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It is the 3rd of July, 987. In the cathedral of Reims, Archbishop Adalbero anoints the head of the King of the Franks with the holy oil once used to crown Clovis, the first Catholic king of Frankia. Kneeling before the archbishop is Hugo Capet. With this ceremony, the reign of the Carolingians in the western part of Charlemagne's empire finally comes to an end. The descendants of the Capetian dynasty founded by Hugo Capet would go on to rule what would become the Kingdom of France, with some interruptions, until the 19th century,
while other branches of the family would ascend to the thrones of many Kingdoms throughout Europe, such as Sicily, Naples, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Portugal. Yet every great success story has humble beginnings. In this video, we will trace the modest rise of the House of Capet, or the Robertians, and explain how this family secured one of the most prestigious thrones of the former Frankish Empire. To do so, we must examine the political developments in West Francia during the 9th and 10th centuries and follow the gradual ascent of the Capetians,
who rose to power as loyal servants-and eventual rivals-of the last Carolingian kings. Before we begin, it is important to note that both modern research and national historiographical traditions make this topic highly complex. Naturally, what now follows can only scratch the surface of the fascinating and turbulent late Carolingian world. Like his father, Charlemagne, before him, Emperor Louis the Pious attempted to preserve the unity of the Carolingian Empire,
defying older Frankish traditions of partible inheritance in which a realm was divided between the ruler's sons. According to Louis' wishes, his eldest son, Lothar, was to serve as co-emperor and principal heir, while his younger brothers would rule autonomous sub-kingdoms that owed fealty to Lothar. Thus, formally, the empire would remain united under the Carolingians. In practice, none of Louis' sons were satisfied with this arrangement. Beginning in 830, Emperor Louis faced repeated rebellions by his sons and discontented nobles. When he died in 840,
the Carolingian Empire descended into open civil war as each heir sought to secure and expand his share of the inheritance. The conflict shook the foundations of imperial authority and exposed deep structural weaknesses within the Frankish state. In 843, the Treaty of Verdun formally divided the empire between the three surviving sons. Louis the German received the eastern lands, Lothar the middle kingdom, and Charles the Bald the western portion. A second treaty in 870 reinforced the east-west divide, while the Kingdom of Italy emerged as a separate entity. Over time, repeated partitions created as many as six Carolingian kingdoms,
each ruled by a different branch of the dynasty. Historians point to a variety of causes for the empire's long decline. In simplified terms, the division of the empire meant the division of land, wealth, and authority. Kings increasingly depended on the loyalty of powerful magnates, which they secured by granting permanent lands, offices, and rights. At the same time, all Carolingian realms faced relentless external pressure. Viking, Slavic, Muslim, and later Magyar raids devastated the kingdoms and drained royal resources. These pressures transformed how the empire was governed.
Under Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, royal authority strove for a centralized system that closely supervised key regions and appointed officials who ensured the enforcement of royal rule and decrees. This system did not survive the civil wars and the external pressures that bore down upon the Empire after Louis' death. The mechanisms for raising troops and administering justice gradually collapsed, and control over distant regions was delegated to local elites. Late Carolingian kings found it increasingly difficult to intervene in local affairs. In
response, nobles demanded high rewards for their support. Counties, abbeys, and churches passed from royal control into the hands of powerful families. Even royal officials, such as the counts and missi dominici began prioritizing their own local interests. Cultural, linguistic, and legal differences between the emerging kingdoms and sub-kindgoms further encouraged fragmentation and fostered strong regional identities. Beginning in the late 9th and fully in the 10th centuries, West Francia increasingly resembled a realm dominated by powerful princes
rather than the centralized kingdom that Charlemagne might have hoped to establish. Yet the consecrated Carolingian king remained a crucial symbolic figure. Authority still flowed, at least formally, from the crown, and magnates derived legitimacy from royal appointment. At the same time, the late Carolingian period saw a renewed mobility among the aristocracy. Noble families moved between the emerging kingdoms in search of opportunity, refuge, or advantage. One such family would later become known as the Robertians-the ancestors of the Capetians.
The Robertians likely originated in East Francia, with early influence around the city of Worms. It is possible that they even had family ties to the Carolingian main branch, but nothing hard can be said in that regard. After falling out of favour with East Francian King Louis the German, the family appears to have moved westward into the West Frankish Empire. Their first prominent figure of that family to make his renown was Robert the Strong, who emerged in the sources in 852, when King Charles the Bald granted him several abbeys and royal offices.
Despite rebelling against the king in 858, Robert regained royal trust and, in 861, was appointed military commander of the March of Neustria. He received the counties of Anjou, Touraine, and Blois. Over the next decade, Robert proved himself a capable defender against Viking raids and became a pillar of West Frankish defence. Before his death fighting the Vikings at the Battle of Brissarthe in 866, he had expanded his influence into Burgundy and acquired lands in Maine, Anjou, and Tours. However, these holdings were not yet hereditary.
After Robert's death, many of his offices and lands were redistributed by the crown. Still, he had established his family as a major force in West Francia. Robert's son Odo continued this rise. He assumed control of the county of Paris in 882 and soon gained fame during the great Viking siege of the city in 885. Odo successfully held Paris until Emperor Charles the Fat arrived in 886 and negotiated the Vikings' departure through tribute-a well-established Carolingian strategy. In recognition of his valiant defence of Paris,
Odo was rewarded with offices and counties his father had once held. Control over key territories near Orléans and the abbey of Saint-Martin of Tours made him one of the most powerful magnates in the kingdom. As with his father before him, his rise was driven not by rebellion, but by loyal service to the crown. But a turning point came in 888, when Charles the Fat died childless after being deposed of his crown under pressure from Arnulf of Carinthia, who was crowned ruler of East Francia by its nobles. With Arnulf focused on his own eastern realm,
Odo was elected king of West Francia-the first non-Carolingian to hold the throne. Despite his coronation, Odo faced the same structural limits as his Carolingian predecessors. His real power was confined largely to his own lands, and he depended on the cooperation of other princes. To secure his position, he acknowledged Arnulf of Carinthia as his superior. Odo did achieve further military successes against the Vikings, further legitimizing his rule, though often at great personal risk. His brother Robert became one of his chief supporters, receiving
the March of Neustria, multiple counties, and numerous abbeys as lay abbot. This concentration of ecclesiastical wealth became a defining feature of Robertian power and alarmed other magnates. Yet the Carolingian line was not extinguished. Charles the Simple, the posthumous son of Louis the Stammerer, had been passed over due to his youth. Educated under Archbishop Fulk of Reims, Charles became the figurehead of an opposition movement when Odo clashed with the Counts of Flanders in the early 890s. After years of conflict, a compromise was reached in 895.
Charles received the city of Laon and recognition as heir to the Kingdom of West Frankia. When Odo died childless in 898, his brother Robert honoured the agreement and supported Charles' accession to the West Frankish crown. In return, Charles confirmed Robert's offices and-crucially-allowed him to pass them on to his son, making a first step in making them fully hereditary and separating them from royal approval. As with the other late Carolingian rulers, Charles the Simple also struggled to control the realm, lacking royal possessions and other assets.
Meanwhile, Robert remained loyal and successfully fought the Vikings, remaining an important asset of Carolingian rule. Most prominently, Robert defeated the Viking leader Rollo in 911, who was then granted the county of Rouen, laying the foundation for the famous Duchy of Normandy, whose Ducal line would conquer Anglo-Saxon England some 150 years later. Despite Robert's loyal service to the West Frankish crown, tensions between the mighty magnate and the king eventually emerged. The relationship between them finally collapsed in 921 when Charles favoured a courtier
named Hagano, whom the West Frankish nobility viewed as an upstart outsider. At an assembly, Charles publicly symbolically elevated Hagano to Robert's level by placing him on his left, provoking outrage. Robert joined the opposition and was crowned anti-king in 923. War erupted, and although Robert's forces prevailed, he himself was killed in battle. Charles was captured by Heribert II of Vermandois, sidelined, and used as political leverage, while a third-party compromise candidate, Rudolf of Burgundy, was elected king. Robert's son, Hugh the Great, inherited his vast
territories stretching from the Loire to the Seine, along with numerous abbeys. Despite his power, Hugh declined the crown, recognizing that great power in one's own vast possessions did not guarantee that one could prevail against the other magnates and princes or count on their support once crowned king. Hugh retained his holdings and gained even more influence, eventually controlling most of Neustria. Meanwhile, Rudolf of Burgundy was a weak king, with his reign marked by external threats and internal instability. He died childless in 935.
Hugh then invited the young Louis IV of the Carolingian family to take the throne in 936. This Louis was known as d'Outremer, as he had, in his youth, gone into exile in England with his mother. Hugh supported his coronation and was rewarded with the title Duke of the Franks. Soon, however, rivalry emerged. Louis sought to curb Hugh's power, while Hugh allied himself with Otto the Great of East Francia, marrying Otto's sister Hadwig. In 938, Louis and his noble supporters found themselves in direct opposition to the Robertians and their growing power.
As his first and most important project, the King now sought to win Lotharingia to establish a new Carolingian power base there. However, this made Otto the Great his enemy. By 940, the attempt to conquer Lotharingia alongside rebellious dukes had achieved the opposite of what had been hoped for. Instead of a new power base, Louis found his enemies united against him, and Otto's troops invaded West Francia. It was only Louis' marriage to Gerberga, another sister of Otto, that saved the situation from utter disaster. The conflict between Hugh and his king continued to drag on,
with shifting alliances, culminating in the great magnates' excommunication in 947 and 948. Under pressure from the Church, Louis IV and Otto the Great, who now intervened to support Louis, Hugh finally submitted to his king and paid him homage in 953. After long struggles, Louis finally had his own centre of power with the fortress of Laon and the city of Reims, and had asserted his position against the magnates - mostly by pitting them against each other. But by late summer 954, the king died. Louis' son, Lothar, came to power largely through the efforts of his mother Gerberga. She enlisted the help of her brothers Otto the Great and Bruno,
the Archbishop of Cologne. The latter was to serve as regent for Lothar until his own death in 965 and ruled the West Frankish Empire in accordance with Otto I's wishes. So once again, the greatest magnate of West Francia refrained from reaching for the crown himself. Once again, Hugh supported Lothar, a young king, and was rewarded for it: Burgundy and Aquitaine were given to him before he died of illness in Dourdan in 956, leaving behind three sons. After Hugh's death, the Robertins' position suddenly became unclear. Hugh's eldest son,
Hugo Capet, inherited his father's position and retained power over the family's core possessions. However, the king extended his status as a minor, thus not granting him control of key possessions and titles. Some of Hugo Capet's subordinate nobles did not recognize the rule of their rightful overlord, while others came into conflict with each other. It was not until 960 that King Lothar allowed Hugo Capet to fully assume his father's inheritance. He was appointed Duke of the Franks and Margrave of Neustria, but on condition that he recognized the independence
of the local counts. Furthermore, the king gave the parts of the Kingdom of Burgundy that the Robertians had acquired to Hugh's brothers after Hugh Capet and King Lothar together fought against rebellious nobles in that region. But King Lothar himself found himself increasingly under the control of the Ottonians. It was not until the death of Otto the Great in 973 that Lothar had the opportunity to break out and began to bring Lorraine back under the influence of Western Francia. This led to open war between East and West in 978. Hugh Capet
supported his king in the conflict because his family had interests in the region that were threatened by Ottonian initiatives. In a coup, Lothar succeeded in occupying Aachen, the capital of the Eastern Empire, and plundering it for five days. The King of the West Franks turned Charlemagne's eagle, housed in the Palace, to face east as a symbolic insult to Otto II. The Empire struck back fast and hard. Otto's troops invaded West Francia without encountering much resistance, plundering the country and revealing Lothar's weak position within his realm.
Otto II then installed his cousin, Charles, Lothar's brother, as anti-king in West Francia and began besieging Paris. The siege was eventually brought to an end by illness, the approaching winter, and a relief army led by Hugo Capet. Otto II withdrew and suffered most of the losses of this campaign when his rearguard faced a difficult river crossing and was attacked by Hugo Capet's army. Following his great victory over Emperor Otto, Hugo was the hero of the day and could use that victory to secure his position within the realm. Perhaps in the wake of that catastrophic campaign, Lothar installed his son, Louis V, as co-king and
successor to the throne of West Frankia in 979. This move was supported by Hugo Capet, most likely as he anticipated gaining control over the new king from his position of power from early on. But Lothar, on the other hand, could clearly see that Hugo was a threat to his rule and tried to secure himself against the Capet's ambitions by setting aside his differences with Otto II. In 980, the West Frankish King married his 15-year-old son Louis to Adelheid of Anjou without consulting Hugo Capet, bringing her possessions under royal control and thus pincering the possessions of the
Robertians. However, as Adelheid was in her 40s, the marriage was not to last long; just two years later, she separated from her teenage husband. But another opportunity opened for Lothar when Otto II died young in 983 while in Italy. His son, Otto III, was a minor of seven years, under the guidance of his mother, Theophanu, and his grandmother, Adelheid. The Ottonian realm was plunged into further insecurity when other parties kidnapped the young Otto. Lothar wanted to gain from this situation and tried to bring parts of Lotharingia under West Frankish control. Hugo
Capet also saw the situation as an opportunity and began to improve his relations with the Ottonians by supporting both empresses against claims from other candidates on the Ottonian throne. In 985, Lothar tried to capture Upper Lotharingia by force, with some success, but Hugo did not support his king, remaining steady on his own pro-Ottonian cause. As Lothar could not begin an open conflict with Hugh, the struggle against the Ottonians raged on, again showing the limits of the late Carolingian dynasty's power. Lothar died suddenly the next year, and his son
Louis did not survive him all too long. With his sudden death on 22 May 987 in a hunting accident, the last Carolingian on the West Frankish throne died. But within this short rule, Hugh laid bare the power structure in the West Frankish Kingdom when he intervened in the trial against Archbishop Adalbero of Reims, who was accused of high treason in 986 for being a loyal supporter of Ottonian interests in West Francia. The assembly at Compiègne, which was to decide on the archbishop, was dissolved when Hugh appeared with a host of soldiers. Unsurprisingly, the archbishop proposed,
with the support of a cadre of other nobles, that Hugo Capet should succeed Louis as the King of West Frankia. The Imperial Ottonians found him a viable option because he was a relative and supporter of theirs. A meeting was convened in Senlis, where Hugh was elected. Only Charles of Lorraine emerged as an opponent for the crown. However, Charles had few supporters among the West Frankish nobility, the clergy or the Ottonians. He had alienated them all in the past. When he invoked his right of inheritance, Archbishop Adalbero publicly opposed this candidate in a
speech. He called Charles a troublemaker, without honour, faith or character. Furthermore, he had married below his station. If the West Franks wanted an era of prosperity, they should place the crown on Hugo, the illustrious Duke of the Franks. Just half a year later, his son was crowned co-ruler, laying the foundation of a new dynasty. As we have seen, the rise of the Capetians was not the result of a sudden power grab, but a slow and careful accumulation of influence and power - but in the end still far from a position of hegemony. For decades, the crown passed between Carolingians
and Robertians as legitimacy, compromise, and pragmatism shaped political decisions. In the end, Hugo Capet prevailed not because he was overwhelmingly powerful, but because no major faction stood firmly against him. From these modest beginnings, the Capetian dynasty would shape France's future for centuries to come. More videos on the Frankish Kings who shaped the destiny of Medieval Europe are on the way. If you don't want to miss that and many other historical videos, make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button to see them.
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