Hugh Capet (redirected from Hugues Capet)

Hugh Capet (kā`pĭt, kăp`ĭt), c.938–996, king of France (987–96), first of the Capetians. He was the son of Hugh the Great, to whose vast territories he succeeded in 956. After the death of Louis V, last Carolingian king of France, the nobles and prelates elected him king, setting aside the last Carolingian claimant, Charles I of Lower Lorraine. In order to secure the succession, Hugh took as his associate his son Robert (later King Robert II); he gave away much of his land to secure the dynasty. He spent much of his reign fighting Charles and later became involved in a controversy with the papacy—unsettled at his death—over deposition of the Carolingian archbishop of Reims.

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Hugh Capet

(born c. 938—died Oct. 14, 996, Paris, Fr.) King of France (987–996), the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The son of a Frankish duke, he inherited vast estates in the regions of Paris and Orléans, which made him one of the most powerful vassals in France and a serious threat to the Carolingian king, Lothar. By 985 Hugh was the ruler of France in all but name, and two years later he was elected king. He immediately crowned his own son to ensure the line of succession, a practice continued until the time of Louis VII. He mediated disputes among French nobles and survived a conspiracy to betray him to Otto III.