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 972 - 1031 (59 years)
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| Name |
Robert II of the Franks |
| Suffix |
King of the Franks |
| Born |
27 Mar 972 |
Orléans, France  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
20 Jul 1031 |
Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France |
| Buried |
Saint Denis Basilique, Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France |
| 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.
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| Person ID |
I36079 |
Master File |
| Last Modified |
10 Sep 2016 |
| Father |
Hugh Capet, King of the Franks, b. ca 941, Paris, France , d. 24 Oct 996, Paris, France (Age ~ 55 years) |
| Mother |
Adelaide of Aquitaine, b. ca 945, Normandy, France , d. 1004, France (Age ~ 59 years) |
| Family ID |
F14876 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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