ABSTRACT
The kings of France were effective rulers of a fraction of their notional realm. Many of the principalities were economically more developed than the Capetian Ile de France, especially Flanders, Champagne and Normandy, all of which were already major trading centres. According to Orderic Vitalis, the great weakness of Philip I - apart from his weakness for Bertrada de Montfort - was that in his old age he lost all control over this barons. The castle which cost Philip so much disquiet is barely fifteen miles from central Paris. Suger describes young Louis as isolated and surrounded in Paris: on one occasion, he tells us, in a striking metaphor, that the tightly-linked magnate alliances threaten to 'disembowel the king'. Louis the Fat's contemporary, King Henry I of England and Normandy, has the reputation as the first king to grasp the full necessity of good administration, and the importance of being seen to be a maker of laws and provider of justice.
