Collection complète des oeuvres de l'Abbé de Mably, Volume 3 (of 15)

This volume offers a concise yet vivid examination of how royal authority grew and shifted in medieval France. By tracing the reigns of Charles VI, Charles V, and their successors, the author shows how the king’s power was once limited to the homage of his immediate vassals and how that balance began to change as monarchs asserted broader control.

The narrative turns to the ambitions of great nobles—dukes of Anjou, Burgundy, Berry, and other powerful families—who saw the crown both as a source of opportunity and a rival to their own domains. Episodes such as Charles VI’s madness illustrate how periods of royal weakness opened space for aristocratic intrigue, while the earlier centralizing efforts of Charles V reveal a gradual reshaping of governance.

Listeners will come away with a clearer picture of the tangled relationship between feudal lords and the French throne, and how those early power struggles laid groundwork for the nation’s later centralization.