Charlemagne (768-814) was the first of the kings of the early Middle Ages to think about changing the foundations of royal power. To this he was prompted by a significant expansion of the boundaries of the Frankish kingdom, which in 800 was declared a restored empire. All the conquests of Charles would have been meaningless if they had not been backed up by the creation of an effective government. Charles took two paths at the same time, building his kingdom on new foundations, and both of these paths eventually turned out to be successful. Firstly, Charles began to send his representatives, counts, to the most important areas of the state (in the border areas - "marks" - they were called margraves). The earls supervised the execution of royal orders and oversaw the activities of local courts. The successors of Charles, the German emperors of the Saxon dynasty (X century), considered that it would be even more convenient to rely on the places not on the counts, but on the bishops, and completely put them under their control.
Charles saw the second way to strengthen royal power in tying large landowners-seniors to the king, making them representatives of the king in the field. Charles secured great rights for the lords, turning them essentially into sovereign masters of vast areas, but he bound them with an oath to the king and an obligation to observe state interests.
The advantages of Karl's plan did not come to light immediately. The first path of development of the medieval kingdom eventually led it to the most acute conflict with the church, the second - to the rapid growth of feudal relations and feudal fragmentation. But there was simply no other way for the emergence of medieval statehood. Medieval society was very fragmented, it consisted of the smallest "atoms" and "molecules"; royal power could not grasp it "from above", to bind all these atoms and molecules together. It was wiser to leave the long and painstaking work of "binding" to those who were as close as possible to the communities, associations of artisans and peasant households - counts and barons, knights and bishops.
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From the 9th century royal power in Europe enters a period of its long formation. Until the end of the XI century. feudal freemen had a clear advantage over kings in most European countries. Suffice it to say that the domain (personal possessions) of the French king was at that time much smaller than the domains of many of his vassals. This meant that the king, in his relations with the counts and dukes, could only count on their loyalty to the vassal oath; he most often was not capable of forcing them into obedience. It was at this time that ideas about the king as the “first among equals” were formed, with which the European nobility of the late Middle Ages would amuse itself for a long time to come.
The XII century will become the century of the true emergence of the medieval kingdom as a formidable force capable of breaking any recalcitrant subject of the king. Even the people of the church cannot feel safe; all of Europe was shocked when news reached England that, in order to please King Henry II (1154-1189), several knights had killed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. The same Henry II in his message to the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Frederick I Barbarossa proudly wrote: “Each king is an emperor in his kingdom”, thereby rejecting Frederick’s claims to a special position among European monarchs. What was the reason for the rapid strengthening of royal power in England and, somewhat later, in France?
The first reason was undoubtedly the rapid growth of cities. In the cities, the royal power found reliable allies in the fight against recalcitrant lords. It is important that these were wealthy allies. City money allowed to significantly replenish the royal treasury. England and France gradually established an orderly collection of royal taxes; the money of the treasury made it possible to keep in place paid royal officials defending the interests of the crown. In England they were sheriffs, in France they were prevosts, baileys and seneschals. The English kings began to levy a tax on the knights (“shield money”), freeing them from military service in return. With the proceeds, the king hired the required number of soldiers, thereby becoming independent from recalcitrant vassals.
