The Dynasty

Abstract

Hugh Capet was crowned King of France at Noyon on 5 July 987. He was the son of Hugh the Great, Duke of Francia, the grand-nephew of Eudes, Count of Paris and King of France (888–98), the grandson of Robert I, King of France (922–3), and the nephew of Raoul, King of France (923–6). His accession was due as much to the intrigues of Archbishop Adalbero of Rheims as to his own personal actions. Contemporary opinion probably did not look upon the occasion as the inauguration of a new dynasty. We may even suspect that those who elected Hugh as king would not have done so, had they been able to read the future. The great feudal magnates of France north of the Loire who chose the Duke of Francia to be their ruler had no intention of committing themselves to his descendants. Indeed, everything suggested that they would react to his death as they had done to that of the last Carolingian, Louis V, and make a free choice of a successor.