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Throughout the Ancien Regime there were many colorful personalities on the throne, many of whom in turns either nearly destroyed their kingdom or built up its power and prosperity by way of foreign war, domestic war, diplomacy, finance, and civil reform. Here is a list of what I think are generally the most luminary of the post-Carolingian kings. I did not include the Carolingians because the kingdom had at that time not fully coalesced into a coherently separate entity from the other remaining fragments of Charlemagne's domain. Following Hugh Capet, I think the formative stage of the development of the French nation had truly begun.

Hugh Capet - He dragged the kingship out of obscurity and irrelevance, successfully united the powerful feudal lords of northern France behind him, and secured the rule of his dynasty and thus the stability of the realm.

Philippe II - Recovered the royal authority from the nadir of Louis VII's reign, fought the Angevins to victory on his own soil thrice, bringing vast areas of the south under French rule, and fought successfully in the Third Crusade, being instrumental in taking Acre.

Louis IX - Created a comprehensive new legal system for France banning trial by ordeal and introducing the presumption of innocence to criminal trials, curtailed the ability of feudal lords to wage private wars. He defeated England and brought Normandy and Provence into the kingdom, fought in numerous crusades and wielded the catholic church as a legitimator of his rule.

Louis X - Allowed serfs to buy their freedom, abolished slavery. "As soon as a slave breathes the air of France, he breathes freedom". Lifted persecutions against the Jews, allowing them to remain in the country. These reforms would have far reaching positive impacts on France's economy and society in the following centuries.

Charles V - Though he was forced to bargain for the return of his father, through fiscal responsibility he replenished the royal treasury and then some. He abolished the troublesome routiers in favor of a regular, professional standing army which turned the tide of the Hundred Years War, reconquering all areas that had been ceded in 1360, allowing for an attack on the English coast for the first time since the war's beginning. On top of all of this, he dealt with constant opposition and insurrection which he dealt with successfully and decisively.

Louis XI - A ruthlessly pragmatic ruler possessing a sharp wit and a mind for intrigue, he established a network of political control by which he governed the country actively. He ended the Hundred Years War with France at the mastery, driving the English out of the country, and successfully secured a favorable occupant of the English throne through his meddling in the Wars of the Roses without spilling a drop of French blood. He decisively defeated the powerful Burgundians under Charles the Bold, bringing Burgundy back firmly under French control, and began the Italian Wars with a major success. He was a very modern ruler in his style and prefaced the later period of the monarchy.

Francis I - Single-handedly kicked off the French Renaissance through his prodigious sponsorship of the arts and education, began French exploration and settlement in the Americas, and standardized the French language and writing as well as promoting the vernacular as a language of learning over Latin. His alliance with the Ottoman Empire was a prudent strategic move and allowed for Ottoman cultural influence to spread to the west, including the first instruction of the Arabic language in a western university. He also presided over some success in the ongoing Italian Wars which France was already involved in.

Henri IV - Presided over a kingdom roiling in turbulency by religious tolerance through such acts as the Edict of Nantes and his conversion to Catholicism to prevent further civil war. He took great care for his people and promoted numerous public works projects including highways, bridges, canals, agricultural expansion, and the draining of swamps. He began some of the first programs aimed at preventing deforestation.

Louis XIV - Curtailed the nobility to such a degree that they would never again pose a threat to the king; centralized the realm into the form of a modern nation-state through bureaucratic regularization and the abolition of the remnants of feudalism. Waged numerous successful wars which brought France's borders to roughly their modern shape. Put a Frenchman on the Spanish throne, ending once and for all the threat of Spain to France's south.

Napoleon I - Among the greatest military commanders in history, he brought Europe to its knees before an ascendant France, expanding French borders to a gross degree during his rule. He gave France a new legal code which serves as the basis for European legal codes to this day. His code, establishing the bourgeois property rights, secular education, religious tolerance, and equality before the law was the final spear in the heart of feudalism.
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