Capetians

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

or House of Capet, a royal family of France, reigning 987-1547. Hugh Capet, the first of the line, was elected by a council of nobles and clergy to succeed Louis V, the last of the Carolingians. He was a lay abbot and wore a capet, or abbot's cape, of gray wool,-hence the name Capetian. Hugh was crowned king of the Gauls, Bretons, Danes, Normans, Aquitanians, Goths, Spaniards, and Gascons. It remained for the Capetians to weld together these diverse elements and create a nation. The provinces of France, each under its own ruler, had the notion of states' rights . The king had no power of general taxation. His income came from his own possessions. He had his local army, as each feudal lord had his; but there was no national army. Each feudal lord legislated for his own territory; there were no national laws enforced by central authority. To overcome these evils and create France, the unit, was, therefore, the work accomplished by the descendants of old Hugh Capet. The crown passed from father to oldest son eleven times, then twice to younger sons, then in 1328 to a cousin, Philip VI. He and his successors were Capetians by blood, but are known as the House of Valois. Indeed, all the later French kings were descended from Hugh Capet. The following table gives the Capetian kings with the dates of accession: Hugh Capet 987 Robert II ..996 Henry I ..1031 Philip I ...1060 Louis VI ..1108 Louis VII .1137 Philip II (Augustus) 1180 Louis VIII 1223 Louis IX (the Saint) 1226 Philip III ..1270 Philip IV (the Fair) .1285 Louis X ...1314 Philip V ...1316 Charles IV 1322 Philip VI (Valois) .1328 John ..1350 Charles V (the Wise) 1364 Charles VI 1380 Charles VII 1422 Louis XI ..1461 Charles VIII 1483 Louis XII ..1498 Francis I...1515-1547 See VALOIS; BOURBON. There is no other modern nation which owes so heavy a debt of gratitude to its ancient line of kings as the French. France, as it exists to day, and has existed through all modern history, with all its glorious achievements, is their creation and that of no one else.-George Burton Adams.