Abstract: In recent years, the study of European urban history has witnessed the rise of the national perspective. Different from the tradition of emphasizing autonomous cities, this new perspective focuses on the interaction between a nation-state and its cities, and examines the nation-state development by investigating the cities. The construction of France as a nation-state is a long process of temporal and spatial evolution. It was not merely a product of modern construction, since the development of the city in the late Middle Ages had laid a spatial foundation for it. The control of the feudal territory and the expansion of the border areas by the Valois Dynasty effectively promoted the formation of the monarchy's territorial state. In order to effectively control the country and expand the territory, the crown convened hierarchical councils in regional central cities, set up courts, integrated national transportation and strengthened national economic layout, developed national markets in major cities and transformed frontier cities. These measures reflected the creation of France as a modern nation-state based on cities and centered on strengthening the kingship. Studying the formation of a country by investigating a city provides us with a new perspective.

Key words: France, late Middle Ages, state formation, city