Hugh Capet (939-24 October 996) was King of the Franks from 3 July 987 to 24 October 996, succeeding Louis V of France and preceding Robert II of France. He was, through his father Hugh the Great, a descendant of Charlemagne and of Charles Martel. He would also be the progenitor of the royal House of Capet, which would rule the Kingdom of France until 1328.
Biography[]
10th century politics[]
Hugh Capet was born in 939, the son of Duke Hugh the Great of the Franks and Hedwige of Saxony. He came from the well-connected House of Capet, which had many ties to the royal houses of France and Germany. At the end of the ninth century, the Frankish Empire's nobles began to assert that succession was elective and not hereditary, and his grandfather Robert I of France was succeeded by his son-in-law Rudolph of Burgundy on his death. In 936, Hugh the Great sought to claim the throne for himself when his brother in law, Hugh’s uncle Rudolph, died, and he brought Charles the Simple's dispossessed son Louis of Outremer to France's court to sereve as the new king of France as his puppet. Hugh the Great became the most powerful person in France due to this maneuver, and after his death in 956 his 17 year old son Hugh Capet inherited the elderly Hugh's estates.
Rise to Power[]
As Duke of the Franks from 956, Hugh became a powerful man within the Kingdom of France, which was now dominated by Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great of East Francia. In addition, Fulk II of Anjou sought to carve out a domain for himself, threatening the power of West Francia. On 30 November 978, Hugh led an army to relieve Otto II of Germany's siege of Paris (in response to Lothair of France's plundering of Aachen in August 978), and Otto's rear guard was wiped out by Hugh Capet's army, ensuring that Capet would be hailed as the greatest noble in France.
However, the Ottonians supported Hugh as a candidate to the French throne, as he was not from the House of Karling and was, therefore, not able to break the Ottonian tutelage. Adalberon of Reims supported Hugh as the new ruler, but in 979 Hugh supported Louis V of France as the successor to Lothair. Lothair was considered King of France in name alone, but Hugh was king in effect and deed; in 986, Lothair died, and Louis V died just a year after him. The throne was now vacant, and Hugh was elected the new King of West Francia, beginning the rule of the House of Capet.
King of France[]
Hugh, as a Robertian (a descendant of Robert the Strong of Anjou), had to compete with Charles of Lower Lorraine, Lothair's brother and the late Otto II's candidate for the throne back in 978. Charles was denounced for not maintaining his dignity, having vassalized himself to Otto II and married a lowborn woman. Hugh was considered to have had a better soul, and on 3 July 987 he was crowned Rex Francorum at Noyon in Picardy. On 30 December, he had his son crowned Robert II of France as the junior king, establishing a hereditary Kingdom of France, much to the nobles' dismay. Hugh had to deal with several uprisings and intrigues by nobles loyal to the Carolingians, as he was the first ruler of the House of Capet, not of Carolingian blood. His vassal Arnulf of Reims, the illegitimate son of Lothair of France, betrayed him and took Reims away from West Francia, leading to Hugh pleading to Pope John XV, demanding his deposition. In 991, Gerbert of Reims was chosen to succeed Arnulf, and in 994 the French bishops confirmed their decision against the will of Pope John XV - in 999, Gerbert would become Pope as "Sylvester II", the first French pope. Hugh died in Paris in 996, having been considered the founder of the Kingdom of France; he set Paris as the capital, centralized the government around Ile-de-France, founded the House of Capet (whose cadet branches continue to reign in Spain and Luxembourg), and created the title "King of the Franks", effectively making him the first "King of France".