The medieval world was a time of great change, epic battles, and warrior kings who kept expanding their kingdoms to levels that we know today. In England, the dynasty that we most associate with the medieval period was the Plantagenets. For medieval France, it was the Capetians, who reigned for centuries after the Carolingians. So how did the Capetians come into power? Who were the major figures and scandals that defined the dynasty? And how did the dynasty come to its end? Justine Firnhaber-Baker explores this topic in her book, “House of Lilies: The Dynasty That Made Medieval France.”
I have seen this book on social media for a while now, and the topic was intriguing to me. I have not read much about medieval France, except in supporting roles when studying medieval English history. I wanted to expand my knowledge about medieval Europe as a whole, so when I saw this book for sale in a bookstore, I knew I wanted to add it to my library.
There has been some debate as to when the Capetian dynasty ended, as the Houses of Valois and Bourbon could be considered smaller branches of the Capetian family. Firnhaber-Baker has marked the time of the Capetians between 987 and 1328, which is a few centuries of drama. The kings of the Capetian dynasty were: Hugh Capet, Robert II the Pious, Henry I, Philip I, Louis VI, Louis VII, Philip II Augustus, Louis VIII the Lion, Saint Louis IX, Philip III the Bold, Philip IV the Fair, Louis X the Stubborn, John I the Posthumous, Philip V the Tall, and Charles IV the Fair. Fifteen Kings of France grew the kingdom into a medieval powerhouse.
Firnhaber-Baker shows how the Capetians turned a fragmented realm that was left behind by the Carolingians into a nation. We get to see Hugh Capet become the first king of a new dynasty and set the groundwork for his predecessors. France slowly became a beacon of Catholicism and the crusading dream, as well as the birthplace of Gothic architecture. We see how one king became a saint and another the mortal enemy of the papacy. And of course, we get to see the Capetians face off against their English neighbors, the Plantagenets.
For a book that covers over 300 years of royal history, I found it extremely well researched and easy to follow. While I did not know a ton about the Capetians before reading this book, I want to learn even more about this dynasty and other medieval dynasties of Europe. If you want to learn more about the Capetian dynasty, I highly recommend you read “House of Lilies: The Dynasty That Made Medieval France” by Justine Firnhaber-Baker.
The Crusades were a series of wars between Christian and Muslim warriors for the right to control the Holy Lands of the Middle East. Many men on both sides earned legacies that would surpass their earthly bodies during bloody battles. It created many bands of knights that would last for generations, such as the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights. The Templars were the most famous of these knight groups, who may have lasted only for less than two hundred years, but whose legacy would turn into myth. Dan Jones has taken on the arduous task of discerning fact from fiction about the Templars in his book, “The Templars: The Rise and Fall of God’s Holy Warriors.”