During the early modern period, from the Renaissance to the Revolution, the Kingdom of France was a monarchy ruled by the House of Bourbon. This corresponds to the so-called Ancien Régime. The territo
The Battle of Pavia in 1525
The Siege of Calais by François-Édouard Picot, 1838. Francis, Duke of Guise at the Siege of Calais
Francis I (r. 1515–1547, painted by Jean Clouet)
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of French Protestants in 1572
France in the Middle Ages
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France in the Middle Ages was a decentralised, feudal monarchy. In Brittany, Normandy, Lorraine, Provence, East Burgundy and Catalonia, as well as Aquitaine, the authority of the French king was barel
France at the Coronation of Hugh Capet
A view of the remains of the Abbey of Cluny, a Benedictine monastery, was the centre of monastic life revival in the Middle Ages and marked an important step in the cultural rebirth following the Early Middle Ages.
Godefroy de Bouillon, a French knight, leader of the First Crusade and founder of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Philip II victorious at Bouvines thus annexing Normandy and Anjou into his royal domains. This battle involved a complex set of alliances from three important states, the Kingdoms of France and England and the Holy Roman Empire.