The book tells about one of the decisive stages in the history of France—five centuries of the Middle Ages, when the country’s appearance took shape in the form familiar to us. After the breakup of Charlemagne’s empire, the Frankish lands fell into civil strife among the heirs and suffered from enemy raids. The Crusades, feudal, dynastic, and religious conflicts, the tension between the knightly class and the urban underclasses… France slowly and painfully moved toward the creation of centralized power. The Hundred Years’ War brought this era to a close; after it, France entered the Early Modern period as one of the leading powers of Europe.
In A4 PDF format, the publisher’s layout of the book is preserved.