The author demonstrates that medieval assemblies have a significant history well before the great age of parliaments and Estates. He deals with assemblies, council, and consent, and shows how the older procedures were transformed by the increasingly bureaucratic Capetian governments after the royal conquest of Languedoc in the 13th century. Originally published in 1964. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.