods ( élixir, orange ), spices ( camphre, safran ), trade goods ( alcool, bougie, coton ), sciences ( alchimie, hasard ), and mathematics ( algèbre, algorithme ). While education and literacy had been important components of aristocratic service in

5684-437: The languages which use oc or òc for "yes", was the language group spoken in the south of France and northeastern Spain . These languages, such as Gascon and Provençal , have relatively little Frankish influence. The Middle Ages also saw the influence of other linguistic groups on the dialects spoken in France. From the 4th to 7th centuries, Brythonic -speaking peoples from Cornwall , Devon , and Wales travelled across

5782-469: The late 10th, and increasingly in the 12th century, many towns and villages were able to gain economic, social or judicial privileges and franchises from their lords (exemptions from tolls and dues, rights to clear land or hold fairs, some judicial or administrative independence, etc.). The seigneurial reaction to expanding urbanism and enfranchisement was mixed; some lords fought against the changes, but some lords gained financial and political advantages from

5880-402: The late 9th to the late 10th century, the nature of the noble class changed significantly. First off, the aristocracy increasingly focused on establishing strong regional bases of landholdings, on taking hereditary control of the counties and duchies, and eventually on erecting these into veritable independent principalities and privatizing various privileges and rights of the state. (By 1025,

5978-487: The law courts, but Latin would remain an administrative and legal language until the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) prescribed the use of French in all judicial acts, notarized contracts, and official legislation. The vast majority of the population, however, spoke a variety of vernacular languages derived from vulgar Latin , the common spoken language of the Western Roman Empire. The medieval Italian poet Dante , in his Latin De vulgari eloquentia , classified

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6076-405: The lay peerages were absorbed by the crown (Toulouse 1271, Champagne 1284), so in 1297 three new peerages were created, the County of Artois , the Duchy of Anjou and the Duchy of Brittany , to compensate for the three peerages that had disappeared. Thus, beginning in 1297 the practice started of creating new peerages by letters patent , specifying the fief to which the peerage was attached, and

6174-485: The lord's mill, etc. (what Georges Duby called collectively the " seigneurie banale " ). Power in this period became more personal and it would take centuries for the state to fully reimpose its control over local justice and fiscal administration (by the 15th century, much of the seigneur's legal purview had been given to the bailliages , leaving them only affairs concerning seigneurial dues and duties, and small affairs of local justice) This "fragmentation of powers"

6272-399: The lord's property rights, but only the use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fee and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death. In the 8th-century Frankish empire , Charles Martel was the first to make large scale and systematic use (the practice had remained until then sporadic) of the remuneration of vassals by

6370-412: The lords of these lands owed homage to the French king for their possession, but in reality the king in Paris had little control over these lands, and this was to be confounded by the uniting of Normandy, Aquitaine and England under the Plantagenet dynasty in the 12th century. Philip II Augustus undertook a massive French expansion in the 13th century, but most of these acquisitions were lost both by

6468-430: The lower count would put it behind Venice with 100,000 and Florence with 96,000. The Black Death killed an estimated one-third of the population from its appearance in 1348. The concurrent Hundred Years' War slowed recovery. It would be the mid-16th century before the population recovered to mid-fourteenth century levels. In the early Middle Ages, France was a center of Jewish learning, but increasing persecution, and

6566-400: The middle-ages when their capitals became centres of bishoprics . These religious provinces would survive until the French revolution. During the Roman Empire , southern Gaul was more heavily populated and because of this more episcopal sees were present there at first while in northern France they shrank greatly in size because of the barbarian invasions and became heavily fortified to resist

6664-423: The more so as vassals could and frequently did pledge themselves to two or more lords. In response to this, the idea of a " liege lord " was developed (where the obligations to one lord are regarded as superior) in the 12th century. Medieval French kings conferred the dignity of peerage upon certain of his preëminent vassals , both clerical and lay. Some historians consider Louis VII (1137–1180) to have created

6762-417: The name Merwede was discarded downstream of the town of Papendrecht and replaced with Noord river and, even further downstream, Nieuwe Maas . Only the part of the river between Woudrichem en Papendrecht retained its name. The confusing river names are the result of two major flood events, which both resulted in a significant shift in the course and flow of the lower rivers. The first of these events forced

6860-495: The name of Boven Merwede to Hardinxveld-Giessendam , where it splits into Nieuwe Merwede and Beneden Merwede . Near Lage Zwaluwe , the Nieuwe Merwede joins the Amer, forming the Hollands Diep , which splits into Grevelingen and Haringvliet , before finally flowing into the North Sea. The Meuse is crossed by railway bridges between the following stations (on the left and right banks respectively): There are also numerous road bridges and around 32 ferry crossings. The Meuse

6958-564: The outpouring of French vernacular literature from the 12th century on ( chanson de geste , chivalric romance , troubadour and trouvère poetry, etc.), French eventually became the "international language of the aristocracy". In the Middle Ages in France, the vast majority of the population—between 80 and 90 percent—were peasants. Traditional categories inherited from the Roman and Merovingian period (distinctions between free and unfree peasants, between tenants and peasants who owned their own land, etc.) underwent significant changes up to

7056-491: The periods preceding or following it. Historians refer to this as the " Medieval Warm Period ", lasting from about the 10th century to about the 14th century. Part of the French population growth in this period (see below) is directly linked to this temperate weather and its effect on crops and livestock. At the end of the Middle Ages, France was the most populous region in Europe—having overtaken Spain and Italy by 1340. In

7154-596: The principle of male primogeniture, later popularized as the Salic law . The authority of the king was more religious than administrative. The 11th century in France marked the apogee of princely power at the expense of the king when states like Normandy , Flanders or Languedoc enjoyed a local authority comparable to kingdoms in all but name. The Capetians , as they were descended from the Robertians , were formerly powerful princes themselves who had successfully unseated

7252-408: The reign of Charlemagne, who was considered the model king and shining example for knighthood and nobility. The dozen pairs played a role in the royal sacre or consecration , during the liturgy of the coronation of the king, attested to as early as 1179, symbolically upholding his crown, and each original peer had a specific role, often with an attribute. Since the peers were never twelve during

7350-492: The rest and important cities were founded on their banks but they were separated by large forests, marsh, and other rough terrains. Before the Romans conquered Gaul, the Gauls lived in villages organised in wider tribes. The Romans referred to the smallest of these groups as pagi and the widest ones as civitates . These pagi and civitates were often taken as a basis for the imperial administration and would survive up to

7448-399: The rise of the French monarchy. The dynasty established by Hugh Capet continued uninterrupted until 1328, and the laws of primogeniture ensured orderly successions of power. Secondly, the successors of Capet came to be recognised as members of an illustrious and ancient royal house and therefore socially superior to their politically and economically superior rivals. Thirdly, the Capetians had

7546-539: The river Merwede . From then on several stretches of the original Merwede were renamed "Maas" (i.e. Meuse) and served as the primary outflow of that river. Those branches are currently known as the Nieuwe Maas and Oude Maas. However during another series of severe floods the Meuse found an additional path towards the sea, resulting in the creation of the Biesbosch wetlands and Hollands Diep estuaries. Thereafter

7644-541: The river Meuse (Maas) to take a more northerly course and created a direct connection between the Meuse and the Merwede at the town of Woudrichem. The names of several stretches of the lower rivers were then changed to reflect this, for example the Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas . During a second flooding event (the St. Elizabeth floods ) a major breach in the coastal dunes of Holland created an inlet that would eventually reach

7742-540: The river can only carry more modest vessels, although a barge as long as 100 m (328 ft). can still reach the French border town of Givet. From Givet, the river is canalized over a distance of 272 kilometres (169 mi). The canalized Meuse used to be called the "Canal de l'Est — Branche Nord" but was recently rebaptized into "Canal de la Meuse". The waterway can be used by the smallest barges that are still in use commercially almost 40 m (131 ft) long and just over 5 metres (16 ft) wide. Just upstream of

7840-425: The royal system of " apanage " (the giving of regions to members of the royal family to be administered) and through losses in the Hundred Years' War . Only in the 15th century would Charles VII and Louis XI gain control of most of modern-day France (except for Brittany , Navarre , and parts of eastern and northern France). The weather in France and Europe in the Middle Ages was significantly milder than during

7938-426: The same period or later: counties and duchies began to break down into smaller holdings as castellans and lesser seigneurs took control of local lands, and (as comital families had done before them) lesser lords usurped/privatized a wide range of prerogatives and rights of the state, most importantly the highly profitable rights of justice, but also travel dues, market dues, fees for using woodlands, obligations to use

8036-460: The seeds for a more centralized and expanded state in the early modern period and the creation of a sense of French identity. Up to the 12th century, the period saw the elaboration and extension of the seigneurial economic system (including the attachment of peasants to the land through serfdom ); the extension of the Feudal system of political rights and obligations between lords and vassals ;

8134-648: The similarity, the Germanic name is not derived from the Celtic name, judging from the change from earlier o into a , which is characteristic of the Germanic languages. The Meuse rises in Pouilly-en-Bassigny, commune of Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse on the Langres plateau in France from where it flows northwards past Sedan (the head of navigation ) and Charleville-Mézières into Belgium. At Namur it

8232-571: The so-called " Renaissance of the 12th century "; a growing body of secular vernacular literature (including the chanson de geste , chivalric romance , troubadour and trouvère poetry, etc.) and medieval music (such as the flowering of the Notre Dame school of polyphony). From the Middle Ages onward, French rulers believed their kingdoms had natural borders: the Pyrenees, the Alps and

8330-433: The so-called "feudal revolution" of the 11th century during which ever smaller lords took control of local lands in many regions; and the appropriation by regional/local seigneurs of various administrative, fiscal and judicial rights for themselves. From the 13th century on, the state slowly regained control of a number of these lost powers. The crises of the 13th and 14th centuries led to the convening of an advisory assembly,

8428-474: The south and the Mediterranean coast (from Toulouse to Marseille , including Narbonne and Montpellier ) and in the north ( Beauvais , Laon , Amiens , Arras , Bruges , etc.). Market towns increased in size and many were able to gain privileges and franchises including transformation into free cities ( villes franches ); rural populations from the countrysides moved to the cities and burgs. This

8526-426: The south. The rulers of both fiefs eventually became kings, the former by the conquest of England, and the latter by the succession to Aragon. French suzerainty over Barcelona was only formally relinquished by Saint Louis in 1258. Initially, West Frankish kings were elected by the secular and ecclesiastic magnates, but the regular coronation of the eldest son of the reigning king during his father's lifetime established

8624-715: The southern part was closer to the Mediterranean climate. While there were great differences between the northern and southern parts of the kingdom there were equally important differences depending on the distance of mountains: mainly the Alps , the Pyrenees and the Massif Central . France had important rivers that were used as waterways: the Loire , the Rhône , the Seine as well as the Garonne . These rivers were settled earlier than

8722-479: The title of King gave them a complicated status. Thus they were involved in the struggle for power within France as princes but they also had a religious authority over Roman Catholicism in France as King. However, and despite the fact that the Capetian kings often treated other princes more as enemies and allies than as subordinates, their royal title was often recognised yet not often respected. The royal authority

8820-549: The total of twelve peers: These twelve peerages are known as the ancient peerage or pairie ancienne , and the number twelve is sometimes said to have been chosen to mirror the 12 paladins of Charlemagne in the Chanson de geste (see below). Parallels may also be seen with mythical Knights of the Round Table under King Arthur . So popular was this notion, that for a long time people thought peerage had originated in

8918-563: The town of Commercy, the Canal de la Meuse connects with the Marne–Rhine Canal by means of a short diversion canal. The Cretaceous sea reptile Mosasaur is named after the river Meuse. The first fossils of it were discovered outside Maastricht in 1780. An international agreement was signed in 2002 in Ghent , Belgium, about the management of the river amongst France, Germany, Luxembourg ,

9016-402: The transformation of fiefs into hereditary holdings, the nature of the system came to be seen as a form of "politics of land" (an expression used by the historian Marc Bloch ). The 11th century in France saw what has been called by historians a "feudal revolution" or "mutation" and a "fragmentation of powers" (Bloch) that was unlike the development of feudalism in England or Italy or Germany in

9114-481: The two rivers Rhine and Meuse are now mostly separated to reduce the risk of flooding. This separation of the rivers Rhine and Maas is considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the Zuiderzee Works and Delta Works . The Merovingian dynasty probably derived its name from this river. 51°49′N 4°40′E  /  51.817°N 4.667°E  / 51.817; 4.667 Meuse The Meuse or Maas

9212-549: The weak and unfortunate Carolingian kings. The Carolingian kings had nothing more than a royal title when the Capetian kings added their principality to that title. The Capetians, in a way, held a dual status of King and Prince; as king they held the Crown of Charlemagne and as Count of Paris they held their personal fiefdom, best known as Île-de-France . The fact that the Capetians both held lands as Prince as well as in

9310-476: Was also a period of urban building: the extension of walls around the entirety of the urban space, the vast construction of Gothic cathedrals (starting in the 12th century), urban fortresses, castles (such as Philip II Augustus' Louvre around 1200) and bridges. In the Carolingian period, the "aristocracy" ( nobilis in the Latin documents) was by no means a legally defined category. With traditions going back to

9408-430: Was not however systematic throughout France, and in certain counties (such as Flanders, Normandy, Anjou, Toulouse), counts were able to maintain control of their lands into the 12th century or later. Thus, in some regions (like Normandy and Flanders), the vassal/feudal system was an effective tool for ducal and comital control, linking vassals to their lords; but in other regions, the system led to significant confusion, all

9506-670: Was so weak in some remote places that bandits were the effective power. Some of the king's vassals would grow sufficiently powerful that they would become some of the strongest rulers of western Europe. The Normans , the Plantagenets , the Lusignans , the Hautevilles , the Ramnulfids , and the House of Toulouse successfully carved lands outside France for themselves. The most important of these conquests for French history

9604-604: Was the Norman Conquest by William the Conqueror , following the Battle of Hastings and immortalised in the Bayeux Tapestry , because it linked England to France through Normandy. Although the Normans were now both vassals of the French kings and their equals as kings of England, their zone of political activity remained centered in France. An important part of the French aristocracy also involved itself in

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