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I like ACOUP blog for its incessant effort to clarify things and dispel myths. People tend to have skewed perceptions of the Medieval era. Prior to the develop

I like ACOUP blog for its incessant effort to clarify things and dispel myths. People tend to have skewed perceptions of the Medieval era. Prior to the development of the cannon (which enabled easier conquest of castles), absolutism wasn't really a thing. The king was the ruler, yes, but he wasn't able to rule against the wishes of the nobility or the high clergy; the risk of being deposed or killed in a rebellion was just too big. At the very least, his vassals could just abandon him and withdraw into their own castles, and there wasn't any easy way to force them out.

deaddodo 4y ago
> The king was the ruler, yes, but he wasn't able to rule against the wishes of the nobility or the high clergy; the risk of being deposed or killed in a rebellion was just too big. At the very least, his vassals could just abandon him and withdraw into their own castles, and there wasn't any easy way to force them out. The French solved this problem, partially, simply by having a sizable domaine royal (“demesne” in CK terms) in Île-de-France and Orléanais. While they were still subject to Godly edict, they certainly had a more tug-of-war relationship than Kingdoms more subject to their vassal’s whims.