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Birth:           941 France
Death:          24 Oct  996 Les Juifs nr Chartres, France
Burial:         St. Denis, France

Notes
m 963/968
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet
Hugh Capet[a][b] (c. 941 – 24 October 996) was the first King of the Franks of the 
House of Capet from his election in 987 until his death. He succeeded the last 
Carolingian king, Louis V.
Descent and inheritance[edit]

The son of Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of 
the German king Henry the Fowler, Hugh was born in 941.[1]

Hugh Capet was born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the 
royal houses of France and Germany.[c]

Through his mother, Hugh 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 paternal family, the Robertians, were powerful landowners in the Île-de-France.[2] 
His grandfather had been King Robert I.[2] King Odo was his granduncle and King 
Rudolph was his uncle by affinity.[3] Hugh's paternal grandmother was a descendant 
of Charlemagne.[1][4]

Rise of the Robertians[edit]

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.

Robert I, Hugh the Great's father, was succeeded as King of the Franks by his son-in-
law, Rudolph of Burgundy. When Rudolph died in 936, Hugh the Great had to decide 
whether he ought to claim the throne for himself. To claim the throne would require 
him to risk an election, which he would have to contest with the powerful Herbert II, 
Count of Vermandois, father of Hugh, Archbishop of Reims, and allied to Henry the 
Fowler, King of Germany; and with Hugh the Black, Duke of Burgundy, brother of the 
late king. To block his rivals,[5] Hugh the Great brought Louis d'Outremer, the 
dispossessed son of Charles the Simple, from his exile at the court of Athelstan of 
England to become king as Louis IV.[6]

This maneuver allowed Hugh 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"). Louis also (perhaps under pressure) officially 
declared Hugh "the second after us in all our kingdoms." Hugh also gained power 
when Herbert II of Vermandois died in 943, because Herbert's powerful principality 
was then divided among his four sons.

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).
Chabannes records, probably apocryphally, that during an argument with the Count of 
Auvergne, Hugh demanded of him: "Who made you count?" The count riposted: "Who 
made you king?".[15]

Legacy[edit]

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 centre. 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, cadet 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.

Marriage and issue[edit]

Hugh Capet married Adelaide, daughter of William Towhead, Count of Poitou. Their 
children are as follows:
Gisela, or Gisele, who married Hugh I, Count of Ponthieu
Hedwig, or Hathui, who married Reginar IV, Count of Hainaut
Robert II, who became king after the death of his father

A number of other daughters are less reliably attested.[16]

Prophecy[edit]

According to tradition, sometime in 981, Hugh Capet recovered the relics of St. Valery, 
which had been stolen by the Flemmings, and restored it to the proper resting place. 
The saint appeared to the duke in a dream, and said: "For what you have done, you 
and your descendants shall be kings to the seventh generation." When he became 
king, Hugh refused to wear the insignia of royalty, hoping that it would extend his 
descendants' reign by one generation.

By the literal interpretation, Capetian kingship would thus have ended with Philip 
Augustus, the seventh king of his line. Figuratively, seven meant completeness, and 
would mean that the Capetians would be kings forever. In fact, Capetian kingship 
lasted until 1830 in France, although the current King of Spain and Grand Duke of 
Luxemburg are Capetians.

Parents
OF NEUSTRIA Hugh Magnus "The Great" ( 898 - 16 Jun  956)
OF SAXONY Hedwig (ABT  915 - 14 Mar  965)

Siblings
OF FRANCE Beatrice ( 939 - 23 Aug  987)
CAPET Hugh ( 941 - 24 Oct  996)

Marriage To OF AQUITAINE Adelaide (ABT  945 - ABT 1004)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
____ William (Guillaume) III (I) "Tete d'Etoupe" (ABT  915 - 3 Apr  963)
OF NORMANDY Adele (Gerloc) (ABT  920 - 14 Oct  962)

Children by OF AQUITAINE Adelaide ABT  945 - ABT 1004
CAPET Gisela (ABT  960 - 1002)
____ Hedwig (ABT  972 - AFT 1013)
____ Robert II "the Pious" (27 Mar  972 - 20 Jul 1031)

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