General Notes

Robert II (of France), called Robert the Pious (970?-1031), king of France (996-1031), the son of King Hugh Capet, born in Orléans, and educated at Reims under the French scholar Gerbert, who later became Pope Sylvester II. In 996 Robert married, as his second wife, his cousin Bertha of Burgundy. Two years later Pope Gregory V excommunicated him and annulled this marriage, which was considered incestuous by the church; in 1003 Robert submitted to the pope and married the daughter of the marquis of Provence, Constance of Arles, by whom he had four sons. He recognized Hugh, the eldest of these sons, as his successor. After Hugh's death in 1025, the other sons, aided by their mother, revolted; Robert was still fighting them at the time of his own death. Robert was called The Pious because of his humility and charity; he was also esteemed as a soldier and ruler.

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Robert II of France
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Robert II the Pious (French: Robert II le Pieux) (March 27, 972 - July 20, 1031) was King of France from 996 to 1031. A member of the Capetian Dynasty, Robert II was born on March 27, 972 in Orléans, France, the son of King Hugh Capet (938-996) and Adelaide of Aquitaine (952-1004).

Co-rule with father
Immediately after his own coronation, Robert's father Hugh began to push for the coronation of Robert. "The essential means by which the early Capetians were seen to have kept the throne in their family was through the association of the eldest surviving son in the royalty during the father's lifetime," Andrew W. Lewis has observed, in tracing the phenomenon in this line of kings who lacked dynastic legitimacy.  Hugh's 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 a co-king, 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 claims 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 987 at Orléans, thereby confirming the house of Capet as rulers of France. A measure of Hugh's success is that when Hugh died in 996, Robert continued to reign without any succession dispute, but during his long reign actual royal power dissipated into the hands of the great territorial magnates.  After Robert became king he did as his father and crowned his eldest son Hugh Magnus as his successor. But, due to Prince Hugh Magnus's death, another son, Henri, became king.

Robert had begun to take on active royal duties with his father in the early 990s. In 991, he helped his father prevent the French bishops from trekking to Mousson in the Kingdom of Germany for a synod called by Pope John XV, with whom Hugh was then in disagreement.

Marital problems
As early as 989, having been rebuffed in his search for a Byzantine princess,[5]Hugh Capet arranged for Robert to marry the recently-widowed daughter of Berengar II of Italy, Rozala, who took the name of Susannah upon becoming Queen.[6] She was many years his senior. She was the widow of Arnulf II of Flanders, with whom she had children, the oldest of whom was of age to assume the offices of count of Flanders. Robert divorced her within a year of his father's death. He tried instead to marry Bertha, daughter of Conrad of Burgundy, around the time of his father's death. She was a widow of Odo I of Blois, but was also Robert's cousin. For reasons of consanguinity, Pope Gregory V refused to sanction the marriage, and Robert was excommunicated. After long negotiations with Gregory's successor, Sylvester II, the marriage was annulled.

Finally, in 1001, Robert entered into his final and longest-lasting marriage: to Constance of Arles, the daughter of William I of Provence. She was an ambitious and scheming woman, who made life miserable for her husband by encouraging her sons to revolt against their father.

Piety
Robert, however, despite his marital problems, was a very devout Catholic, hence his sobriquet "the Pious." He was musically inclined, being a composer, chorister, and poet, and making his palace a place of religious seclusion, where he conducted the matins and vespers in his royal robes. However, to contemporaries, Robert's "piety" resulted from his lack of toleration for heretics: he harshly punished them.

Military career
The kingdom Robert inherited was not large, and in an effort to increase his power, he vigorously pursued his claim to any of the feudal lands as they became vacant which action usually resulted in war with a counter-claimant. In 1003, his invasion of Burgundy was thwarted and it would not be until 1016 that he was finally able to get the support of the Church and be recognized as the Duke of Burgundy.

The pious King Robert II made few friends and many enemies, including his own sons. His eldest son Hugh Magnus died suddenly while in rebellion against his father. Robert's surviving sons, Henri I of France and Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, also turned against their father, in a civil war for power and property. King Robert's army was beaten and he retreated to Beaugency outside Paris.

He died in the middle of the war with his sons on July 20, 1031 at Melun, France. He was interred with his third wife, Constance of Arles (973-July 25, 1032) in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his and Constance's second son, Henri I.

Children
Robert II married:
c. 989, 1) Susanne (Rosala), Princess of Italy (c.945 - January 26, 1003). Widow of Count Arnulf II of Flanders. She was much older than Robert, and the marriage was arranged by his father. Robert divorced her a year later.  Robert had no children from his short-lived marriage to Susanna

c. 996, 2) Bertha, Princess of Burgundy (952-1035). Widow of Count Theobald II of Blois. Because she was his cousin, Pope Gregory V would not sanction the marriage and Robert was excommunicated. However, after long negotiations with the new Pope Silvester II the marriage was annulled. His illegal marriage to Bertha gave him one stillborn son in 999.

In 1001, 3) Constance of Arles (973-July 25, 1034) Daughter of a certain Count William, an intriguing and ambitious woman, who made life miserable for her husband. She was the mother of his children:
Advisa, Countess of Auxerre, (c.1003-after 1063), married Count Renaud I of Nevers
Hugh Magnus, co-king (1007-September 17, 1025)
Henry I of France (May 4, 1008-August 4, 1060)
Adela, Countess of Contenance (1009-June 5, 1063), married (1) Duke Richard III of Normandy (2) Count Baldwin V of Flanders
Robert I, Duke of Burgundy (1011-March 21, 1076)
Eudes (1013-1056)
Constance (1014-unknown), married Manasses de Dammartin
Robert's descendants would go on to rule not only France, but England (through his granddaughter Matilda of Flanders' marriage to William the Conqueror), Portugal, Castille, and Leon.

Robert also left an illegitimate son: Rudolph, Bishop of Bourges.