ABSTRACT
I n 1259 the extent of the royal lands was great enough to bring Louis IX toapre-eminent position in the French kingdom, and he was able to hold and consolidate the conquests of his predecessors and to build up royal power to formidable proportions (Map 5.1). By 1328 even more of the kingdom was held directly by the king and administered by his servants, and much of the rest had been granted out as apanages to members of the royal house.
