To what extent had Francebecome a nation-state by 1610?

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To what extent had France become a nation-state by 1610?

In order to determine the extent to which France had become a nation state by 1610 one must first ascertain what one means by the term nation state. Although the word ‘state’ did not come into current usage in France until the mid-sixteenth century, the idea of a state did exist; but it was called the ‘republic’ or ‘commonwealth’ (chose publique). Official documents made a distinction between the king and the state, yet the interests of both were closely identified. Thus in 1517 the chancellor Duprat declared: ‘the kingdom’s interest is the king’s interest, and the king’s interest is the kingdom’s interest. For it is a mystical body of which the king is head.’

A nation-state is also generally defined as a relatively unified territory in which there is a reasonably well developed governmental apparatus that is applied uniformly throughout the country. The unity of a country can be determined in part by the strength of the monarchy and its success in exerting power over the Church as well as a working relationship with the leading nobles, a stronghold over governmental institutions and sufficient methods of levying taxes efficiently.

 It must be remembered that the emergence of France as a nation-state was a slow and laborious process with many setbacks mainly in the form of civil war. By 1610 France may have been on the rise again after a steep decline in the middle years of the sixteenth century, but it was to take another hundred years until France could fully be described as a nation-state.

For much of the fifteenth century the French monarchy was attempting to recover from the disintegration of unity sustained during the hundred year war when at one point a one year old succeeded to the throne. From 1422 onwards the French kings were able to manage a gradual restoration of their position. The Kings gained control of many Duchies and principalities notably Burgundy, Anjou, Brittany and Orleans. For some of these however, it took nearly a century to fully recover them. The monarchs did not have sufficient resources to recapture these principalities during the latter part of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries and so they had to skilfully marry into the controlling noble family instead. Louis XI, Charles VIII and Lois XII, who were all monarchs in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century all performed this duty admirably, making secure political alliances by marrying into duchies. For example the marriage between Charles VIII and Anne the duchess of Brittany ensured that Brittany came under crown control. After Charles died Louis XII cemented this alliance by marring Anne himself.  In this way greater territorial unity was achieved and thus France came closer to calling itself a nation-state.

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During the reign of Francis I in particular great efforts were made to unify different French territories. Throughout the provinces, the work of extending royal authority had been considerably eased by the elimination of the great apanages-even Louis XII’s unwise creation of Bourbon had been terminated in 1523-but many problems remained. If the king could usually impose his will whenever he himself intervened in local affairs, the small number of his officiers did not permit him to intervene everywhere and at all times. Diversity and separatism, aggravated by the difficulty of maintaining efficient communication across vast distances, made it ...

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