Were the Early Capetian Monarchs of Medieval Frace Merely Primus Inter Pares

The suggestion that the Capetian kings of the tenth and eleventh century were weak and merely Primus inter pares, appears a valid one. There has been a trend ever since the age of Charlemagne for the position of the kings of the Frankish State to be fragile. There are some historians however; who would refute this description of the Capetian kings of this period, most notably the historian Fawtier, who suggested that the king was …

…land from which to draw vassals from compared to the other duchies. The actual nature of power during this period was important also, as in the tenth and eleventh century power revolved around the military strength of a state. There was at this time no notion of abstract leadership and the nature of feudalism encouraged political fragmentation. For any change in the nature of power, one must wait until 1226 and the reign of Philip Augustus.