Hugues Capet, roi des Francs

HUGUES, son of HUGUES “le Grand” Duc des Francs & his third wife Hedwig of Germany ([940]-villa "Les Juifs", near Prasville, Eure-et-Loire 24 Oct 996, bur église de l'Abbaye royale de Saint-Denis). The Historia Francorum Senonensis names (in order) "Hugo, Otto et Heinricus" as the three sons of "Hugo Magnus dux Francorum…ex filia Odonis regis"[142]. Flodoard names "Hugonem et Oddonem clericum" as brothers of "Otto filius Hugonis", when he records that the rectores of Burgundy named them as his successors[143]. Rodulfus Glauber names "Hugoni, Parisiensis ducis filio…illius Magni Hugonis", specifying that his mother was "Ottone…sorore"[144]. His father named Richard Comte [de Normandie] as Hugues's guardian in 956, the arrangement being confirmed by Richard's betrothal to the sister of Hugues. The Annales Nivernenses record in 958 that "rex et mater sua et Ugo filius Ugonis et mater sua" attended a hearing "apud Marziacum vicum iuxta Nevernis…contra Guillelmum comitem Aquitaniæ post missa sancti Martini"[145]. He was installed as Duc des Francs/dux Francorum by Lothaire King of the West Franks in 960. By 974, Hugues had become effective leader of France under King Lothaire and headed the army which retook the kingdom of Lotharingia from Otto II King of Germany in 978[146]. He was elected HUGUES "Capet" King of France by an assembly of nobles at Senlis 29 May 987, after the death of Louis V King of France. He was consecrated at Noyon 1 Jun 987. Charles Duke of Lotharingia, the late king's uncle who opposed the accession of King Hugues, captured Laon in [May] 988, and Reims in [Aug/Sep] 989, with the help of his nephew Arnoul Archbishop of Reims, but was finally captured at Laon in 991[147]. The Historia Francorum Senonensis records the death in 998 of "Hugo rex" and his burial "in basilica beati Dyonisii martiris Parisius"[148]. The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "IX Kal Nov" of "Hugo rex"[149].

m ([968]%29 ADELAIS [de Poitou, daughter of GUILLAUME III “Tête d'Etoupes” Duke of Aquitaine [GUILLAUME I Comte de Poitou] & his wife Adela [Gerloc] de Normandie] ([950/55]-15 Jun [1004]). There is some doubt about Adelais´s ancestry. The 11th century Translatio S. Maglorii et aliorum names "Adelaide…filia Pictavorum comitis, de progenie Caroli Magni" as the wife of "Hugone, Francorum duce", clarifying that the latter refers to Hugues "Capet" King of France when it names "Roberto…rege, memorati ducis filio"[150]. This Poitevin origin is also suggested by Richer when he records that King Robert "ob nepotem suum Wilelmum" besieged "in Aquitania…Hildebertum"[151]. It is assumed that such a relationship between King Robert and Duke Guillaume would be through the king's mother as no family connection through his father has been established. Some doubt is introduced by the Chronicle of Ademar de Chabannes which recounts the dispute between "Dux Aquitanorum Willelmus" and King Hugues, as well as the subsequent peace agreed between the parties in 990, without mentioning that the duke was the king's brother-in-law[152], all the more surprising if the Poitevin origin is correct as Ademar concentrates on Poitevin affairs and includes genealogical details in his narrative. Another possible ancestry is suggested by Helgaud's Vita Roberti Regis which names "Rex Francorum Rotbertus…patre Hugone, matre Adhelaide", specifying that "ab Ausonis partibus descenderat"[153]. Settipani equates "Ausonia" with Rome or Italy[154], although no other reference to an Italian origin for Adelais has yet been identified. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines refers to the mother of "rex Francorum Robertus" as "superiorem regum Anglie soror"[155], but it is difficult to see to whom this could refer or how it could be correct. The paucity of references in contemporary sources to the wife of Hugues Capet and her origin contrasts with the frequent references to his mother and to the wives of his son King Robert II. This suggests that the background of Queen Adelais may have been obscure and that her family had little political influence at the time, although this would be surprising as her husband already enjoyed a position of some power at the Carolingian court at the time of his marriage. Maybe her family was prominent when the couple married but suffered a subsequent decline by the time her husband was elected king. Nevertheless, an Aquitainian marriage would have fitted the political circumstances of the time. After several decades of dispute between the Capet and Poitou families, a permanent peace appears to have been established from about the time the marriage took place[156]. The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "XVII Kal Jul" of "Adelaidis regina"[157].

Mistress (1): ---. The name of King Hugues's possible mistress is not known.]

King Hugues & his wife had three children:

1. GISELA de France ([970][158]-). The Chronique de Saint Riquier records that Hugues "Capet" King of France granted the château d'Abbeville "à un chevalier nommé Hugues" who had married the king's daughter "Gisèle"[159]. m (before 987) HUGUES ---, son of --- (-4 Jul [1000]). Hugues Capet King of France separated Abbeville, Ancre and Domart from the Abbaye de Saint-Riquier and gave them to Hugues, who was known as the avoué de Saint-Riquier[160]. These territories became the foundation of the county of Ponthieu.

2. HEDWIGE [Avoie] de France ([969][161]-after 1013). The Genealogiæ Scriptoris Fusniacensis names "Robertum regem et filiam Hadevidem…comitissam Hainonensium" as the children of King Hugues[162]. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines also names "soror regis Roberti Hadwidis" as wife of "Rainero comiti de Hainaco, fratri Lamberti comitis de Lovanio"[163]. Sigebert's Chronica records in 977 that "Raginerus" married "Hathuidem filiam Hugonis postea regis"[164]. "Comes Raginerus et Hathuidis coniux" are named in the Gesta of Gembloux Abbey[165]. Her brother gave her the towns of Couvin, Fraisne, Nîme, Eve and Bens [all now in Belgium] as her dowry on her marriage. "Raginero comite…et Hathuidis coniunx eius" donated property at Gion to Gembloux by charter dated to [1013][166]. "Heinricus…Romanorum imperator augustus" took into his protection the abbey of Florennes founded by "Gerardus…in primis meus capellanus postea…Cameracensis episcopus effectus et fratres sui Godefridus et Arnulphus" by charter dated 1018, which refers to earlier donations of property by "comitissa Hawidis, annuentibus filiis suis comite Raginero et Lamberto"[167]. "Chuonradus…Romanorum imperator augustus" confirmed the foundation of Florennes abbey by charter dated 1033, which records among others the donation of "comitissa Hadegundis, annuentibus comite Raginero et Lamberto filiis suis…in Prona sita in pago Haynomensi"[168]. The identity of "comitissa Hawidis/Hadegundis", and therefore the existence of Lambert, supposed brother of Reginar [V] Comte de Hainaut, is not certain. Hedwige, wife of Reginar [IV] Comte de Hainaut, is the most obvious candidate. If this is correct, the donation must have been made after her husband's death in 1013 as he is not named in the document. The other possibility is that the donor was the mother of Reginar [IV] Comte de Hainaut and his brother Lambert [I] Comte de Louvain. However, the name of the wife of their father, Reginar [III] Graf im Maasgau, is recorded elsewhere as Adela (see the document BRABANT). m ([996]%29 REGINAR IV Comte de Hainaut, son of REGINAR [III] Graf im Maasgau & his wife Adela [von Dachsburg] (after 947-1013).

3. ROBERT de France (Orléans ([27 Mar] 972-Château de Melun 20 Jul 1031, bur église de l'Abbaye royale de Saint-Denis). The Genealogiæ Scriptoris Fusniacensis names "Robertum regem et filiam Hadevidem…comitissam Hainonensium" as the children of King Hugues[169]. He was consecrated Associate-King 25 Dec 987, Cathedral of Sainte-Croix d’Orléans. He succeeded his father in 996 as ROBERT II "le Pieux" King of France.

King Hugues had one possible illegitimate son by Mistress (1):

4. [GAUCELIN ] (-Châtillon Priory 1030, bur Fleury). Ademar refers to "abbatem Gauzlenum" being ordained at "sancti Benedicti" by "Rex Rotbertus". The text continues by explaining that he was "nobilissimi Francorum principis filius manzer, a puero in monasterio sancti Benedicti nutritus", specifying that "rex supra scriptus [=Rotbertus]" later installed him as "archiepiscopum Bituricensibus" after the death of Archbishop Dagbert[170]. André de Fleury´s Vita Gauzlini records that “Gauzlinus” was “ex liberiori totius Galliæ stirpe fertur ingenuam genituram excepisse”[171]. These oblique references have been interpreted as meaning that the father of Gauzlin was King Hugues "Capet"[172], although this is not beyond doubt. Kerrebrouck also casts doubt on this assumed paternity of Gauzlin[173]. Abbot of Fleury [1005]. Archbishop of Bourges 1013. André de Fleury´s Vita Gauzlini records the death of Gaucelin “Castellionis” and in a later passage his burial “Floriacum”[174].]
https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/CAPET.htm#_Toc151056321

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Reign: 3 July 987 – 24 October 996

Coronation: 3 July 987, Noyons

Titles: Duke of the Franks, Count of Paris (956 – 987)

Hugh Capet (c 940 – 24 October 996) was the first King of France of the eponymous Capetian dynasty from his election to succeed the Carolingian Louis V in 987 until his death.

Hugh Capet descended from the Robertians and was the son of Hugh the Great, Duke of France, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of the German king Henry the Fowler,

Hugh was born about 940. His paternal family, the Robertians, were powerful landowners in the Île-de-France. His grandfather had been King Robert I and his grandmother Beatrice was a Carolingian, a daughter of Herbert I of Vermandois. King Odo was his great uncle and King Rudolph Odo's son-in-law.

Hugh was born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the reigning nobility of Europe. But for all this, Hugh's father was never king. When Rudolph died in 936, Hugh the Great organized the return of Louis d'Outremer, son of Charles the Simple, from his exile at the court of Athelstan of England. Hugh's motives are unknown, but it is presumed that he acted to forestall Rudolph's brother and successor as Duke of Burgundy, Hugh the Black from taking the French throne, or to prevent it from falling into the grasping hands of Herbert II of Vermandois or William Longsword, Count of Rouen.

In 956, Hugh inherited his father's estates and became one of the most powerful nobles in the much-reduced West Frankish kingdom. However, as he was not yet an adult, his uncle Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne, acted as regent.

Young Hugh's neighbours made the most of the opportunity. Theobald I of Blois, a former vassal of Hugh the Great, took the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun. Further south, on the border of the kingdom, Fulk II of Anjou, another former client of Hugh the Great, carved out a principality at Hugh's expense and that of the Bretons.

The kingdom in which Hugh grew up, and of which he would one day be king, bore no resemblance to modern France. Hugh's predecessors did not call themselves rois de France ("Kings of France"), and that title was not used until the time of his distant descendant Philip the Fair (died 1314).

Kings ruled as rex Francorum ("King of the Franks") and the lands over which they ruled comprised only a very small part of the former Carolingian Empire. The eastern Frankish lands, the Holy Roman Empire (Ben M. Angel notes: the HRE was created by Hugh's grandfather, Henry the Fowler - it was a successor state to the Kingdom of the Eastern Franks, and an entity separate of that of Charlemagne, who considered himself Emperor of the Romans, not Holy Roman Emperor), were ruled by the Ottonian dynasty, represented by Hugh's first cousin Otto II and then by Otto's son, Otto III.

The lands south of the river Loire had largely ceased to be part of the West Frankish kingdom in the years after Charles the Simple was deposed in 922. The Duchy of Normandy and the Duchy of Burgundy were largely independent, and Brittany entirely so, although from 956 Burgundy was ruled by Hugh's brothers Odo and Henry.

From 978 to 986, Hugh Capet allied himself with the German emperors Otto II and Otto III and with Archbishop Adalberon of Reims to dominate the Carolingian king, Lothair. By 986, he was king in all but name. After Lothair and his son died in early 987, the archbishop of Reims and Gerbert of Aurillac convened an assembly of nobles to elect Hugh Capet as their king.

In front of an electoral assembly at Senlis, Adalberon gave a stirring oration and pleaded to the nobles:

"Crown the Duke. He is most illustrious by his exploits, his nobility, his forces. The throne is not acquired by hereditary right; no one should be raised to it unless distinguished not only for nobility of birth, but for the goodness of his soul."

He was elected and crowned rex Francorum at Noyon in Picardy on 3 July 987, by the prelate of Reims, the first of the house that would later bear his name to rule France. Immediately after his coronation, Hugh began to push for the coronation of his son Robert. Hugh's own claimed reason was that he was planning an expedition against the Moorish armies harassing Borrel II of Barcelona, an invasion which never occurred, and that the stability of the country necessitated two kings should he die while on expedition.

Ralph Glaber, however, attributes Hugh's request to his old age and inability to contol the nobility. Modern scholarship has largely imputed to Hugh the motive of establishing a dynasty against the pretension of electoral power on the part of the aristocracy, but this is not the typical view of contemporaries and even some modern scholars have been less sceptical of Hugh's "plan" to campaign in Spain.

Robert was eventually crowned on 30 December that same year.

Hugh Capet possessed minor properties near Chartres and Angers. Between Paris and Orléans he possessed towns and estates amounting to approximately 400 square miles (1,000 km²). His authority ended there, and if he dared travel outside his small area, he risked being captured and held for ransom, though, as God's anointed, his life was largely safe.

Indeed, there was a plot in 993, masterminded by the Bishop of Laon and Odo I of Blois, to deliver Hugh Capet into the custody of Otto III. The plot failed, but the fact that no one was punished illustrates how tenuous his hold on power was.

Beyond his power base, in the rest of France, there were still as many codes of law as there were fiefdoms. The "country" operated with 150 different forms of currency and at least a dozen languages. Uniting all this into one cohesive unit was a formidable task and a constant struggle between those who wore the crown of France and its feudal lords. As such, Hugh Capet's reign was marked by numerous power struggles with the vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire.

While Hugh Capet's military power was limited and he had to seek military aid from Richard I of Normandy, his unanimous election as king gave him great moral authority and influence. Adémar de Chabannes records, probably apocryphally, that during an argument with the Count of Auvergne, Hugh demanded of him: "Who made you count?" The count riposted: "Who made you king?"

Hugh made Arnulf Archbishop of Reims in 988, even though Arnulf was the nephew of the his bitter rival, Charles of Lorraine. Charles thereupon succeeded in capturing Reims and took the archbishop prisoner. Hugh, however, considered Arnulf a turncoat and demanded his deposition by Pope John XV.

The turn of events outran the messages, when Hugh captured both Charles and Arnulf and convoked a synod at Reims in June 991, which obediently deposed Arnulf and chose as his successor Gerbert of Aurillac. These proceedings were repudiated by Rome, although a second synod had ratified the decrees issued at Reims. John XV summoned the French bishops to hold an independent synod outside the King's realm, at Aachen, to reconsider the case. When they refused, he called them to Rome, but they protested that the unsettled conditions en route and in Rome made that impossible. The Pope then sent a legate with instructions to call a council of French and German bishops at Mousson, where only the German bishops appeared, the French being stopped on the way by Hugh and Robert.

Through the exertions of the legate, the deposition of Arnulf was finally pronounced illegal. After Hugh's death, Arnulf was released from his imprisonment and soon restored to all his dignities.

Hugh Capet died on 24 October 996 in Paris and was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica. His son Robert continued to reign.

Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris, he made it his power center. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from there.

He is regarded as the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by collateral branches of the dynasty. All French Kings down to Louis Philippe, and royal pretenders since then, have been members of the dynasty (the Bonapartes styled themselves emperors rather than kings).

Today, the Capetian dynasty is still the head of state in the kingdom of Spain (in the person of the double Bourbon Juan Carlos) and the duchy of Luxembourg, being the oldest continuously reigning dynasty in Europe.

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There is no information on where Hugh Capet was born. If to try and determine it on our own, these are the events around the time of Hugh Capet's birth:

936: January, Rudolf/Raoul, Duke of Burgundy dies. Hugh refuses the throne of the King of the Franks, supporting the candidacy of Louis d'Outremer IV instead. (Hugh's residence: Laon.)

936: June 19, Louis IV is coroneted King of the Franks at Laon by Artaud, Archbishop of Rheims.

936: July 2, Heinrich I of Saxony, considered to be the father of the Holy Roman Empire (though this name doesn't appear for another 500 years), dies at the family palace in Memleben, Thuringia, of a stroke. His son Otto I becomes Emperor of the Eastern Franks (described 500 years later as the first Holy Roman Emperor). He spends much of his early years putting down rebellions.

936: July 25, Louis IV appoints Hugh the Great as Duke of the Franks. Hugh was also made Comte d'Auxerre around this time (residence still Laon).

936: December 26, Louis IV clarifies that Hugh the Great is his second in command.

937 or 938: Hugh marries Hedwig of Saxony, daughter of the first King of Germany Heinrich I the Fowler of Saxony. Louis IV, in contrast, accepts the fealty of Gilbert of Lorraine/Lotharingia, with whom he promises more autonomy. This triggers eventual war between the East and West Franks, and stress between the Louis IV and his Duke, Hugh.

938 (at least 9 months after their marriage), Hedwig gives birth to their first-born, Beatrice.

939: Hugh Capet likely conceived before the final break between Hugh the Great and Louis IV and resulting military campaigns. (Residency likely Laon at conception, but may not have remained Laon throughout the pregnancy, presuming 940 birth year.)

939: October 2, Gilbert is defeated at the Battle of Andernach, and is drowned while trying to flee across the Rhine. This ends Louis IV's campaign to obtain Lorraine/Lotharingia, and opens his kingdom to attack. Henry I of Bavaria, seeing the writing on the wall, leaves Louis IV's side and over the next two years reconciles with Emperor Otto, and is given Lorraine/Lotharingia. Henry later breaks with Otto and is forced from his new duchy.

940: By this time, Louis IV turns on Hugh the Great (or perhaps the other way around). Louis IV fears that Hugh holds the real power as their interests become opposite to each other. Louis raises an army and attacks Hugh, but is defeated near Rheims. Hugh sides with the Emperor Otto I as he invades from Lorraine to punish Louis. (Residence: maybe Laon, but unclear.)

942: Emperor Otto I advances on the Seine River, and forces Louis IV to cede control of Burgundy. (Residence: uncertain.)

943: Hugh the Great establishes his authority over Burgundy by agreement with Otto I. Emma, Hugh Capet's younger sister, is born around this time. (Residency, likely in Burgundy.)

945: Louis IV is captured by Vikings (Normans), who hand him over to Hugh the Great. Under pressure from the Holy Roman Emperor, Hugh the Great releases King Louis IV, but only on the condition that he receives Laon. (Residency likely at this time Laon.)

Conclusion: It could be that Hugh Capet was born in Laon, but there is nothing that confirms this, and he could have been born in another location (such as somewhere within Eastern Franconia - his father Hugh the Great's ally at the time).

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Uncertain of source (it's not Spanish Wikipedia), Biography of Hugh Capet in Spanish:

Hugo Capeto (nacido hacia el año 940 y muerto en Les Juifs, Chartres, el 24 de octubre de 996) fue rey de Francia entre 987 y 996, inició la Dinastía de los Capetos.

Hijo de Hugo el Grande, duque de Francia, perteneciente a la Casa Robertina. En 960 sucedió a su padre como duque de Francia, conde de Orleans y abad laico de Saint-Martin de Tours, de Marmoutier, de Saint-Germain-des-Prés y de Saint-Denis.

Se casó el año 968 con Adelaida de Aquitania. De este matrimonio nacieron cuatro hijos:

1. Gisela (970 - 1000), casada con Hugo I de Ponthieu;

2. Edwige (969 - 1013), casada hacia el 996 con Rainiero IV de Hainaut y posteriormente con Hugo III de Dasbourg;

Roberto el Piadoso (972 - 1031), rey de Francia con el nombre de Roberto II;

3. Adelaida (973 - 1068).

En el año 978 estuvo al frente de la defensa de la ciudad de París frente a un ataque del emperador alemán Otón II.

Al morir el rey Luis V el Holgazán, último en la línea directa de los carolingios, fue elegido rey de Francia por una asamblea reunida en Senlis. Fue proclamado rey en Noyon y consagrado en Reims el 3 de julio de 987, venciendo la oposición de Carlos, duque de la Baja Lorena, tío de su predecesor. De la frase roi à la chape (por su investidura de abad) es llamado el Capeto.

En el mismo año consagró a su hijo Roberto para asegurarle la sucesión. Sus descendientes reinarían en Francia en forma directa hasta 1848, pues si bien la rama principal de los Capetos se extinguiría en 1328, las dinastías subsiguientes, (Valois, Borbones y Orleans), descienden asimismo por línea paterna directa de Hugo Capeto.

Le gustaba distinguirse de los caballeros de la época llevando una capa de corte peculiar. Por ello se le comenzó a llamar Capeto, que significa "el de la capa". Con el tiempo se convirtió en apellido.

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Notes:

1. Capet is a byname of uncertain meaning distinguishing him from his father Hugh the Great. Folk etymology connects it with cape, other suggested etymologies derive it from terms for chief, mocker or big head. See further fr:Capet (nom). His father's byname is presumed to have been retrospective, Latin: Hugo Magnus, meaning Hugh the Elder, this Hugh being Hugh the Younger, Capet being a 12th century addition; James, p. 183.

2. ^ For a fuller explanation of the descent and relationships of Hugh, see the genealogical tables in Riché, Les Carolingiens, pp. 399 ff.

References

1. Bordenove, Georges. Les Rois qui ont fait la France: Hugues Capet, le Fondateur. Paris: Marabout, 1986. ISBN 2-501-01099-X

2. Gauvard, Claude. La France au Moyen Âge du Ve au XVe siècle. Paris: PUF, 1996. 2-13-054205-0

3. James, Edward. The Origins of France: From Clovis to the Capetians 500-1000. London: Macmillan, 1982. ISBN 0312588623

4. Riché, Pierre. Les Carolingiens: Une famille qui fit l'Europe. Paris: Hachette, 1983. 2-012-78551-0

5. Theis, Laurent. Histoire du Moyen Âge français: Chronologie commentée 486-1453. Paris: Perrin, 1992. 2-87027-587-0

6. Lewis, Anthony W. "Anticipatory Association of the Heir in Early Capetian France." The American Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 4. (Oct., 1978), pp 906-927.

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From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy page on France Capetian Kings:

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/CAPET.htm#_Toc154137000

HUGUES, son of HUGUES “le Grand” Duc des Francs & his third wife Hedwig of Saxony ([940]-villa "Les Juifs", near Prasville, Eure-et-Loire 24 Oct 996, bur église de l'Abbaye royale de Saint-Denis).

The Historia Francorum Senonensis names (in order) "Hugo, Otto et Heinricus" as the three sons of "Hugo Magnus dux Francorum…ex filia Odonis regis"[116]. Flodoard names "Hugonem et Oddonem clericum" as brothers of "Otto filius Hugonis", when he records that the rectores of Burgundy named them as his successors[117]. Rodulfus Glauber names "Hugoni, Parisiensis ducis filio…illius Magni Hugonis", specifying that his mother was "Ottone…sorore"[118].

His father named Richard Comte [de Normandie] as Hugues's guardian in 956, the arrangement being confirmed by Richard's betrothal to the sister of Hugues. He was installed as Duc des Francs/dux Francorum by Lothaire King of France in 960.

By 974, Hugues had become effective leader of France under King Lothaire, and headed the army which retook the kingdom of Lotharingia from Otto II King of Germany in 978[119].

He was elected HUGUES "Capet" King of France by an assembly of nobles at Senlis 29 May 987, after the accidental death of Louis V King of France. He was consecrated at Noyon 1 Jun 987.

Charles Duke of Lotharingia, the late king's uncle, opposed the accession of King Hugues. He captured Laon [May] 988, and Reims [Aug/Sep] 989, with the help of his nephew Arnoul Archbishop of Reims, but was finally captured at Laon in 991[120].

The Historia Francorum Senonensis records the death in 998 of "Hugo rex" and his burial "in basilica beati Dyonisii martiris Parisius"[121]. The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "IX Kal Nov" of "Hugo rex"[122].

m ([968]%29 ADELAIS, daughter of --- ([950/55]-15 Jun [1004]).

There is uncertainty about the origin of Adelais. According to the 11th century Translation to Saint-Magloire[123], she was ADELAIS de Poitou, daughter of GUILLAUME III “Tête d'Etoupes” Duke of Aquitaine [GUILLAUME I Comte de Poitou] & his wife Adela [Gerloc] de Normandie. This Poitevin origin is also suggested by Richer when he records that King Robert "ob nepotem suum Wilelmum" besieged "in Aquitania…Hildebertum"[124]. It is assumed that such a relationship between King Robert and Duke Guillaume would be through the king's mother as no family connection through his father has been established.

The Chronicle of Ademar de Chabannes, on the other hand, recounts the dispute between "Dux Aquitanorum Willelmus" and King Hugues, as well as the subsequent peace agreed between the parties in 990, without mentioning that the duke was the king's brother-in-law[125], all the more surprising if the Poitevin origin is correct as Ademar concentrates on Poitevin affairs and also includes genealogical details in his narrative.

Helgaud's Vita Roberti Regis names "Rex Francorum Rotbertus…patre Hugone, matre Adhelaide", specifying that "ab Ausonis partibus descenderat"[126]. Settipani equates "Ausonia" with Rome or Italy[127], although no other reference to an Italian origin for Adelais has yet been identified.

The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines refers to the mother of "rex Francorum Robertus" as "superiorem regum Anglie soror"[128] but it is difficult to see to whom this could refer or how it could be correct.

The paucity of references in contemporary sources to the wife of Hugues Capet and her origin contrasts sharply with the frequent references to his mother and to the wives of his son King Robert II. This suggests that the background of Queen Adelais may have been obscure and that her family had little political influence at the time, although this would be surprising as her husband was already enjoying a position of some power at the Carolingian court at the time of his marriage. Maybe her family was prominent when the couple married but suffered a subsequent decline by the time her husband was elected king.

Nevertheless, an Aquitainian marriage would have fitted the political circumstances of the time. After several decades of dispute between the Capet and Poitou families, a permanent peace appears to have been established from about the time the marriage took place[129].

The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "XVII Kal Jul" of "Adelaidis regina"[130].

[Mistress (1): ---. The name of King Hugues's possible mistress is not known.]

King Hugues & his wife had three children:

1. GISELA de France ([970][131]-). m (before 987) HUGUES ---, son of --- (-4 Jul [1000]). Hugues Capet King of France separated Abbeville, Ancre and Domart from the Abbaye de Saint-Riquier and gave them to Hugues, who was known as the avoué de Saint-Riquier[133]. These territories became the foundation of the county of Ponthieu.

2. HEDWIGE [Avoie] de France ([969][134]-after 1013). Her brother gave her the towns of Couvin, Fraisne, Nîme, Eve and Bens [all now in Belgium] as her dowry on her marriage. m ([996]%29 REGINAR IV Comte de Hainaut, son of REGINAR [III] Graf im Maasgau & his wife Adela [von Dachsburg] (after 947-1013).

3. ROBERT de France (Orléans ([27 Mar] 972-Château de Melun 20 Jul 1031, bur église de l'Abbaye royale de Saint-Denis). He was consecrated Associate-King 25 Dec 987, Cathedral of Sainte-Croix d’Orléans. He succeeded his father in 996 as ROBERT II "le Pieux" King of France.

King Hugues had one possible illegitimate son by Mistress (1):

4. [GAUZLIN (-1030). Ademar refers to "abbatem Gauzlenum" being ordained at "sancti Benedicti" by "Rex Rotbertus". The text continues by explaining that he was "nobilissimi Francorum principis filius manzer, a puero in monasterio sancti Benedicti nutritus", specifying that "rex supra scriptus [=Rotbertus]" later installed him as "archiepiscopum Bituricensibus" after the death of Archbishop Dagbert[143]. These oblique references have been interpreted as meaning that the father of Gauzlin was King Hugues "Capet"[144], although this is not beyond doubt. Kerrebrouck also casts doubt on this assumed paternity of Gauzlin[145]. Archbishop of Bourges. Abbé de Fleury, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire.]

The precise relationship between the following person and the family of the Capetian kings has not been established. It is possible that he was related through the wife of King Hugues Capet.

1. INGO (-29 Jan 1026). Succeeded as abbot of “sancti Petri Vivi” in 1015[146].

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Hugues Capet (né vers 940, mort au lieu-dit « Les Juifs », près de Prasville (Eure-et-Loir) le 24 octobre 996[1]), duc des Francs (960-987), puis roi des Francs (987-996), fut le premier souverain de la dynastie capétienne. Fils de Hugues le Grand et de son épouse Hedwige de Saxe, il est l'héritier des puissants Robertiens, la lignée qui est en compétition pour le pouvoir avec les grandes familles aristocratiques de Francie aux IXe et Xe siècles.

La fin du Xe siècle connaît le début d'une révolution économique et sociale qui allait trouver son apogée vers 1100[2]. Les progrès agricoles, le début des défrichements et l'augmentation des capacités d'échanges entraînée par l'introduction du denier d'argent par les premiers Carolingiens, entraînent une dynamique économique encore timide mais réelle. Dans le même temps, la fin des invasions et la continuité des guerres personnelles entraînent la construction des premiers châteaux privés où peuvent trouver refuge les paysans. En parallèle, la nouvelle élite guerrière, les chevaliers, entre en concurrence avec l'ancienne aristocratie foncière carolingienne. Pour canaliser ces nouveaux venus et pour assurer la protection de leurs biens, l'aristocratie et l'Église soutiennent et exploitent le mouvement de la paix de Dieu. C'est dans ce contexte qu'Hugues Capet peut instaurer la dynastie capétienne.

Il bénéficie tout d'abord de l'œuvre politique de son père qui parvient à contenir les ambitions de Herbert II de Vermandois, puis à en neutraliser la lignée. Cependant, cela ne peut se faire qu'en aidant les Carolingiens, pourtant totalement évincés de la course à la couronne depuis la déchéance de Charles le Simple, à se maintenir. En 960, Hugues Capet hérite du titre de duc des Francs obtenu par son père en échange de la concession de la couronne à Louis IV d'Outremer. Mais, avant de parvenir au pouvoir, il doit se libérer de la tutelle des Ottoniens et éliminer les derniers Carolingiens. C'est avec le soutien de l'Église, et en particulier de l'évêque Adalbéron de Reims et de Gerbert d'Aurillac, tous deux proches de la cour ottonienne, qu'il est enfin élu et sacré roi des Francs en 987.

La relative faiblesse d'Hugues Capet est paradoxalement un atout pour son élection par les autres grandes familles avec le soutien des Ottoniens, car il est peu menaçant aux yeux des grands vassaux et pour les ambitions impériales. Cependant, si effectivement le nouveau roi ne parvient pas à soumettre ses vassaux indisciplinés, son règne voit une modification de la conception du royaume et du roi. Ainsi, Hugues Capet renoue avec l'Église en s'entourant systématiquement des principaux évêques et se rapproche de l'aristocratie en s'alliant avec les grands princes territoriaux (le duc de Normandie ou le comte d'Anjou), ce qui renforce son trône. Cette histoire du premier Capétien nous est surtout connue grâce au moine lettré Richer de Reims.

La Francia occidentalis se trouve définitivement séparée de l'Empire et le premier capétien, comme ses successeurs, met toute son énergie à créer une dynastie continue en consolidant son pouvoir sur son domaine et en y associant son fils Robert le Pieux le jour de Noël de l'an 987[3]. La couronne est effectivement transmise à son fils à sa mort en 996. La dynastie capétienne qu'il fonde ainsi dure plus de huit siècles et donne naissance à des lignées de souverains en Espagne, en Italie, en Hongrie, au Portugal et au Brésil[4].

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Hugh succeeded to his father's numerous fiefs in 956, thus becoming one of the most powerful feudatories of France. He supported his cousin Lothaire in a war against Otto II of Germany. When the son of Lothaire (Louis V) died, Hugh Capet was proclaimed King of the Franks in 987. He was the first to use the Capet surname; he ruled France from 987-986.

His kingdom included all of the present day France except for Brittany and Aquitaine. He was a devoted son of the church, interested in clerical reform and in participating in church ceremonies [Colonial and Revolutionary Lineages of America, Vol. 1, p. 358].

Duke of France between 956 and 987.

Lay-Abbot of St. Martin's in Tours, between 956 and 987. He joined the dignity of Abbot of St-Martin with the Crown of France in perpetuity in 987 [Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter The Catholic Encyclopedia, I-XIV (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908-1912), XV:Archdiocese of Tours].

He succeeded the last of the Carolingians to rule, Louis "do-Nothing." He ascended to the throne of France in May 987. He was crowned by Adalbero, Archbishop of Reims, on 3 July 987 in Noyon, France [Encyclopaedea Britannica and Joy Law, Fleur de Lys, The Kings and Queens of France (90 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PT: Hamish Hamilton Ltd, 1976), pg. 27 - says "proclaimed 1 July, and consecrated 5 July" and Christian Settipani & Patrick van Kerrebrouck, La Prehistoire des Capetiens 481-987, Premiere partie: Merovingians, Carolingians et Robertiens (Villeneuve d'Ascq: Editions Christian, 1993), pg. 415].

King of Franks in France, between 3 July 987 and 24 October 996 [Christian Settipani & Patrick van Kerrebrouck, La Prehistoire des Capetiens 481-987, Premiere partie: Merovingians, Carolingians et Robertiens (Villeneuve d'Ascq: Editions Christian, 1993), pg. 415].

He was challenged by the barons on his election as King; one in particular, the Count of Périgord, who raised an army and attacked him after 5 July 987 [Joy Law, Fleur de Lys, The Kings and Queens of France (90 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PT: Hamish Hamilton Ltd, 1976), pg. 28].

He died on 24 October 996 in "les-Juifs", Prasville, Eure-et-Loire, France. He died, according to Richer, a monk at St. Remigus, "covered in spots [possibly smallpox] at his château in the hands of Jews [probably his doctors]." He had ruled for 9 years, and 4 months [Christian Settipani & Patrick van Kerrebrouck, La Prehistoire des Capetiens 481-987, Premiere partie: Merovingians, Carolingians et Robertiens (Villeneuve d'Ascq: Editions Christian, 1993), pg. 415 and Joy Law, Fleur de Lys, The Kings and Queens of France (90 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PT: Hamish Hamilton Ltd, 1976), pg. 27].

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In 987 the dynasty took its name from Hugh's by-name (Capet) which referred to his distinctive cloak. Hugh was descended from 'Robert the Strong', Marquess of Neustria (d. 866), whose descendants ranked among the strongest men in the West Frankia in the succeeding century; three of them (Odo 887-898, Robert 922-923 & Raoul 923-936) held the royal title.

Sources:

Comptons Interactive Encyclopedia

The book, 'The Oxford History of Medieval Europe'

The book, 'Kings & Queens of Europe'

The book, 'The Dark Ages'

The book, 'French Kings'

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He was the King of France and Count of Paris, Poitou and Orleans. He was the Hereditary Abbot of St. Martin and St. Denis.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet_of_France

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Hugo Capeto (938 — 24 de Outubro de 996) foi rei dos francos de 987 a 996, o fundador da dinastia capetiana. Era filho de Hugo, o Grande, duque dos francos, e de Hedwige, ou Avoia, da Saxónia, filha de Henrique I da Saxónia, rei da Germânia.

Em 987, Hugo Capeto, então duque dos francos, tornou Paris na principal cidade do país e o poderio do ducado estendeu-se gradativamente a toda a França, durante o período de lutas civis que acompanhou as três primeiras Cruzadas. Homem de grandes virtudes administrativas, não granjeou o poder por simpatias, mas sim por astúcia, força e o suborno.

Do seu casamento em 970 com Adelaide da Aquitânia (945-1004), filha de Guilherme III, conde de Poitiers e duque da Aquitânia, nasceram:[10][11]

1. Gisela de França (969 - c. 1000), casada em 970 com Hugo I de Abbeville (970 -?), conde de Ponthieu e Senhor de Abbeville.
2. Edwige de França, ou Hadwige (970-1013), casada em 996 com Ranier IV, conde de Hainaut, e depois com o conde Hugo III de Dasbourg.
3. Roberto II, o Piedoso (972-1031), seu sucessor no trono francês casado por três vezes, a 1ª em 988 com Rosália de Ivrea (937 - 1003), Senhora de Montreuil-sur-Mer, a 2ª em 997 com Berta da Borgonha (970 -?) e a 3 em 1002 com Constança de Arles (c. 986 - Melun, 25 de Julho de 1032), filha de Guilherme I de Arles (953 - 993) e de Adelaide Branca de Anjou (955 - 1026).
4. Adelaide de França (973-1068)

É relatada a existência de outros filhos, mas a veracidade dessa descendência é discutível.[5] no entanto é possível referir um filho de uma relação com N da Aquitania:

1. Guzlin, arcebispo de Bourges.

in: Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre <http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Capeto>

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Hugh Capet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet

Hugh Capet King of the Franks (more...) An imaginary artistic portayal of Hugh Capet by Charles de Steuben, 1837. No contemporary image of the king exists today. King of France Reign 3 July 987 – 24 October 996 Coronation 3 July 987, Noyon Predecessor Louis V Successor Robert II Junior king Robert II Spouse Adelaide of Aquitaine Issue Hedwig, Countess of Mons Gisèle, Countess of Ponthieu Robert II Father Hugh the Great Mother Hedwige of Saxony Born c. 939 Paris, France Died 24 October 996 (aged 56) Paris, France Burial Saint Denis Basilica, Paris, France

Hugh Capet[1] (c. 939 – 24 October 996), called in contemporary sources "Hugh the Great" (Latin: Hugo Magnus),[2] was the first King of France of the eponymous Capetian dynasty from his election to succeed the Carolingian Louis V in 987 until his death. Contents [hide]

   1 Descent and inheritance

   2 Election and extent of power

   3 Dispute with the papacy

   4 Legacy

   5 Marriage and issue

   6 Ancestry

   7 Notes

   8 References

[edit] Descent and inheritance

The son of Hugh the Great, Duke of France, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of the German king Henry the Fowler, Hugh was born in 939. His paternal family, the Robertians, were powerful landowners in the Île-de-France. His grandfather had been King Robert I and his grandmother Beatrice was a Carolingian, a daughter of Herbert I of Vermandois. This makes him the great-great-great-great-great grandson of Charlemagne through both of his parents, through Louis the Pious and Pepin of Italy. King Odo was his grand-uncle and King Rudolph the son-in-law of his grandfather, King Robert I. Hugh was born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the reigning nobility of Europe.[3] But for all this, Hugh's father was never king. When Rudolph died in 936, Hugh the Great organised the return of Louis d'Outremer, son of Charles the Simple, from his exile at the court of Athelstan of England. Hugh's motives are unknown, but it is presumed that he acted to forestall Rudolph's brother and successor as Duke of Burgundy, Hugh the Black, from taking the French throne, or to prevent it from falling into the grasping hands of Herbert II of Vermandois or Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy.[4]

In 956, Hugh inherited his father's estates and became one of the most powerful nobles in the much-reduced West Frankish kingdom. However, as he was not yet an adult, his uncle Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne, acted as regent. Young Hugh's neighbours made the most of the opportunity. Theobald I of Blois, a former vassal of Hugh the Great, took the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun. Further south, on the border of the kingdom, Fulk II of Anjou, another former client of Hugh the Great, carved out a principality at Hugh's expense and that of the Bretons.[5] A denier of Hugh Capet when he was Duke of France, calling him "duke by the grace of God" (Dux Dei Gratia). Minted at Paris (Parisi Civita)

The realm in which Hugh grew up, and of which he would one day be king, bore no resemblance to modern France. Hugh's predecessors did not call themselves rois de France ("Kings of France"), and that title was not used until the time of his distant descendant Philip the Fair (died 1314). Kings ruled as rex Francorum ("King of the Franks") and the lands over which they ruled comprised only a very small part of the former Carolingian Empire. The eastern Frankish lands, the Holy Roman Empire, were ruled by the Ottonian dynasty, represented by Hugh's first cousin Otto II and then by Otto's son, Otto III. The lands south of the river Loire had largely ceased to be part of the West Frankish kingdom in the years after Charles the Simple was deposed in 922. The Duchy of Normandy and the Duchy of Burgundy were largely independent, and Brittany entirely so, although from 956 Burgundy was ruled by Hugh's brothers Odo and Henry.[6] [edit] Election and extent of power

From 977 to 986, Hugh Capet allied himself with the German emperors Otto II and Otto III and with Archbishop Adalberon of Reims to dominate the Carolingian king, Lothair. By 986, he was king in all but name. After Lothair's son Louis died in May of 987, Adalberon and Gerbert of Aurillac convened an assembly of nobles to elect Hugh Capet as their king. In front of an electoral assembly at Senlis, Adalberon gave a stirring oration and pleaded to the nobles:

   Crown the Duke. He is most illustrious by his exploits, his nobility, his forces. The throne is not acquired by hereditary right; no one should be raised to it unless distinguished not only for nobility of birth, but for the goodness of his soul.[7]

He was elected and crowned rex Francorum at Noyon in Picardy on 3 July 987, by the prelate of Reims, the first of the Capetian house. Immediately after his coronation, Hugh began to push for the coronation of his son Robert. Hugh's own claimed reason was that he was planning an expedition against the Moorish armies harassing Borrel II of Barcelona, an invasion which never occurred, and that the stability of the country necessitated two kings should he die while on expedition.[8] Ralph Glaber, however, attributes Hugh's request to his old age and inability to control the nobility.[9] Modern scholarship has largely imputed to Hugh the motive of establishing a dynasty against the pretension of electoral power on the part of the aristocracy, but this is not the typical view of contemporaries and even some modern scholars have been less sceptical of Hugh's "plan" to campaign in Spain.[10] Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December that same year.

Hugh Capet possessed minor properties near Chartres and Angers. Between Paris and Orléans he possessed towns and estates amounting to approximately 400 square miles (1,000 km²). His authority ended there, and if he dared travel outside his small area, he risked being captured and held for ransom, though, as God's anointed, his life was largely safe. Indeed, there was a plot in 993, masterminded by Adalberon, Bishop of Laon and Odo I of Blois, to deliver Hugh Capet into the custody of Otto III. The plot failed, but the fact that no one was punished illustrates how tenuous his hold on power was. Beyond his power base, in the rest of France, there were still as many codes of law as there were fiefdoms. The "country" operated with 150 different forms of currency and at least a dozen languages.[citation needed] Uniting all this into one cohesive unit was a formidable task and a constant struggle between those who wore the crown of France and its feudal lords. As such, Hugh Capet's reign was marked by numerous power struggles with the vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire.

While Hugh Capet's military power was limited and he had to seek military aid from Richard I of Normandy, his unanimous election as king gave him great moral authority and influence. Adémar de Chabannes records, probably apocryphally, that during an argument with the Count of Auvergne, Hugh demanded of him: "Who made you count?" The count riposted: "Who made you king?".[11] [edit] Dispute with the papacy

Hugh made Arnulf Archbishop of Reims in 988, even though Arnulf was the nephew of his bitter rival, Charles of Lorraine. Charles thereupon succeeded in capturing Reims and took the archbishop prisoner. Hugh, however, considered Arnulf a turncoat and demanded his deposition by Pope John XV. The turn of events outran the messages, when Hugh captured both Charles and Arnulf and convoked a synod at Reims in June 991, which obediently deposed Arnulf and chose as his successor Gerbert of Aurillac. These proceedings were repudiated by Rome, although a second synod had ratified the decrees issued at Reims. John XV summoned the French bishops to hold an independent synod outside the King's realm, at Aachen, to reconsider the case. When they refused, he called them to Rome, but they protested that the unsettled conditions en route and in Rome made that impossible. The Pope then sent a legate with instructions to call a council of French and German bishops at Mousson, where only the German bishops appeared, the French being stopped on the way by Hugh and Robert.

Through the exertions of the legate, the deposition of Arnulf was finally pronounced illegal. After Hugh's death, Arnulf was released from his imprisonment and soon restored to all his dignities. [edit] Legacy

Hugh Capet died on 24 October 996 in Paris and was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica. His son Robert continued to reign.

Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris, he made the city his power centre. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from there.

He is regarded as the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by cadet branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe, and all royal pretenders since then, have belonged to the dynasty. [edit] Marriage and issue

Hugh Capet married Adelaide, daughter of William Towhead, Count of Poitou. Their children are as follows:

   Robert II, who became king after the death of his father

   Hedwig, or Hathui, who married Reginar IV, Count of Hainaut

   Gisela, or Gisele

A number of other daughters are less reliably attested.[12] [edit] Ancestry

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3 July 987 ‎(Age 48)‎ King of France France

Note: Crowned King of France at Noyon, France on 03 JUL 987

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From Wikipedia

Descent and inheritance

The son of Hugh the Great, Duke of France, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of the German king Henry the Fowler, Hugh was born in 941. His paternal family, the Robertians, were powerful landowners in the Île-de-France. His grandfather had been King Robert I. His grandmother Beatrice was a Carolingian, a daughter of Herbert I of Vermandois. This makes him the fifth great-grandson of Charlemagne through Pepin of Italy. King Odo was his grand-uncle and King Rudolph the son-in-law of his grandfather, King Robert I. Hugh was born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the reigning nobility of Europe. But for all this, Hugh's father was never king. When Rudolph died in 936, Hugh the Great organised the return of Louis d'Outremer, son of Charles the Simple, from his exile at the court of Athelstan of England. Hugh's motives are unknown, but it is presumed that he acted to forestall Rudolph's brother and successor as Duke of Burgundy, Hugh the Black, from taking the French throne, or to prevent it from falling into the grasping hands of Herbert II of Vermandois or Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy.

In 956, Hugh inherited his father's estates and became one of the most powerful nobles in the much-reduced West Frankish kingdom. However, as he was not yet an adult, his mother acted as his guardian. Young Hugh's neighbours made the most of the opportunity. Theobald I of Blois, a former vassal of Hugh the Great, took the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun. Further south, on the border of the kingdom, Fulk II of Anjou, another former client of Hugh the Great, carved out a principality at Hugh's expense and that of the Bretons.

The realm in which Hugh grew up, and of which he would one day be king, bore no resemblance to modern France. Hugh's predecessors did not call themselves rois de France ("Kings of France"), and that title was not used until the time of his distant descendant Philip II Augustus. Kings ruled as rex Francorum ("King of the Franks") and the lands over which they ruled comprised only a very small part of the former Carolingian Empire. The eastern Frankish lands, the Holy Roman Empire, were ruled by the Ottonian dynasty, represented by Hugh's first cousin Otto II and then by Otto's son, Otto III. The lands south of the river Loire had largely ceased to be part of the West Frankish kingdom in the years after Charles the Simple was deposed in 922. The Duchy of Normandy and the Duchy of Burgundy were largely independent, and Brittany entirely so, although from 956 Burgundy was ruled by Hugh's brothers Odo and Henry.

Election and extent of power

From 977 to 986, Hugh Capet allied himself with the German emperors Otto II and Otto III and with Archbishop Adalberon of Reims to dominate the Carolingian king, Lothair. By 986, he was king in all but name. After Lothair's son Louis died in May 987, Adalberon and Gerbert of Aurillac convened an assembly of nobles to elect Hugh Capet as their king. In front of an electoral assembly at Senlis, Adalberon gave a stirring oration and pleaded to the nobles:

   Crown the Duke. He is most illustrious by his exploits, his nobility, his forces. The throne is not acquired by hereditary right; no one should be raised to it unless distinguished not only for nobility of birth, but for the goodness of his soul.

He was elected and crowned rex Francorum at Noyon in Picardy on 3 July 987, by the prelate of Reims, the first of the Capetian house. Immediately after his coronation, Hugh began to push for the coronation of his son Robert. Hugh's own claimed reason was that he was planning an expedition against the Moorish armies harassing Borrel II of Barcelona, an invasion which never occurred, and that the stability of the country necessitated two kings should he die while on expedition. Ralph Glaber, however, attributes Hugh's request to his old age and inability to control the nobility. Modern scholarship has largely imputed to Hugh the motive of establishing a dynasty against the pretension of electoral power on the part of the aristocracy, but this is not the typical view of contemporaries and even some modern scholars have been less sceptical of Hugh's "plan" to campaign in Spain. Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December that same year.

Hugh Capet possessed minor properties near Chartres and Angers. Between Paris and Orléans he possessed towns and estates amounting to approximately 400 square miles (1,000 km2). His authority ended there, and if he dared travel outside his small area, he risked being captured and held for ransom, though his life would be largely safe. Indeed, there was a plot in 993, masterminded by Adalberon, Bishop of Laon and Odo I of Blois, to deliver Hugh Capet into the custody of Otto III. The plot failed, but the fact that no one was punished illustrates how tenuous his hold on power was. Beyond his power base, in the rest of France, there were still as many codes of law as there were fiefdoms. The "country" operated with 150 different forms of currency and at least a dozen languages. Uniting all this into one cohesive unit was a formidable task and a constant struggle between those who wore the crown of France and its feudal lords. Therefore, Hugh Capet's reign was marked by numerous power struggles with the vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire.

While Hugh Capet's military power was limited and he had to seek military aid from Richard I of Normandy, his unanimous election as king gave him great moral authority and influence. Adémar de Chabannes records, probably apocryphally, that during an argument with the Count of Auvergne, Hugh demanded of him: "Who made you count?" The count riposted: "Who made you king?".

Dispute with the papacy

Hugh made Arnulf Archbishop of Reims in 988, even though Arnulf was the nephew of his bitter rival, Charles of Lorraine. Charles thereupon succeeded in capturing Reims and took the archbishop prisoner. Hugh, however, considered Arnulf a turncoat and demanded his deposition by Pope John XV. The turn of events outran the messages, when Hugh captured both Charles and Arnulf and convoked a synod at Reims in June 991 which obediently deposed Arnulf and chose as his successor Gerbert of Aurillac. These proceedings were repudiated by Rome, although a second synod had ratified the decrees issued at Reims. John XV summoned the French bishops to hold an independent synod outside the King's realm, at Aachen, to reconsider the case. When they refused, he called them to Rome, but they protested that the unsettled conditions en route and in Rome made that impossible. The Pope then sent a legate with instructions to call a council of French and German bishops at Mousson, where only the German bishops appeared, the French being stopped on the way by Hugh and Robert.

Through the exertions of the legate, the deposition of Arnulf was finally pronounced illegal. After Hugh's death, Arnulf was released from his imprisonment and soon restored to all his dignities.

Legacy

Hugh Capet died on 24 October 996 in Paris and was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica. His son Robert continued to reign.

Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris, he made the city his power centre. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from there.

He is regarded as the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by cadet branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe, and all royals since then, have belonged to the dynasty. Furthermore, cadet branches of the House continue to reign in Spain and Luxembourg.

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Le 3 juillet 987, dans la vieille cathédrale de Noyon, Hugues Capet devient roi de France sous le nom d'Hugues 1er.

Il est sacré par l'évêque de Reims, Adalbéron, selon un rituel germanique inauguré par Pépin le Bref.

Deux jours plus tôt, à Senlis (ou peut-être à Noyon ou Soissons), les principaux seigneurs du royaume ont offert la couronne au comte de Paris, au détriment de l'ultime héritier de Charlemagne et des rois carolingiens.

Le royaume sur lequel va régner Hugues Capet s'étend sur la partie ouest des régions occupées par les Francs, de la Manche à la Meuse, et correspond en gros au bassin parisien.

Cette région fortement romanisée s'appelait Neustrie sous Clovis et ses successeurs mérovingiens. Elle est appelée Francie occidentale au temps de Charlemagne et des carolingiens. Les Capétiens vont en faire le noyau de la France actuelle.

L'avènement d'Hugues Capet, c'est la vraie naissance de la France, au moment où naît l'Europe que nous connaissons.

En 1119, dans une lettre au pape Calixte II, un lointain descendant de Hugues Capet, le roi Louis VI, se proclame «roi de la France, non plus des Francs, et fils particulier de l'Église romaine». C'est le premier texte où il est fait référence au mot France.

Emergence de la France

Au cours du Xe siècle, deux aïeux d'Hugues Capet, dont le duc Eudes, avaient déjà été élus roi de Francie occidentale mais ils n'avaient pu conserver la couronne dans leur famille.

Au moment de son sacre, Hugues 1er est un homme mûr de 47 ans. C'est un seigneur puissant et respecté qui possède en propre de vastes domaines autour de Paris et Orléans qui en font l'un des principaux seigneurs de Francie occidentale. Il s'agit de seigneuries laïques et d'abbayes.

Le surnom de Capet que porte le roi fait précisément allusion à ses nombreuses chapes d'abbés, dont celle, prestigieuse entre toutes, de Saint-Martin-de-Tours.

Malgré le sacre de Reims, Hugues doit défendre sa légitimité les armes à la main. Selon le chroniqueur Adhémar de Chabannes, l'un de ses vassaux, Adalbert de Périgord, refusant de lever le siège de Tours, Hugues lui demande:

- Qui t'a fait comte?

Et l'autre de répliquer:

- Qui t'a fait roi?

Jusqu'en 991, Hugues doit aussi combattre le parti carolingien, qui garde de solides partisans, dont Charles de Lorraine.

Le fidèle Adalbéron étant mort en janvier 989, Hugues Capet tente de se concilier Charles de Lorraine en nommant son neveu Arnou à la tête de l'archevêché de Reims. Mais Arnoul trahit son bienfaiteur et fait entrer à Reims les troupes carolingiennes. Avec le concours du savant Gerbert, Hugues réunit un concile près de Reims. Il obtient la déposition de l'archevêque Arnoul et fait nommer Gerbert à sa place.

A la faveur d'une trahison, le roi arrive enfin à capturer Charles de Lorraine à Laon. Il se retourne ensuite contre le comte de Blois Eudes 1er avec le concours de son voisin, le comte d'Anjou.

L'époque du roi Hugues Capet, à l'approche de l'An 1000, voit l'apparition des châteaux forts en pierre. Jusque-là, les seigneurs se contentaient de fortifications en bois entourées de palissades, juchées sur une colline ou, à défaut, sur une «motte» (une colline artificielle).

Le premier château en pierre est dû au comte d'Anjou lui-même, le fameux Foulques Nerra. Il a été érigé à Langeais, au bord de la Loire.

Le pré carré

Arrondissant le domaine royal, ou «pré carré», à la manière modeste et tenace des paysans d'autrefois, Hugues 1er et ses descendants accroissent peu à peu leur richesse, consolident leur autorité et font émerger une nation nouvelle du désordre carolingien.

Les premières générations de Capétiens respectent la règle féodale de l'élection. Mais Hugues et ses successeurs ont soin de faire élire de leur vivant leur fils aîné pour leur succéder et de le faire sacrer roi à Reims.

Les Grands du royaume se prêtent de bon gré à la manoeuvre. Le fils aîné du roi régnant a l'avantage d'avoir été préparé à la succession par son père et son élection coupe court à toute querelle entre d'éventuels prétendants.

Les féodaux s'habituent peu à peu à une succession héréditaire. Ils l'acceptent d'autant mieux qu'Hugues Capet et ses premiers descendants font preuve d'une sage réserve face à des seigneurs parfois plus puissants et plus riches qu'eux-mêmes.

De génération en génération, les descendants d'Hugues Capet auront la double chance de vivre assez longtemps pour se faire accepter par leurs pairs et d'avoir un fils apte à leur succéder.

C'est seulement avec Philippe II Auguste, deux siècle plus tard, que la royauté sera devenue assez forte pour ignorer le rite de l'élection. Philippe Auguste dédaignera de faire désigner son fils de son vivant. Louis VIII dit Le Lion lui succèdera automatiquement et sans difficulté le 14 juillet 1223.

La succession héréditaire sera dès lors la règle en France. Mais ce principe restera relativement exceptionnel en Europe jusqu'à la fin du Moyen Âge, beaucoup de dynasties royales perpétuant le principe de l'élection à vie (Allemagne, Pologne, Russie,...). De nombreuses communautés conserveront par ailleurs un gouvernement de type républicain, en Suisse ou encore en Italie

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Duque de França, suserano da Borgonha. Abade leigo de S. Martinho de Tours, S. Dinis de Paris, St. Germain de Auxerre, etc. Investido como rei dos Francos em Noyon 1.6.987 e sagrado a 3.7.987 pelo arcebispo Alberto de Reims. Fundou a dinastia dos Capetos.

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Leo: Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser , Reference: 1961.

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The son of Hugh the Great, Duke of France, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of the German king Henry the Fowler, Hugh was born in 941.[2] His paternal family, the Robertians, were powerful landowners in the Île-de-France.[3] His grandfather had been King Robert I.[3] His grandmother Beatrice was a Carolingian, a daughter of Herbert I of Vermandois.[2] This makes him the fifth great-grandson of Charlemagne through Pepin of Italy.[4] King Odo was his grand-uncle and King Rudolph the son-in-law of his grandfather, King Robert I.[5]

Hugh Capet was born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the reigning nobility of Europe.[b] But Hugh's father was never king. When Rudolph died in 936, Hugh the Great organised the return of Louis d'Outremer, son of Charles the Simple, from his exile at the court of Athelstan of England.[6] Hugh the Great's motives are unknown, but it is presumed that he acted to forestall Rudolph's brother, Hugh the Black, Duke of Burgundy, from attempting to take the French throne, or to prevent it from falling into the hands of Herbert II of Vermandois or Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy.[7]

In 956, Hugh inherited his father's estates and became one of the most powerful nobles in the much-reduced kingdom of West Francia.[8] As he was not yet an adult, his mother acted as his guardian,[9]and young Hugh's neighbours took advantage. Theobald I of Blois, a former vassal of Hugh's father, took the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun. Further south, on the border of the kingdom, Fulk II of Anjou, another former client of Hugh the Great, carved out a principality at Hugh's expense and that of the Bretons.[10]

A denier of Hugh Capet when he was Duke of France, calling him "duke by the grace of God" (Dux Dei Gratia). Minted at Paris (Parisi Civita) The realm in which Hugh grew up, and of which he would one day be king, bore no resemblance to modern France. Hugh's predecessors did not call themselves kings of France, and that title was not used by his successors until the time of his descendant, Philip II. Kings ruled as rex Francorum ("King of the Franks") and the lands they ruled comprised only a small part of the former Carolingian Empire. The eastern Frankish lands, the Holy Roman Empire, were ruled by the Ottonian dynasty, represented by Hugh's first cousin Otto II and then by Otto's son, Otto III. The lands south of the river Loire had largely ceased to be part of the West Francia kingdom in the years after Charles the Simple was deposed in 922. Both the Duchy of Normandy and the Duchy of Burgundy were largely independent, and Brittany entirely so—although from 956 Burgundy was ruled by Hugh's brothers Otto and Henry.[11]

Election and extent of power[edit]

From 977 to 986, Hugh Capet allied himself with the Holy Roman Emperors Otto II and Otto III and with Archbishop Adalberon of Reims to dominate the Carolingian king, Lothair. By 986, he was king in all but name. After Lothair's son Louis died in May 987, Adalberon and Gerbert of Aurillac convened an assembly of nobles to elect Hugh Capet as their king. In front of an electoral assembly at Senlis, Adalberon gave a stirring oration and pleaded to the nobles:

Crown the Duke. He is most illustrious by his exploits, his nobility, his forces. The throne is not acquired by hereditary right; no one should be raised to it unless distinguished not only for nobility of birth, but for the goodness of his soul.[12]

He was elected and crowned rex Francorum at Noyon in Picardy on 3 July 987, by the prelate of Reims, the first of the Capetian house. Immediately after his coronation, Hugh began to push for the coronation of his son Robert. Hugh's own claimed reason was that he was planning an expedition against the Moorish armies harassing Borrel II of Barcelona, an invasion which never occurred, and that the stability of the country necessitated two kings should he die while on expedition.[13] Ralph Glaber, however, attributes Hugh's request to his old age and inability to control the nobility.[14] Modern scholarship has largely imputed to Hugh the motive of establishing a dynasty against the pretension of electoral power on the part of the aristocracy, but this is not the typical view of contemporaries and even some modern scholars have been less sceptical of Hugh's "plan" to campaign in Spain.[14] Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December that same year.

Denier of Hugh Capet for Beauvais Hugh Capet possessed minor properties near Chartres and Angers. Between Paris and Orléans he possessed towns and estates amounting to approximately 400 square miles (1,000 km2). His authority ended there, and if he dared travel outside his small area, he risked being captured and held for ransom, though his life would be largely safe.[citation needed] Indeed, there was a plot in 993, masterminded by Adalberon, Bishop of Laon and Odo I of Blois, to deliver Hugh Capet into the custody of Otto III. The plot failed, but the fact that no one was punished illustrates how tenuous his hold on power was. Beyond his power base, in the rest of France, there were still as many codes of law as there were fiefdoms. The "country" operated with 150 different forms of currency and at least a dozen languages.[citation needed] Uniting all this into one cohesive unit was a formidable task and a constant struggle between those who wore the crown of France and its feudal lords. Therefore, Hugh Capet's reign was marked by numerous power struggles with the vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire.

While Hugh Capet's military power was limited and he had to seek military aid from Richard I of Normandy, his unanimous election as king gave him great moral authority and influence. Adémar de Chabannes records, probably apocryphally, that during an argument with the Count of Auvergne, Hugh demanded of him: "Who made you count?" The count riposted: "Who made you king?".[15]

links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet
• http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00020103&tree=LEO
• http://www.friesian.com/francia.htm#capet
• http://www.capedia.fr/