Robert II of the Franks, King of the Franks

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_II_of_France

Called the Pious (French: le Pieux) or the Wise (French: le Sage), he was King of the Franks from 996 until his death. The second reigning member of the House of Capet, he was born in Orléans to Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine.

Immediately after his own coronation, Robert's father Hugh Capet, Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December 987. 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. 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.

Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December 987. 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.

He was a devout Catholic, hence his sobriquet "the Pious." He was musically inclined, being a composer, chorister, and poet, and made his palace a place of religious seclusion where he conducted the matins and vespers in his royal robes. Robert's reputation for piety also resulted from his lack of toleration for heretics, whom he harshly punished. He is credited with advocating forced conversions of local Jewry. He supported riots against the Jews of Orléans who were accused of conspiring to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Furthermore, Robert reinstated the Roman imperial custom of burning heretics at the stake.

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

The pious Robert made few friends and many enemies, including his own sons: Hugh, Henry, and Robert. They turned against their father in a civil war over power and property. Hugh died in revolt in 1025. In a conflict with Henry and the younger Robert, King Robert's army was defeated, and he retreated to Beaugency outside Paris, his capital. He died in the middle of the war with his sons on 20 July 1031 at Melun. He was interred with Constance in Saint Denis Basilica and succeeded by his son Henry, in both France and Burgundy.

As early as 989, having been rebuffed in his search for a Byzantine princess, Hugh Capet arranged for Robert to marry Rozala, the recently widowed daughter of Berengar II of Italy, many years his senior, who took the name of Susanna upon becoming Queen. She was the widow of Arnulf II of Flanders, with whom she had two children. Robert divorced her within a year of his father's death in 996.

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. Her southern customs and entourage were regarded with suspicion at court. After his companion Hugh of Beauvais urged the king to repudiate her as well, knights of her kinsman Fulk III, Count of Anjou had Beauvais murdered. The king and Bertha then went to Rome to ask Pope Sergius IV for an annulment so they could remarry. After this was refused, he went back to Constance and fathered several children by her. Her ambition alienated the chroniclers of her day, who blamed her for several of the king's decisions. Constance and Robert remained married until his death in 1031.

They had the following children:

1. Hedwig (or Advisa), Countess of Auxerre (c. 1003-after 1063), married Renauld I, Count of Nevers on 25 January 1016 and had issue.

2. Hugh Magnus, co-king (1007-17 September 1025)

3. Henry I, successor (4 May 1008-4 August 1060)

4. Adela, Countess of Contenance (1009-5 June 1063), married (a) Richard III of Normandy and (b) Count Baldwin V of Flanders.

5. Robert (1011-21 March 1076) Duke of Burgundy

6. Odo or Eudes (1013-c.1056), who may have been intellectually disabled and died after his brother's failed invasion of Normandy

7. Constance (1014-1052), married Count Manasses de Dammartin.

Robert married Constance of Arles, Queen of the Franks. Constance (daughter of William I of Provence and Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou) was born ca 986, Arles, France; died 28 Jul 1032, Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France; was buried , Saint Denis Basilique, Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet]

1. Robert I of Burgundy, Duke of Burgundy was born 1011; died 18 Mar 1076, Fleurey-sur-Ouche, France.

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet

Hugh was the first King of the Franks of the House of Capet from his election in 987 until his death, and was the son of Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of the German king Henry the Fowler.

Born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the royal houses of France and Germany, he was the nephew to: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor; Henry I, Duke of Bavaria; Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne; and finally, Gerberga of Saxony, Queen of France. Gerberga was the wife of Louis IV, King of France and mother of Lothair of France and Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine. His father's father had been King Robert I.

Hugh was a seventh-generation descendant of Charlemagne as follows:

Hugh Capet, son of
Hugh the Great, son of
Béatrice of Vermandois, daughter of
Herbert I, Count of Vermandois, son of
Pepin, Count of Vermandois, son of
Bernard of Italy, King of the Lombards, son of
Pepin of Italy, King of the Lombards, son of
Charlemagne.

After the end of the ninth century, the descendants of Robert the Strong became indispensable in carrying out royal policies. As Carolingian power failed, the great nobles of West Francia began to assert that the monarchy was elective, not hereditary, and twice chose Robertians (Odo I (888-898) and Robert I (922-923)) as kings, instead of Carolingians. Hugh's father, Hugh the Great, allied himself with King Louis IV to become the most powerful person in France in the first half of the tenth century. Once in power, Louis IV granted him the title of dux Francorum (Duke of the Franks). Hugh the Great came to dominate a wide swath of central France, from Orléans and Senlis to Auxerre and Sens, while the king was rather confined to the area northeast of Paris (Compiègne, Laon, Soissons).

The realm in which Hugh Capet grew up, and of which he would one day be king, bore little resemblance to modern France. It was a a divided patchwork of dukedoms and fiefs with everyone fighting to protect and acquire more territory. 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. The lands they ruled comprised only a small part of the former Carolingian Empire.

In 956, when his father Hugh the Great died, Hugh, the eldest son, was then about fifteen years old and had two younger brothers. Otto I, King of Germany, intended to bring western Francia under his control, which was possible since he was the maternal uncle of Hugh Capet, and Lothair of France, the new king of the Franks, who succeeded Louis IV in 954, at the age of 13. Otto I appointed his brother Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lorraine, as guardian of Lothair and regent of the kingdom of France. In 956, Otto gave him the same role over Hugh and the Robertian principality. With these young princes under his control, Otto aimed to maintain the balance between Robertians, Carolingians, and Ottonians.

Although Hugh inherited his father's estates, in theory making him one of the most powerful nobles in the much-reduced kingdom of West Francia, he was not yet an adult so his mother acted as his guardian, and young Hugh's neighbors 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.

When Otto I, the Holy Roman Emperor died in 973, Lothair of France moved to recover Lorraine, "cradle of Carolingians". Accompanied by the nobles of the kingdom, Lothair surprised and plundered Aachen, residence of Otto II, forcing the imperial family to flee. After occupying Aachen for five days, Lothair returned to France after symbolically disgracing the city. In September 978, Otto II retaliated against Lothair by invading France.He met with little resistance on French territory, devastating the land around Rheims, Soissons, and Laon. Lothair then fled to the French capital of Paris where he was besieged by Otto II and Charles. Sickness among his troops brought on by winter and a French relief army under Hugh Capet forced Otto II and Charles to lift the siege on November 30, and return to Germany. This victory allowed Hugh Capet to regain his position as the first noble of the Frankish kingdom.

The Archbishop of Reims was the most important clerical leader and traditionally had supported the ruling family and had long been central to the royal policy. Adalberon, Archbishop of Rheims, was assisted by one of the most advanced minds of his time, the schoolmaster and future Pope, Gerbert of Aurillac. Adalberon and Gerbert worked for the restoration of a single dominant empire in Europe. King Lothair became independent, which defeated their plans to bring the whole of Europe under a single crown. Therefore, they turned their support from Lothair to Hugh Capet. Hugh was for them the ideal candidate, especially since he actively supported monastic reform in the abbeys while other contenders continued to distribute church revenues to their own partisans.

With the support of Adalberon of Reims, Hugh became the new leader of the kingdom. In a letter Gerbert of Aurillac wrote to Archbishop Adalberon that "Lothair is king of France in name alone; Hugh is, however, not in name but in effect and deed." In 979, Lothair sought to ensure his succession by associating his eldest son with the throne. Hugh Capet supported him and summoned the great nobles of the kingdom. The following year, Lothair, seeing the growing power of Hugh, decided to reconcile with the Emperor Otto II by agreeing to renounce Lorraine. Tension mounted between Lothair and Hugh.

When Lothair died in March 986, his son, Louis V, became king and wished to launch an offensive against Reims and Laon. But while hunting in the forest of Senlis, the king was killed in a riding accident on 21 or 22 May 987. He died childless. The apparent successor was Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, brother of Lothair, uncle of Louis V, first cousin of Hugh Capet through their mothers.

For ten years, Hugh Capet had been openly competing against his king, and appeared to have subjected the great vassals. Charles of Lorraine was accused of all evils: he wanted to usurp the crown, had allied himself with the emperor against his brother, and had defamed Queen Emma of Italy, his brother's wife. The archbishop of Reims convened the greatest lords of France at Senlis and denounced Charles of Lorraine for not maintaining his dignity, having made himself a vassal of the emperor Otto II and marrying a woman from a lower class of nobility. Then he promoted the candidacy of Hugh Capet to be King. Hugh was elected and crowned rex Francorum at Noyon in Picardy on 3 July 987, by the prelate of Reims, the first of the House of Capet.

Immediately after his coronation, Hugh began to push for the coronation of his son Robert. The archbishop, wary of establishing hereditary kingship in the Capetian line, answered that two kings cannot be created in the same year. Hugh claimed, however, that he was planning an expedition against the Moorish armies harassing Borrel II, Count of Barcelona (a vassal of the French crown), and that the stability of the country necessitated two kings should he die while on expedition. Robert was eventually crowned on 25 December that same year.

Chess was to become a popular game in the Middle Ages, and the pieces of knight, king, queen bishop, rook [castle] and pawn and reflected the events happening at this time France as sides of nobles and clergy competed for territory and alliances.

Charles of Lorraine, the Carolingian heir, contested the succession. He drew support from the Count of Vermandois, a cadet of the Carolingian dynasty; and from the Count of Flanders, loyal to the Carolingian cause. Adding to the complication was the death of Hugh's ally and kingmaker, the Archbishop of Reims, Adalberon. The position was was contested by his right-hand man, Gerbert of Aurillac, and Arnulf, illegitimate son of King Lothair of France (and nephew of Charles of Lorraine). Arnulf was installed and shortly after sent one of his agents and opened the gates of the city to his uncle, Charles. Arnulf acted as if terrified, and the city of Reims was compelled to surrender. To keep up appearances, Arnulf and Charles denounced each other, until Arnulf swore fealty to Charles.

Hugh was in a predicament as it would be difficult to take Reims by force. Adalberon, bishop of Laon, whom Charles expelled when he took the city, had sought the protection of Hugh Capet. The bishop made overtures to Arnulf and Charles, to mediate a peace between them and Hugh Capet. Adalberon was received by Charles favorably. That very night the bishop seized Charles and Arnulf in their sleep, and delivered them to Hugh. Charles was imprisoned in Orléans until his death. His sons, born in prison, were released.

The reaction in the southern half of the kingdom were not favorable. The Duke of Aquitaine refuses to submit to his king, "condemning the crime of the Franks [the capture of Charles]" and the Bishop of Laon is compared to Judas the "traitor." Hugh Capet possessed minor properties near Chartres and Angers. Between Paris and Orléans he possessed towns and estates amounting to approximately 400 square miles. 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.

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.

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 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 cadet branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe, and all royals since then, have belonged to the dynasty. Furthermore, allied branches of the House continue to reign in Spain and Luxembourg.

All monarchs of the Kingdom of France from Hugh Capet to Philip II of France were titled King of the Franks. Philip II of France was the first to use the title of King of France. Many people make this minor error in writing or doing genealogy.

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

1. Gisela, or Gisele, who married Hugh I, Count of Ponthieu
2. Hedwig, or Hathui, who married Reginar IV, Count of Hainaut
3. Robert II, who became king after the death of his father







Buried:
Grave location, biography, and historical portraits:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=capet&GSfn=hugh&GSiman=1&GScid=1974848&GRid=11420947&

Hugh married Adelaide of Aquitaine. Adelaide was born ca 945, Normandy, France; died 1004, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_of_Aquitaine

She was queen consort of France by marriage to Hugh Capet. Adelaide was the daughter of William III, Duke of Aquitaine and Adele of Normandy, daughter of Rollo of Normandy. Her father used her as security for a truce with Hugh Capet, whom she married in 969.

In 987, after the death of Louis V, the last Carolingian king of France, Hugh was elected the new king with Adelaide as queen. They were proclaimed at Senlis and blessed at Noyon. They were the founders of the Capetian dynasty of France.

Hugh apparently trusted in her judgement and allowed her to take part in government: he proposed her to negotiate for him with the regent of the German Empire, empress Theophanu, committing himself beforehand to their agreement.

Adeleide and Hugh's children were:

1. Hedwig, Countess of Mons (or Hadevide, or Avoise) (c. 969-after 1013), wife of Reginar IV, Count of Mons

2. Robert II (972-1031), the future king of France. Crowned co-king 987 in order to consolidate the new dynasty

3. Gisèle, Countess of Ponthieu (c. 970-1002), wife of Hugh I, Count of Ponthieu.


Buried:
Memorial, biography and portrait"
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=122680964