Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/312

 266 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE During the century from 887, when the last Carolingiar emperor, Charles, was deposed, until 987, when Hugh Capel Change of founded a new and lasting dynasty, named dynasty in Capetian after him, the West Frankish Kingdom FYankfsh was weakened by a struggle for the throne Kingdom between rival factions of the feudal nobility supporting on the one hand the last members of the' Carolingian, line and on the other the family of the Counts of Paris. First a member of one line ruled and then a member of the other, and a Rudolph of Burgundy was alsc king for a time. But after the death of the Carolingiaa Louis V, in 987, no more of his line reigned, and the Cape-| tians ruled in unbroken succession in the direct male line| until 1328. Before he was elected king, Hugh Capet already bore the] title, Duke of France. This small feudal duchy was after Meaning of the lapse of centuries to give its name to most of th^ r Middle m the territory between the Pyrenees, the Mediter A 8 es ranean, the Alps, and the Rhine. But at this time the name "France" applied to a very small district Paris was well-nigh its southernmost point and it did not extend as far north as Senlis. Thus it was less than twenty- five miles across from north to south, and not much more from east to west. Its southwestern boundary was a few miles of the river Seine; its southeastern, a few miles ol the Marne, which empties into the Seine near Paris. On the west it was bounded by the Oise, a tributary of the Seine. and on the east by a small affluent of the Marne near the town of Meaux. To this day the peasants of a village neai Meaux speak of going to France when they cross the Marne. The fact that this medieval France was almost entirely surrounded by rivers — for a little stream, la Theve, forme its northern boundary — probably gave rise to the expres- j sion, lie de France. In later times, however, we find the name, lie de France, applied to a much larger district. From the tenth to the twelfth century the territory! which the Capetians could really call their own was neither j so extensive nor so rich as the domains of several feudal!