General Notes

King of France, founder of the Capetian dynasty, b. about the middle of the tenth century; d. about 996, probably 24 October. He was the second son of Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, and Hedwig, sister of Otto I, German Emperor, and was about ten years old when he inherited from his father the Countship of Paris and the Duchy of France. About 970 he married Adelaide of Aquitaine, and as early as 985 the famous Gerbert wrote "The Carlovingian Lothair governs France only in name. The king of France is Hugh." When Louis V died, 21 May, 987, the assistance of Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims, and of Gerbert, brought about the election of Hugh. The electoral assembly of Senlis listened to a discourse of Adalberon: "Crown the Duke", he said. "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". A unanimous vote ratified this discourse, and Hugh Capet was crowned at Noyon, 3 July, 987. Thus his accession, as M. Luchaire says, was above all "an ecclesiastical achievement". Hugh possessed towns and estates in the vicinity of Paris, Orléans, and in the district of Senlis and Chartres, Touraine and Anjou, but on the whole these were restricted domains, as his vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire contested his authority. His military power was mediocre, and he had frequently to seek military aid in alliance with Normandy. But he possessed moral power and a political influence which reached the most remote parts of the kingdom and was felt even by foreigners. His chief concern was to maintain over the Archdiocese of Reims, whose jurisdiction comprised nearly the whole of northern and northeastern France, a continuous, immediate, and uncontested authority. The Archdiocese of Reims possessed a double importance, first because the archbishop had the right to elect and crown the kings of France, and next because of its geographical situation between France and Germany. The death of Adalberon, proved by M. Lot to have taken place 23 January, 989, disturbed the new king, and Arnoul, the new archbishop whom he accepted at the end of March, 989, as successor to Adalberon, attempted a restoration of the Carlovingians (Sept., 989), and Charles of Lorraine, their heir, was for a short time master of Reims and Laon. Arnoul refused to appear at the Council of Senlis (beginning of 990), but the imprisonment of Charles of Lorraine and of Arnoul (29 March, 991), and the deposition of Arnoul pronounced at the Council of St. Basle, fixed by M. Lot at 17 and 18 June, 991 (and not 993), assured the maintenance of the Capetian dynasty. Gerbert became Archbishop of Reims (21 June, 991).

This revolution accomplished by a council was received by the papacy with reserve. When Hugh Capet requested the Holy See to legitimize the action of the council, John XVI was silent; later, under the influence of Germany, the pope refused formally to recognize the election of Gerbert. Then began the difficulties which led the bishops devoted to Hugh to profess certain "Gallican principles". Nevertheless, Hugh must not be represented as wishing to found a State Church; what he wished was to maintain the Archdiocese of Reims under the domination of France, and to remove it from the influence of the German emperors. If his attitude towards the papacy was often suspicious, it was not due to a Gallican theology, but because he feared that the popes of the time were too subservient to the policy of the emperors; hence his relations with the Holy See were merely an episode in his general policy, destined to bring about the cessation of the powerful influence which the Saxon dynasty had exercised over France during the tenth century.

His domestic policy was very favourable to the development of monastic life and the autonomy of the monasteries. He defended their property against lay tyranny; he sought to remove them from episcopal jurisdiction while upholding the royal right to confirm abbatial elections; he supported all the liberties of the monks in the exercise of their electoral rights; he renounced the custom of distributing abbeys as benefices to laymen. Because of its political importance he wished to retain effective direction over the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours, and even under the reign of the Plantagenet Henry II the Capetians preserved considerable influence at Tours and along the Middle Loire. Apropos of Hugh Capet it is worthy of note that because the Dukes of France had in their possession the famous cope (cappa) of St. Martin, certain authors give to Hugh the Great and to his son Hugh the surname of Capet, which in history is reserved exclusively for the subject of this article. Hugh Capet in his religious policy applied and favoured the ideas of reform upheld by the monks of Cluny.

King of France, and the first of a direct line of 14 Capetian kings of that country. The Capetian dynasty derived its name from his nickname (Latin capa, "cape").

Hugh was the eldest son of Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks. On his father's death in 956, Hugh Capet inherited vast estates in the regions of Paris and Orléans, extending in some places south of the Loire River. He thus became one of the most powerful vassals in the kingdom and a serious danger to the Carolingian king, Lothair. Hugh married Adelaide of Aquitaine in 970, but his efforts to extend his influence into that southwestern kingdom were unsuccessful. From 978 to 986 Hugh was allied with the German emperors Otto II and Otto III and with Adalbero, archbishop of Reims, in political intrigues against the Carolingian king. By 985 Hugh was actually the ruler in all but title; and, after the brief reign of Lothair's son, Louis V (986-987), Hugh was elected king of France in May 987 by the assembly of Frankish magnates. Adalbero was able to convince the magnates that the crown was elective rather than hereditary and that Charles of Lorraine, the only legitimate Carolingian contender, was unfit to rule. Hugh was crowned at Noyon on July 5, 987. Scholars are generally agreed that Hugh's election was not a revolutionary action. His grandfather Robert I, his great-uncle Eudes, and his uncle Rudolf (Raoul) had all earlier been non-Carolingian kings.

Hugh's reign was marked by the unavailing efforts of Charles of Lorraine (imprisoned 991) to assert himself and by continual conflict between Eudes I, count of Blois, and Fulk Nerra of Anjou, whom Hugh later supported. In 993 Eudes was aided by the bishop of Laon in an unsuccessful conspiracy to deliver Hugh and his son Robert over to Otto III. That no one was punished for the incident indicated the weakness of the new Capetian dynasty. Hugh's crown was probably preserved by the inability of his enemies to coordinate their activities against him.

The Capetian dynasty's subsequent rule for more than 300 years has invested Hugh Capet's reign with a greater significance than his actual achievements merit. Very soon after ascending the throne, Hugh Capet arranged the coronation (December 987) of his own son, Robert, who upon Hugh's death succeeded to the throne without difficulty. This practice of crowning the heir during the father's lifetime was continued by the Capetians until the time of Louis VII and undoubtedly contributed to the dynasty's stability and longevity.


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   Events:

• Acceded, 987. King of France.


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Hugo married Adele of Poitou, daughter of Vilhelm III Tête d'Etoupe of Poitou and Gerlaug of Normandy, circa 969. (Adele of Poitou was born circa 945 and died circa 1004.)