France in the Middle Ages is a decentralized, feudal monarchy.

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 establishea the principle of male primogeniture, which became 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 expandshis absolute power, albeit in an administrative system (the Ancien Régime) complicated by historic and regional irregularities in taxation, legal, judicial, and ecclesiastic divisions, and local prerogatives.

Religiously France becomes 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 to the Huguenots in the Edict of Nantes.