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France · The foundations

Hugh Capet, the king nobody noticed

In 987 the magnates elect Duke Hugh: the throne “is not acquired by hereditary right”. At Christmas, he has his son crowned. Nobody notices — a dynasty has just begun.

The start of the lesson

The next 6 cards, the four questions and the review are in the app.

A court where the king is not the most important. 986: the last Carolingians rule western Gaul. Beside them a duke, Hugh, who carries more weight than the king. Lothair dies; the lords recognise his son Louis. A king gets recognised.

0 year
on the throne for Louis V
“One year after his father”, he dies without a child. The last Carolingian king never even had time to exist (Richer, IV, 5).

22 May 987, Senlis. Louis is hunting, he falls. The blood, Richer writes, flows out “through the nose and the mouth”. No child. The magnates swear to the duke not to touch the election. To the duke. No king left.

  1. Louis IVThe king Richer’s father served.
  2. LothairDead in 986.CharlesThe brother. Remember him.
  3. Louis VOne year on the throne. No child.

One Carolingian is left: Charles, the dead king’s uncle. He claims the throne “by hereditary right”. At Senlis, the archbishop speaks for the duke:

« But if we look into the matter, the throne is not acquired by hereditary right, and no one ought to be placed at the head of the kingdom unless he is distinguished, not only by nobility of body, but also by strength of mind… »

Richer, Histories, trans. Ogg, A Source Book of Mediaeval History, 1907 (Fordham), IV, 11

Except it is composed: Richer writes like Sallust, and his speeches are reconstructions. The argument landed: Hugh is elected.

The next 6 cards, the four questions and the review are in the app.

What you will be able to answer

  • According to Richer, where and when is Hugh crowned?
  • In 987, the crown passes automatically to the dead king’s closest relative.
  • Put these steps in order.
  • Hugh wants his son crowned straight away. The archbishop objects that one cannot reasonably make two ___ in the same year.

Sources

Every date, every figure and every quote in this lesson was verified in these sources.

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