ABSTRACT
Late medieval France has often been characterized as an “age of principalities,” when powerful lords took advantage of the turbulence caused by the Hundred Years’ War to defend their regional prerogatives at the expense of royal power. Through an examination of the War of Succession in the duchy of Brittany (1341–1365), this chapter reassesses the concepts of “principality” and “prince” that have dominated the historiographical narrative. It instead draws attention to inherent tensions within these idealized models of rulership that precluded any single definitive political outcome for princely authority.
