Early Capetian kings The first Capetian monarch was
Hugh Capet (c. 941–996), a
Frankish nobleman from the
Île-de-France, who, following the death of
Louis V (c. 967–987) – the last
Carolingian king – secured the throne of France by election. Hugh was a descendant of
Charlemagne, through his son
Pepin of Italy, and through them claimed descent from
Constantine the Great. He then proceeded to make it hereditary in his family, by securing the election and
coronation of his son,
Robert II (972–1031), as co-king. The throne thus passed securely to Robert on his father's death, who followed the same custom – as did many of his early successors. The Capetian kings were initially weak rulers of the kingdom – they directly ruled only small holdings in the Île-de-France and the
Orléanais, all of which were plagued with disorder; the rest of France was controlled by potentates such as the
duke of Normandy, the
count of Blois, the
duke of Burgundy (himself a Capetian after 1032) and the
duke of Aquitaine (all of whom faced to a greater or lesser extent the same problems of controlling their subordinates). The House of Capet was, however, fortunate enough to have the support of the
Church, and – with the exception of
Philip I,
Louis IX and the short-lived
John I – were able to avoid the problems of underaged kingship.
Capetian and Plantagenet Briefly, under
Louis VII (1120–1180), the House of Capet rose in their power in France. Louis married Duchess
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–1204) and so became duke – an advantage which had been eagerly grasped by his father,
Louis VI (1081–1137), when Eleanor's father,
William X, had asked of the king in his will to secure a good marriage for the young duchess. However, the marriage – and thus one avenue of Capetian aggrandisement – failed. The couple produced only two daughters, and suffered marital discord. Driven to secure the future of the house, Louis divorced Eleanor, who went on to marry
Henry II of England (1133–1189). Louis married twice more before finally having a son,
Philip II (1165–1223). Philip II started to break the power of the
Plantagenets – the family of Eleanor and Henry II – in France.
Louis VIII (1187–1226) – the eldest son and heir of Philip Augustus – married
Blanche of Castile (1188–1252), a granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England. In her name, he claimed the crown of
England, invading at the invitation of the English barons, and briefly being acclaimed – though, it would later be stressed, not crowned – as
king of England. However, the Capetians failed to establish themselves in England – Louis was forced to sign the
Treaty of Lambeth, which legally decreed that he had never been king of England, and the prince reluctantly returned to his wife and father in France. More importantly for his dynasty, he would during his brief reign (1223–1226) conquer
Poitou, and some of the lands of the
Pays d'Oc, declared forfeit from their former owners by the pope as part of the
Albigensian Crusade. These lands were added to the French crown, further empowering the Capetian family.
Louis IX (1214–1270) –
Saint Louis – succeeded Louis VIII as a child; unable to rule for several years, the government of the realm was undertaken by his mother, the formidable Queen Blanche. She had originally been chosen by her grandmother, Eleanor, to marry the French heir, considered a more suitable queen than her sister
Urraca; as
regent, she proved this to be so, being associated in the kingship not only during her son's minority, but even after he came into his own. Louis, too, proved a largely acclaimed King – though he expended much money and effort on the
Crusades, only for it to go to waste, as a French king he was admired for his austerity, strength, bravery, justice, and his devotion to France. Dynastically, he established two notable Capetian houses: the
House of Anjou (which he created by bestowing the
County of Anjou upon his brother,
Charles I (1227–1285)), and the
House of Bourbon (which he established by bestowing
Clermont on his son
Robert (1256–1317) in 1268, before marrying the young man to the heiress of Bourbon,
Beatrice (1257–1310)); the first house would go on to rule
Sicily,
Naples, and
Hungary; the second would eventually succeed to the French throne, collecting
Navarre along the way.
Apogee of royal power At the death of Louis IX (who shortly after was set upon the road to
beatification), France under the Capetians stood as the pre-eminent power in Western Europe. This stance was largely continued, if not furthered, by his son
Philip III (1245–1285), and
his son
Philip IV (1268–1314), both of whom ruled with the aid of advisors committed to the future of the House of Capet and of France, and both of whom made notable – for different reasons – dynastic marriages. Philip III married as his first wife
Isabel (1247–1271), a daughter of King
James I of Aragon (1208–1276); long after her death, he claimed the throne of
Aragon for his second son,
Charles (1270–1325), by virtue of Charles' descent via Isabel from the kings of Aragon. Unfortunately for the Capetians, the endeavour proved a failure, and the King himself died of dysentery at
Perpignan, succeeded by his son, Philip IV. Philip IV had married
Joan I (1271–1305), the
queen of Navarre and
countess of Champagne. By this marriage, he added these domains to the French crown. He engaged in conflicts with the
Papacy, eventually kidnapping
Pope Boniface VIII (–1303), and securing the appointment of the more sympathetic Frenchman, Bertrand de Goth (1264–1314), as
Pope Clement V; and he boosted the power and wealth of the crown by abolishing the
Order of the Temple, seizing its assets in 1307. More importantly to French history, he summoned the first
Estates General – in 1302 – and in 1295 established the so-called "
Auld Alliance" with the
Scots, at the time resisting English domination. He died in 1314, less than a year after the execution of the Templar leaders – it was said that he had been summoned to appear before God by
Jacques de Molay (died 1314), the
Grand Master of the Templars, as the latter was burnt at the stake as a heretic; it was also said that de Molay had cursed the King and his family.
The succession crisis Philip IV presided over the beginning of his House's end. The first quarter of the century saw each of Philip's sons reign in rapid succession:
Louis X (1314–1316),
Philip V (1316–1322) and
Charles IV (1322–1328). Having been informed that his daughters-in-law were engaging in
adultery with two
knights – according to some sources, he was told this by his own daughter,
Isabella – he allegedly caught two of them in the act in 1313, and had all three shut up in royal prisons.
Margaret (1290–1315), the wife of his eldest son and heir apparent,
Louis X and I (1289–1316), had borne her husband only a daughter at this time, and the paternity of this girl,
Joan, was with her mother's adultery now suspect. Accordingly, Louis – unwilling to release his wife and return to their marriage – needed to remarry. He arranged a marriage with his cousin,
Clementia of Hungary (1293–1328), and after Queen Margaret conveniently died in 1315 (strangled by order of the King, some claimed), he swiftly remarried to Clementia. She was pregnant when he died a year later, after an unremarkable reign; uncertain of how to arrange the succession (the two main claimants being Louis' daughter Joan – the suspected bastard – and Louis' younger brother
Philip (1293–1322),
Count of Poitiers), the French set up a regency under the Count of Poitiers, and hoped that the child would be a boy. This proved the case, but the boy –
King John I (1316), known as
the Posthumous – died after only 5 days, leaving a succession crisis. Eventually, it was decided based on several legal reasons (later reinterpreted as
Salic Law) that Joan was ineligible to inherit the throne, which passed to the Count of Poitiers, who became Philip V. He, however, produced no surviving sons with his wife, Countess
Joan II of Burgundy (1291–1330), who had been cleared of her charges of adultery; thus, when he died in 1322, the crown passed to his brother,
Charles (1294–1328),
Count of La Marche, who became Charles IV; the
County of Burgundy, brought to the Capetians by the marriage of Joan and Philip V, remained with Joan, and ceased to be part of the royal domains. Charles IV swiftly divorced his adulterous wife,
Blanche of Burgundy (–1326) (sister of Countess Joan), who had given him no surviving children, and who had been locked up since 1313; in her place, he married
Marie of Luxembourg (1304–1324), a daughter of
Emperor Henry VII (–1313). Marie died in 1324, giving birth to a stillborn son. He then remarried to his cousin,
Joan of Évreux (1310–1371), who however bore him only daughters; when he died in 1328, his only child was Marie, a daughter by Joan, and the unborn child his wife was pregnant with.
Philip of Valois (1293–1350),
Count of Anjou and
Valois, Charles' cousin, was set up as regent; when the Queen produced a daughter, Blanche, Philip by assent of the great magnates became Philip VI, of the
House of Valois, cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty.
Last heirs The last of the direct Capetians were the daughters of Philip IV's three sons, and Philip IV's daughter, Isabella. The wife of
Edward II of England (1284–1327), Isabella (–1358) overthrew her husband in favour of her son (
Edward III, 1312–1377) ruling as regent with her cohort and lover (
Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, 1287–1330). On the death of her brother, Charles IV, in 1328 she claimed to be her father's heiress, and demanded the throne pass to her son (who as a male, an heir to Philip IV, and of adult age, was considered to have a good claim to the throne); however, her claim was refused, eventually providing a cause for the
Hundred Years' War.
Joan (1312–1349), the daughter of Louis X, succeeded on the death of Charles IV to the throne of Navarre, she now being – questions of paternity aside – the unquestioned heiress. She was the last direct Capetian ruler of that kingdom, being succeeded by her son,
Charles II of Navarre (1332–1387); his father,
Philip of Évreux (1306–1343) had been a member of the Capetian
House of Évreux. Mother and son both claimed on several occasions the throne of France, and later the Duchy of Burgundy. Of the daughters of Philip V and Joan II of Burgundy, the elder two had surviving issue.
Joan III, Countess of Burgundy (1308–1349), married
Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy (1295–1350), uniting the Duchy and County of Burgundy. Her line became extinct with the death of her sole grandchild,
Philip I, Duke of Burgundy (1346–1361), whose death also served to break the union between the Burgundys once more. Her sister,
Margaret (1310–1382), married
Louis I,
Count of Flanders (1304–1346), and inherited the County of Burgundy after the death of Philip I; their granddaughter and heiress,
Margaret III, Countess of Flanders (1350–1405), married the son of
John II of France (1319–1364),
Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404), uniting the two domains once more. Of Charles IV's children, only
Blanche (1328–1382) – the youngest, the baby whose birth marked the end of the House of Capet – survived childhood. She married
Philip of Valois, Duke of Orléans (1336–1376), the son of Philip VI, but they produced no children. With her death in 1382, the House of Capet finally came to an end. ==List of direct Capetian kings of France==