7. At this period the greater part of France was held by almost independent lords. Louis Le Gros (1108-1137) was the first ruler who succeeded in combining the whole under his scepter. He promoted the establishment of the feudal system, abolished serfdom on his own estates, secured corporate rights to the cities under his jurisdiction, gave efficiency to the central authority of the Crown, carried on a war against Henry I., of England; and when the latter allied himself with the Emperor Henry V., of Germany, against France, he brought into the field an army of 200,000 men. [Illustration: MAP OF FRANCE] 8. The _Oriflamme_ is said to have been borne aloft for the first time on this occasion as the national standard. 9. Louis VII. (1137-’80) was almost incessantly engaged in war with Henry II., of England. 10. His son and successor, Philippe Auguste (1180-1223), recovered Normandy, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou from John of England. He took an active personal share in the crusades. Philippe was the first to levy a tax for the maintenance of the standing army. 11. Many noble institutions date their origin from this reign, as the University of Paris, the Louvre, etc. 12. Louis IX. effected many modifications in the fiscal department, and, before his departure for the crusades, secured the rights of the Gallican church by special statute, in order to counteract the constantly increasing assumptions of the Papal power. 13. Philippe IV. (1285-1314), surnamed _Le Bel_, acquired Navarre, Champagne, and Brie by marriage. 14. Charles IV. (_Le Bel_, 1321-’28) was the last direct descendant of the Capetian line. 15. Philippe VI., the first of the House of Valois (1328-’50), succeeded in right of the Salic law. His reign, and those of his successors, Jean (1350-’64) and Charles V. (_Le Sage_, 1364-’80), were disturbed by constant wars with Edward III., of England. Hostilities began in 1339; in 1346 the ~Battle of Crécy~ was fought; at the battle of Poitiers (1356) Jean was made captive; and before the final close, after the death of Edward (1377), the state was reduced to bankruptcy. 16. During the regency for the minor, Charles VI. (_Le Bien Aime_, 1380-1422), the war was renewed with increased vigor on the part of the English nation. 17. The signal victory won by the English at Agincourt in 1415 aided Henry in his attempts upon the throne. But the extraordinary influence exercised over her countrymen by ~Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans~, aided in bringing about a thorough reaction, and, after a period of murder, rapine and anarchy, Charles VII. (_Le Victorieux_, 1422-’61) was crowned at Rheims. 18. His successor, Louis XI. (1461-’83), succeeded in recovering for the Crown the territories of Maine, Anjou and Provence, while he made himself master of some portions of the territories of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.