Governance in motion

: the French crown, royal officers, and practices of politics in late medieval Lyon, Rouen, and Toulouse, c.1204-c.1337

Abstract

This thesis examines the operation of governance and processes of statebuilding in late medieval France through a comparative study of three groups of local royal officers: the viscounts of Rouen, viguiers of Toulouse, and gardiateurs of Lyon. It interrogates a crucial period of political development and territorial expansion between the conquest of Normandy in 1204 and the beginnings of the Hundred Years War in 1337. Whilst these officers have been neglected by current historiography, this thesis repositions them at the heart of political society through a close reading of understudied archival documents from royal and municipal repositories. It demonstrates that they were integral to political praxis and the quotidian performance of the interpersonal relationships through which the French kingdom was governed.

The thesis studies governance in motion, focusing on moments of encounter between officers, local communities, urban interest groups, and the crown. It examines the political culture and normative frameworks within which offices were delineated, the communicative tissue intended to tie the polity together, and the core themes of justice and jurisdiction structuring political interactions. The thesis also provides, for the first time, a detailed prosopographical analysis of the lives, careers, and backgrounds of the fifty-five viscounts, viguiers, and gardiateurs serving between 1204 and 1337.

This research addresses significant gaps in existing knowledge of the French royal state and local administration, which remains relatively superficial and highly regionalised, whilst contributing to broader debates about late medieval politics, statebuilding, information, accountability, and corruption. In contrast to frequent emphases on the sophistication of late medieval French government, it argues that close study of this level of officialdom reveals a more ambiguous picture, in which royal ambitions and local realities frequently collided. This was a kind of disordered order in which officers facilitated and problematised the growth of royal authority in the localities.

Date of Award	3 Dec 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Justine Firnhaber-Baker (Supervisor) & Frances Andrews (Supervisor)