NationStates Name: Adab
Nation Name: Kingdom of France
Capital: Paris
Government Type: Feudal
Head of Government: King Robert II
Dynasty/Family Name: Capet
Population: France in 850 had a population of 7 million
according to Wikipedia, so I'd say 9 million would be a reasonable estimate for 1018. However, the King himself only directly controlled this
paltry royal domain centered around Paris, Orléans, Reims, and the areas immediately surrounding the three cities, along with scattered pockets around northeastern France including the port of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Paris had a population of around 20,000 as of the year 1000, and I imagine Orléans and Reims to have a population of around 5,000-7,000 each (a respectable number in the Middle Ages, but a far cry from their peak in Roman times). Therefore I estimate the total population under the King's direct control to be around 45,000.
Eligible Military Population: 900,000 if you count all of France, 15,000 for the King's royal domain
Territorial Claims: Duchy of Burgundy, Vermandois, Normandy
State Religion: Roman Catholicism
Dominant Religion: Roman Catholicism
Minority religions: Judaism, scattered pockets of Norse paganism (mostly in the north, in and around formerly pagan Normandy)
Religious Information: Roman Catholicism is firmly entrenched in France and the majority of its population, noble, cleric, and commoner alike, adheres to the faith. France is firmly within the Pope's sphere of influence, and His Holiness' authority is generally respected and his advice adhered to; the French clerics, if given a choice between King and Pope, would probably go for the Pope if able to. The King himself is a devout Catholic to the point of ordering forced conversions of the Jews and having heretics burned at the stake, although his tumultuous marital history has landed him in hot water with Rome a few times. The Archbishop of Reims, who crowns the new king, is the most prominent cleric of the realm, and indeed one of the most prominent of the Catholic world. Gerbert of Aurillac, archbishop from 991 to 996, was elected Pope Sylvester II in 999, the first Frenchman to assume the office (not that their shared nationality helped relations with King Robert).
Economy Information: As is common with other countries in Catholic Europe, France is heavily rural and feudalized. The vast majority of the population lives in the rural areas. Much of the land is owned by local magnates, who base themselves in castles or fortified homes. Those magnates gain their land either by force, by buying it, or by gaining it from a higher authority, such as the King. Some magnates grow particularly powerful, owning vast tracts of land and several castles, and are titled count or duke. Serfs work the land; some are essentially tenants who owe little obligation to the lord, but most are tied to the land - they could not move away without the lord's permission - and have to render certain services to the lord. Trade usually takes place in the villages and towns that grow around a fortified center or at religious centers, such as abbeys, with serfs coming there to sell their produce. Fairs take place from time to time. There are few large towns in the realm, and those that exist generally have been there since Roman times. Paris, the capital, is by far the largest, with some twenty thousand inhabitants. Nevertheless, a revival of urban life is ongoing, with the population increasing in a rate not seen since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The bourgeoisie, urban-dwellers who make their living from trade, is still in its infancy as a social class but will soon be on the rise.
Military Information: The medieval French military consists of knights and their household troops at the core along with royal and feudal levies and mercenaries. Infantrymen (including archers) are always the most numerous part of the army, but light and heavy cavalry (i.e. knights) make up a significant portion of the army. Light cavalry usually consists of the wealthier commoners, with the rest forming the infantry. Though the King has his own levies, his royal domain is too small to support a sizable number of troops, so in times of war he is forced to rely on his vassals to provide him with enough troops to make a respectable field army. That feudal levies make up a majority of the army presents a dilemma for the King, in that vassals may refuse to provide the King with troops if they do not like him enough or feel that the war runs against their interests.
History: The Kingdom of France has its origins in Charlemagne's empire. Following the great man's death in 814, his son Louis the Pious ruled the kingdom for 26 years, during which he was engaged in war - at one time or another - against all of his sons except the youngest, Charles, known to posterity as "the Bald." Upon Louis' death in 840, Charles - who had been granted Aquitaine by his father - allied himself with his brother Louis against their oldest brother Lothair. The civil war ensued for the next years and was only brought to an end by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, in which the empire was divided between them: Lothair received Middle Francia, Louis was granted East Francia, and finally Charles received West Francia, which would one day become known as France.
Though the family disputes continued intermittently, Charles managed to preserve his rule in West Francia, and indeed managed to have himself crowned Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy in 875, eventually dying while on campaign in 877. Charlemagne's descendants, known as the Carolingians, would continue to rule West Francia for the next 110 years. However, thanks to wars, revolts, and minor and/or incompetent rulers, the royal power gradually declined with time, reaching a nadir during the reign of King Charles III (r. 898-922), known as "the Simple," who was deposed and imprisoned by his own vassals. By the time the last Carolingian King of West Francia, Louis V, died without an heir in 987, the monarch was essentially powerless, with power lying in the hands of Hugh Capet, Count of Paris. Hugh was elected king; to ensure a peaceful succession, he promptly crowned his son Robert co-king. Hugh died in 996, leaving Robert as sole king. Pious and ambitious, Robert seeks to increase his power and expand his holdings, but finds himself having to contend with a number of powerful vassals who are keen on maintaining their own power.
Ruler's Name: Robert II
Ruler's Age: 46
Ruler's Personality: Robert is a study in contradiction: on the one side he is a pious and devout Catholic, whose faith has always been strong. Indeed, one might say he is pious to the point of extremism, advocating forced conversions of the Jews, supporting riots against the Jews of Orléans, and having heretics burned at the stake. On the other side he is also an ambitious, sometimes tempestuous, man. He devotes his reign to increasing his power and territory at the expense of his vassals, creating more than a few enemies in the process. His piousness does not stop him from coming into conflict with the Church, which is - to put it lightly - somewhat unhappy about Robert's marital troubles and penchant for annulments and at one point even excommunicated him. The French monarchy is not yet powerful enough to support the full scope of Robert's ambitions, as evidenced by his failed invasion of the Duchy of Burgundy in 1003, but Robert has not stopped trying.
Physical Appearance: Robert is known for his good looks, tall and strong with long, flowing hair and a beard. In the near-absence of historical depictions of Robert (except for coins), I used
this portrait (made in 1837) as the reference, although it is very much imaginary.
Ruler's Family Information:Maud of Normandy, 30, Robert's wife, daughter of Duke Richard I "the Fearless" of Normandy and Gunnora
Hugh, 5, Robert and Maud's son, heir to France according to Salic law
Ruler's History: Robert was born in 972, the eldest son of Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, and Adelaide of Aquitaine. In 987, Robert's father was elected King of France following the death of the last Carolingian king. Robert, aged only 15 at the time, was crowned co-king in the same year to ensure a smooth succession. This appeared to have succeeded; following Hugh's death in 996, Robert continued to reign without having to face any significant revolt.
As king, Robert vigorously tries to expand his power, even though his position is rather weak compared to the great magnates of the realm. Whenever a feudal land becomes vacant, Robert will try to take it for the crown, even if it means conflict with another claimant. One success was in 988, when Robert's marriage to Rozala, widow of Arnulf II of Flanders, delivered the port of Montreuil-sur-Mer to him. Otherwise he hasn't succeeded much, with an invasion of the Duchy of Burgundy in 1003 being easily rebuffed. Historically, Duke Henry the Venerable died in 1002, leaving as two potential heirs his nephew King Robert and stepson Otto-William, Count of Burgundy, and Robert managed to gain control of the duchy after thirteen years of protracted war. In this timeline, however, Robert - in a moment of wisdom and piousness - refused to shed more blood for God knows how many more years, leaving the duchy, for now, to Otto-William. Nevertheless, Robert still has his eyes on the duchy, and still hopes to gain it someday. Robert's piousness also means increased persecution of Jews and heretics as detailed above, with Robert not known to be fond of either of them (although from time to time he does take loans from Jewish merchants).
If Robert's reign is tumultuous, then his marital life is even more so. Robert's marriage to Rozala was arranged by his father, and he did not appear to have liked his wife, who was his senior by his some twenty years, very much. Upon Hugh's death in 996, Robert promptly had the marriage annulled. He had his eyes set on Bertha, widow of Odo II of Blois, who also happened to be his cousin. They got married despite the lack of papal dispensation, which earned the pair an excommunication from Pope Gregory V. Gregory died in 999, but any hopes Robert might have had that Pope Sylvester II - a Frenchman and former Archbishop of Reims - would be more amenable proved to be futile. Sylvester refused to sanction the marriage and lift the couple's excommunication, and, following long and protracted negotiations, Robert reluctantly agreed to have the marriage annulled as a requirement for his and Bertha's return to the Church. In 1001, he married Constance, daughter of William I of Provence, who was unpopular in court due to her southern customs. The marriage, like Robert's previous ones, failed to produce any children, and husband and wife frequently argued with each other. In 1010, out of sheer desperation at his advancing age and lack of an heir and deeming Constance to be infertile, Robert had the marriage annulled and sent Constance home to Provence. A year later, he married Maud, daughter of Duke Richard I "the Fearless" and sister of Duke Richard II "the Good" of Normandy. The marriage was ostensibly to improve relations with Normandy, although there were whispers that the King had designs on the duchy. A son was born in 1013, named Hugh after the King's late father.
By 1018, at the age of 46, Robert II is secure on his throne, but otherwise he hasn't made much progress since assuming the kingship. He has only managed to expand the royal domain by a small amount, and his ambitions have left him without reliable allies and created more than a few enemies. His power barely extends beyond the royal domain, with Normandy and everything south of the Loire effectively, if not officially, independent of the kingdom. Otto-William continues to reign in the Duchy of Burgundy, even as Robert dreams of taking the duchy that he feels is rightfully his. His sole child and heir is five years old, and there are concerns about what will happen if Robert does not live long enough to see the boy reach majority age. Overall the King is still largely unable to impose his will nor project his power on his vassals, and there is still a lot of work to do towards restoring royal authority in France.