« Toute France ». Construction et représentations de l'espace politique français au XVe siècle (1380-1514)

During the 15th century, the French nation emerged and the unification of the country progressively took place, under the rule of the royal state. The question of how to control the territory, in both its intellectual and practical dimensions, was made more urgent by the troubles caused by the Hundred Years’ War. How, in the 15th century, could a King of France visualize his kingdom ? How was he able to govern it ? The territorialisation of power, oscillating between representation and real occupation, became progressively clearer. Differentiated social spaces emerged, depending on whether the regions were directly governed by the King or were entrusted to governors, be it a Prince or a Parliament. At the time when the monarchy gained overall control over the territory within the limits defined by four rivers (Scheldt, Meuse, Saone, Rhone), political society organised itself in a state constituted by offices ruled by royal law. Royal unity and diverging regional structures combined themselves into an original type of nation-state, a mixed territorial state, unitary and heterogeneous at the same time.