Capet
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the name of the French race of kings which has given over 100 The first of the Capets known in history sovereigns to Europe. was Robert the Strong, Count of Anjou by Charles the Bald, a Saxon, made and afterward duke of the Ile de France. His descendant, Hugh, son of Hugh the Great, was in 987 elected in place of the Carlovingians. On the King of France failure of the direct line at the death of Charles IV., the French throne was kept in the family by the accession of the indirect line of Valois, and in 1589 by that of Bourbon. Capet being thus regarded as the family name of the kings of France, Louis XVI. was arraigned before the National Convention under the name of Louis Capet. CAPE of Good Hope, South Africa; between TOWN, capital of the Cape the N. base of Table Mountain and Table Bay. The town was laid out by its Dutch founders with mathematical preciseness-the main thoroughfares crossing one another at right angles. The houses of old Cape Town are mostly flat-roofed, oblong, and whitewashed. The beautiful government gardens in the heart of Cape Town serve the purposes of a public 14 acres in extent, and contain upward park. The gardens are about of 8,000 varieties of trees and plants. The Houses of Parliament, and the public library and museum, are close to the entrance of the avenue; and the Fine Arts Gallery in New street also faces the Botanic Gardens. The city has a regular supply of water, and is well lighted. There are spacious markets generally well supplied with fish, vegetables, and fruit; and public sales of produce, wool, feathers, etc., take place weekly. A large break-water, and an excellent system of docks have made Table Bay a place of call for passing vessels of all nations. Pop. (1918, white) 99,693.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The dynastic outline Collier's gave in 1921 still stands: Hugh Capet was elected king in 987, the direct line failed with Charles IV in 1328, and the crown passed to the Valois and then, in 1589, to the Bourbons. Collier's boast that the family "has given over 100 sovereigns to Europe" is if anything still current, since Capetian Bourbons reign today in Spain (Felipe VI, whose father Juan Carlos I was restored to the throne in 1975) and in Luxembourg. What has softened is the confident genealogy: the descent from Robert the Strong is still accepted, but the claim that he was "a Saxon" is now treated as speculation, and the origin of the nickname "Capet" itself, first applied to Hugh, remains unexplained. France marked the millennium of Hugh's accession in 1987; the name's other famous use, the arraignment of Louis XVI as "Louis Capet" before the Convention in 1792, is described exactly as Collier's has it.
Written for this edition, 2026.