ABSTRACT
The king and the princes in eleventh-century France were similar in manydifferent ways: in their outlook, in the nature of their power, in the ceremonial they used (pp. 35-7) . The eleventh century was in many senses the apogee of princely power, for royal authority was weak, the dukes or counts of the more centralised states such as Normandy and Flanders could enjoy what amounted to sovereign authority almost undisturbed by their nominal rulers, and these rulers were in practice virtuaily one of their number.
