France

The Kingdom of France, ruled from Paris, was the most populous realm of Latin Christendom. In 1337 the Valois king Philip VI declared Gascony confiscated, and Edward III of England answered by pressing his claim to the French crown through his mother.

The Hundred Years' War brought defeats at Crécy and Agincourt before Joan of Arc relieved Orléans in 1429; by 1453 England held only Calais. The crown spent its strength on Italy and on the Wars of Religion, which Henry IV closed with the Edict of Nantes in 1598. Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles and made France the leading power of Europe, with colonies from Quebec to Pondicherry. The Revolution of 1789 ended the old monarchy, and Napoleon's empire dominated the continent until the Bourbons returned in 1814.