ABSTRACT
The Robertians, ancestors of the Capetians and very powerful princes in the tenth century, had eventually dislodged the Carolingians from the throne and continued to hold their own principality to which they added some Carolingian lands and rights. Royal principality was centred on the counties and viscounties held directly by the king, the Parisis, Orleanais, Etampais, Chatrais, Pincerais and Melunais which had been the core of the Robertian lands, and the debris of the Carolingian domain, including the royal palaces of Attigny, Compiegne and Verberie. The material side of royal power was based on the royal domain, the sum total of the king’s lands and rights, but there was a political and territorial side to royal authority in the Ile de France and Orleans regions as well. The developments have been read to indicate the decline of royal power, but they must be set against features of a Carolingian style of royal authority which continued into the eleventh century.
