Part 1, A Curse; Chapter's 1-3 Summary and Analysis

The novel of 'The Iron King' by Maurice Druon begins in the year 1307, and is set in the kingdoms of Early Medieval France and England. The novel concerns itself with the loves, lives and politicking of one of the first 'Capetian' ruling families (King Philip the Fourth, otherwise known as Philip the Fair). Kind Philip brought about the changes that turned France from a feudal kingdom into the model of one of the first Nation States of Europe. Previous to this the Kingdoms of England, Germania, Normandy, even as far as Spain and Turkey were all divisively ruled by interior barons, dukes and lesser nobles with the sole 'super-power' being that of the Holy Roman Church and the Papacy. During the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries we saw the different monarchs, emperors and...