• General Notes

  [Neet3.FTW]
  
  Hugh Capet dies at Paris October 14, 996 at age 58 and is succeeded by his son, 26, who will reign until 1031 as Robert II.
  [Note difference in reported death.]
  Source:
  The People's Chronology is licensed from Henry Holt and Company, Inc. Copyright © 1994 by James Trager. All rights reserved.
  
  Capet (kâ´pît, kàp´ît, kà-pâ´)
  A dynasty of French kings (987-1328), including Hugh Capet (940?-996), who was elected king in 987, thereby permanently removing the Carolingians from power, and ruled until his death. The expansion of territory and centralization of power under the Capets began the movement toward a unified France.
  Source:
  The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved. The Early Capetians, 987 to 1180
  When Louis V died, the magnates turned to Hugh Capet, duke of France and descendant of Robert the Bold and of Odo. Hugh was elected king not because he was strong but precisely because he would not be strong enough to control the other magnates; in fact, he secured election only by giving much of his land to the electors.
  The French nobles may have had no intention of installing the Capetians as a dynasty, but Hugh moved quickly to have his son Robert crowned. When Robert became king (as Robert II) in 996, he named his son Hugh as his successor, but due to Hugh's death, another son, Henry, became king in 1031. The Capetians eventually passed the crown through a direct male line for more than three centuries, from 987 through 1328.
  The earliest Capetians remained subservient to the feudal princes, but the rebuilding of a royal administration, indicated by a new importance of royal provosts, was evident by the 1040s. Nevertheless, in the late 11th century, William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, and Hugh the Great, abbot of the monastery of Cluny, although nominally vassals of the king, were far more powerful than the Capetian king Philip I (reigned 1060-1108).
  Philip's successor, Louis VI (reigned 1108-1137), consolidated royal power once and for all in the Île-de-France, a region centering on Paris that covers about 160 km (about 100 mi) from north to south and 80 km (50 mi) from east to west. Here he systematically suppressed all feudal opposition to the royal government. He had his son, the future Louis VII, brought up at the abbey of Saint Denis, north of Paris, and in 1137 arranged for him to marry Eleanor, heiress to the duchy of Aquitaine.
  Eleanor's possessions were far larger than the Île-de-France, and by making her his wife, Louis VII won control of extensive territories between the Loire River and the Pyrenees. In 1147 Louis went on a Crusade to the Holy Land, taking Eleanor along with him. While they were in the East it was rumored that she had committed adultery. Since the marriage had never been agreeable to Eleanor, and had not produced a male heir, both spouses wanted the papal annulment of the marriage, granted in 1152. Two months later Eleanor married Henry, count of Anjou and duke of Normandy, who in 1154 became king of England as Henry II. Thus, Aquitaine passed from the French crown to the English crown, and the lands controlled by Henry in France (the Angevin Empire) vastly exceeded in size those of his feudal lord, Louis VII.
  Source: "France," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Details of Hugh Capet King of's family with Adelaide of Poitou