The Kingdom of France is a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe, the predecessor of the modern French Republic.

It is one of the most powerful states in Europe, a great power since the Late Middle Ages and the Hundred Years' War.

It is also an early colonial power, with significant possessions in North America.France had originated as West Francia (Francia Occidentalis), the western half of the Carolingian empire, with the Treaty of Verdun (843).

A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, when Hugh Capet is elected king and foundesthe Capetian dynasty.

The territory remains known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum ("king of the Franks") well into the High Middle Ages.

The first king calling himself roi de France ("king of France") is Philip II, in 1190.

France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy is overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution.France in the Middle Ages is a decentralized, feudal state.

In Brittany and Catalonia (now a part of Spain) the authority of the French king is barely felt.

Lorraine and Provence are states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France.

Initially, West Frankish kings are elected by the secular and ecclesiastic magnates, but the regular coronation of the eldest son of the reigning king during his father's lifetime establishes the principle of male primogeniture, which becomes codified in the Salic law.

During the late Middle Ages, the Kings of England lay claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453).

Subsequently France seeks to extend its influence into Italy, but is defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars (1494–1559).France in the early modern era is increasingly centralized, the French language begins to displace other languages from official use, and the monarch rules with near absolute power.

Religiously France beccomes divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots.

After a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion (1562–1598), tolerance is granted the Huguenots in the Edict of Nantes.

France lays claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France.

Wars with Great Britain lead to the loss of much of this territory by 1763.

French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helps secure the independence of the new United States of America.The Kingdom of France adopts a written constitution in 1791, but it is abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic.

The monarchy is restored by the other great powers in 1814 and lasts—except for the Hundred Days in 1815—until the French Revolution of 1848.