ABSTRACT
From the later Middle Ages onwards the idea that France had ‘natural limits’ was widely held. The kingdom of France, far from developing as a natural political and geographical unit, evolved gradually during the earlier Middle Ages from the decaying Roman empire and the Frankish kingdoms which arose in its place and reached their apogee in the Carolingian empire. The economic growth that had tentatively begun in the early Middle Ages accelerated in the tenth century. French society from the ninth to the twelfth century was predominantly rural, but it underwent a profound series of transformations. A vitally important element in tenth- and eleventh-century French society and a source of stability was the church. In most of west Francia the common language was a Romance tongue based on low Latin, which was to develop into the French language. In many areas of France, the social structure was very far from resembling F. L. Ganshof’s idealised representation.
