Elizabeth M. Hallam

This is more focused on the development of the Capetian monarchy than it is on that of France writ large, but very solid on that topic. Capetian France was written for use in the undergraduate classroom, so it is essentially a textbook and reads as such—do not approach this thinking you're going to get a lively narrative or popular history. The prose is dry, if lucid. However, as a well sign-posted reference work with a very up-to-date bibliography that should be accessible to most students, this has much to recommend it. (Review of third edition.)… (meer)

This is the 2nd edition of Capetian France which is an enormous improvement from the 1st edition. The work expands into using various medieval documents to tell the story of this almost obscure period of French history. It is a very complex retelling but it does demonstrate the tenuous hold the Capetians had on France. Their continuous struggle with the Plantagenets ebbed & flowed in spite of successes as those successes unraveled with their successors laying the groundwork for the coming of the Hundred Year War that followed. The author looks at different districts of Medieval France as it slowly rose out of the chaos of the Carolingian collapse to the death of the last Capetian Charles IV in 1328. Overall, a good read though it is a great deal of information to digest.… (meer)