French II

987-1337 CE

From 987 to 1337 CE, the French transformed from a fragile kingdom huddled around Paris into the greatest power in Christendom. Under the patient Capetian kings, Gothic spires rose toward heaven, universities debated Aristotle in Latin, and royal justice slowly extended across lands where once only feudal chaos had reigned — until the question of succession would ignite a hundred years of war.