English summary: Between the alleged terrors of the Year One Thousand and the cruelly tenacious Black Plague, France endured three and one-half centuries that permanently shaped its borders, landscapes, institutions and society. During that time, the Capetian kings, from Louis VI ("the Fat") to Philip IV ("the Fair"), continually truggled to impose themselves as supreme rulers over the feudal lords. They subjugated their most influential vassals and fought their Plantagenet neighbours in order to enlarge the kingdom of France, which was then reaching the zenith of its demographic, agricultural and trade development.It was within this historical framework that the French cathedrals (Notre Dame de Paris: 1163-1260 and Reims: (1211-1311) were built and the Popes settled in Avignon.Intellectually, it was the era in which Le Roman de Renart was written, as well as the works of Abelard andof Chretien de Troyes. It was during these momentous social changes that the written word began to replace the French oral tradition and knights were finally eligible for the nobility, while in the cities, the working-class bourgeoisie succeeded in gaining representation on municipal councils. These changes did not occur without occasional setbacks: the next three centuries were marked by feudal clashes, peasant rebellions, protests in academic circles and turbulent heretical ferment.It is this stormy historical period that readers will explore in this volume, which-in keeping with the spirit of the Collection-offers a panoramic historical view of the era, along with thematic chapters, chronologies, maps, biographical notes and many previously unpublished iconographic documents.Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu holds an agregation degree in History and she is a specialist in Medieval Studies. Research director at the CNRS and lecturer at the Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines. French description: Entre les pretendues terreurs de l'An mil et le fleau bien present de la Peste Noire, la France a traverse trois siecles et demi qui ont faconne durablement ses frontieres, ses paysages, ses institutions et sa societe.Durant cette periode, les rois capetiens (de Louis VI le Gros a Philippe le Bel) ont lutte pour faire reconnaitre leur autorite supreme au dessus de la pyramide feodale. Ils ont brise la resistance de leurs grands vassaux et affronte leurs voisins Plantagenet pour agrandir le royaume de France, alors en plein essor demographique, agricole et commercial.C'est dans ce cadre que s'edifierent les cathedrales (Notre Dame de Paris (1163-1260), Reims (1211-1311)), que les Papes s'installerent a Avignon et que, sur le plan intellectuel, s'ecrivirent Le Roman de Renart, les oeuvres d'Abelard ou de Chrestien de Troyes.Dans cette societe en mouvement, l'ecrit s'est impose au detriment de l'oral, les chevaliers ont reussi a integrer la noblesse, tandis que, dans les villes, la bourgeoisie laborieuse reussissait a acceder au pouvoir communal.Ces evolutions ne se sont pas produites sans heurts: violence feodale, revoltes paysannes, contestations universitaires et bouillonnements heretiques ont aussi ponctue ces trois siecles.C'est cette histoire mouvementee que le lecteur decouvrira dans ce volume qui, fidele au principe de la collection, propose un apercu historique de toute la periode, des chapitres thematiques, des chronologies, des cartes, des notices biographiques et de nombreux documents iconographiques inedits.