House of France

The term House of France refers to the members of the Capetian dynasty from which came the Kings of France since the election of Hugh Capet. In retrospect of the monarchy, the Merovingians and Carolingians were encompassed by the House of France by French historians and jurists. The House of France consists of a number of branches and their sub-branches. Some of its branches have acceded to the Crown, while others remained cadets.

The House of France embodied in the Ancien Régime the continuity of political institutions of the kingdom of France, in its relations with the rulers of other countries. It included both a family dimension (the royal family and princes of the blood) and patrimony (the royal domain).

This continuity was made possible by the stability of the succession of kings who ruled France since the Treaty of Verdun with the Carolingians, and from 987 with the Capetians and their various branches. The policy of family alliances with other princely or royal houses for centuries led to the establishment of peace, control of the borders, and a sustainable royal domain by regaining control of the old appendages without an heir.

In 1316, Philip V the Tall definitively established the principle that only male descendants of Hugh Capet, born of a legitimate marriage, can succeed to the French throne. The rules laid down by the lawyers of the old regime led to strict limitations on the quality of princes of the blood, sometimes against the will of the prince. Reference is made on the question of legitimated bastards, the religion of the prince and other fundamental laws of the kingdom.

The use of the term house to designate a family appears in the twelfth century in translations of the Vulgate. It speaks of the House of Saul and House of David.House was therefore found proper to describe the lineage of the "new David", the Most Christian King, anointed on the head like the kings of Israel. In the thirteenth century the King of the Franks was officially called the King of France and the great officers of the king became the officers of France. For example, the marshal of the king became the Marshal of France. The term House of France was consecrated by Pope Boniface VIII in his bull of canonization of Louis IX: Gaudeat Dominus inclyta Franciae (11 August 1297).

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