Constructing Kingship; The Capetian Monarchs of France and the Early Crusades by James Naus
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Overview: The book’s central thesis is that throughout the 12th century, as a reaction to challenges to royal authority and prestige, the traditional sacral kingship of the French monarchy became fused with the crusading ideology. This commitment to the ideals of the crusaders became an indispensable element of the Capetian kings’ claim to be ‘most Christian rulers’. The fusion of kingship and the crusades, Naus argues, was primarily the result of the works of royal propaganda produced by Abbot Suger and his successors at the royal monastery of St-Denis in the mid-12th century. After a short introduction Naus begins by describing the French monarchy’s political and spiritual position on the eve of, and in the aftermath of, the First Crusade, in two chapters comprising a section entitled ‘Crisis’. The works of Suger’s Dionysian programme are analysed in the two central chapters which for the core of the book, in a section entitled ‘Response’. There is no separate conclusion: the final chapter, on Philip Augustus’ attitudes towards the Crusades, ends with a short section linking the themes of the book onwards to the better-studied reign of Saint Louis.
Genre: Non-Fiction > History
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