Medieval American French Kings

Kings of England and of France constantly attempted to obtain more power for themselves in order to become richer, more influential, and stronger. These kings used many similar and different methods in an attempt to gain more power. However, some factors led to the decline of power in England as opposed to rise of power in France. English and French kings used common tactics in order to increase their standing in the world. The Church in the Medieval world was the most influential power in Europe, to gain the backing of its leader, the pope, was an incredible boon for a kingdom. King William of England, and King Louis IX, were two powerful kings who took advantage of the pope’s backing. The descendants of these powerful kings would come to
These descendants were King Henry II of England, and Philip IV of France. Henry II opted to put clergymen on trial when they commit secular crimes, however Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, strongly opposed the idea saying that only the church could hold a trial for the crimes of clergymen. Henry II had his knights kill Thomas Beckett, showing direct defiance to the church in order to keep his power. Philip IV of France had a struggle with the church when he placed a tax on clergymen, and when not paid would arrest the clergymen. The pope unsurprisingly became furious at the king, however, the king had the pope beaten and killed before the pope could place France under interdiction, and the next pope, a Frenchman, overlooked this and France came out on top. A last similar method used in order to gain power was the establishment of common law, which unified kingdoms and made the law system, which before was unique to each manor, less confusing. Henry II of England as well as the Capetains of France spread common law throughout their kingdoms, which in turn strengthened their
Even with the accomplishments of previous kings like William the Conqueror and Henry II, England’s later kings like Poor John could not live up to the strength of his predecessors. On the other hand, France was the complete opposite, their kings only became stronger as the lineage went on. All of England’s and France’s shared methods gained each kingdom more power and so did the different methods. But there was one category which France took advantage of that England did not even consider. This category was gaining the support of the people. Tactics like ending serfdom, and creating a standing army forced France’s people to love the king and sustained their absolute monarchy, but power-hungry English kings mostly focused on themselves which resulted in the increase in power for themselves but the resentment of the people. The final straw was the weakness of John, England’s people took advantage of their own king’s weakness and completely shifted the way that their government had worked by creating Parliament, which resulted in England’s limited monarchy. In the end, it didn’t come down to which king used more different methods to gain power or used similar methods more effectively, it came down to who was better at keeping their people happy and France