power or by more modest houses, newly elevated to regal status.
The relative insecurity and instability of dynastic politics, based upon the unpredictable consequences of usurpations, marriage alliances, and the procreation of male heirs, led to the emergence of important distinctions between the person of the ruler and the impersonal office or dignity of kingship. Some of the increasingly elaborate ceremony and display which surrounded rulers at this time stemmed from this notion, and the idea of an impersonal 'crown' which survived the vagaries of dynastic fortune and the removal of mortal kings from power gained added emphasis. Possession of the insignia of kingship or princely rule was of the highest importance--hence Edward I of England's capture of the crown of the Welsh princes and the ceremonial stone of Scone from the Scottish kings, or the purchase by Matthias Corvinus ( 1458-90) of St Stephen's crown, the sacred symbol of Hungarian kingship, from the Emperor Frederick III. Charles the Bold of Burgundy ( 146777) sought a crown, but had to be content with an archducal hat.
The two most significant developments in western European politics at this period were first, the rise of the Capetian house of France to the zenith of its prestige and power under Louis IX ( 1226-70) and secondly, the emergence of a new political and dynastic force which lay between France and the German Empire--the Valois house of Burgundy ( 1363-1477). Under Philip Augustus ( 1180-1223) the Capetian monarchy of France had extended its territorial and jurisdictional boundaries to embrace Normandy ( 1204), and much of the Languedoc began to be more closely subjected to Capetian influence. The Albigensian Crusades, initiated by Louis IX against the Cathar heretics, led to a political as well as religious dominance of northern Frenchmen over the south. With the extinction of the old Raymondin counts of Toulouse who had governed much of the Languedoc, Louis IX created a great apanage, or prin-
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