WHEN CHIEFS BECOME KINGS

CHIEFS APPEAR

WHEN PROFIT-SEEKING OVERWHELMS VILLAGE DYKES

With further growth they yield to kings,

whom sacred power reinforces 

• In traditional Africa,

a newly-rich man is admired 

if he shares his wealth,

tolerated if he spends it 

and sanctioned if he keeps it

Les cahiers d'Afrique / Internet

Griots -- traditional singers -- follow him, chanting praises that turn into mockery of his servile origins unless he gives the tip they expect: that is, unless he siphons off resources to reinforce the social order.

Expecting immigrants to bring gifts when they return to the village, and pestering them if they don't distribute enough, makes the same point.

• Kings control more complex societies
and magic reinforces them.
In France

° Sanctification at Reims
gives them magic power

The central panel of Joan's story as shown at the Panthéon, by Jules Lepneveu, end 19th century

The height of Joan of Arc's epic is persuading the Crown Prince to make the journey through English-held territory and be crowned at Reims.

Cavalcade of Louis XV after the sanctification, October 16, 1722 by Martin le Jeune

Sanctification lasts several days: vigil, ceremony, banquet, cavalcade.

Henri II's Book of Hours, about 1540

Then the king cures scrofula by his touch. 

-- The classic study:

 The royal touch: monarchy and miracles in France and England

by Marc Bloch, 1923

Monarchs are mediators with the ancestors,
divine rulers or representatives of God:
They maintain the cosmic harmony.

Translation
(since they can't influence nature): 
They maintain the social harmony
by containing what threatens it --
notably the search for profit. 

  
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Next,

The grandiose destruction of wealth