11. Hugh Capet — Robert
CHAPTER XI. Hugh Capet — Robert (987-1031)
The brave Count Odo, who had been made king before the reign of Charles the Simple, had left a brother, called Robert, the Duke of France. Robert had a son, named Hugh the Great, who had more power than any one else in France through the reigns of the last Carlovingian kings, and who might have been king himself had he wished it. He was brave and wise, and might have made a good king, but he died Duke of France, leaving behind him a son, also named Hugh, who was made duke in his father's place. When the Carlovingians were all dead — except one who was an uncle of the last king, and lived at the Court of the German emperor — the barons of northern France all joined in choosing Hugh, Duke of France, to be their king. They did not consider that this made him much more important or more powerful than themselves. He was solemnly crowned, and he managed to make friends, in the course of his reign, with many of the nobles, with the clergy, and the people of the towns. He made himself master, by degrees, of several of the states where the barons had been ruling, each like a small king in his own country.
From this time, for seven hundred years, the kings of France were constantly trying to gain one province after another from the great counts and dukes, who passed them down from father to son, as the kings of France did with the country.
I have mentioned the names of some of the chief provinces — Anjou, Burgundy, Brittany, Normandy. There were several others, but these were four of the most important. Normandy was conquered about 200 years later than the time of which I write; Anjou and Burgundy were taken by the French king about 500 years later, their princes having died without children; Brittany was won later still by a Fench king marrying the daughter of the last of the dukes.
Thus it was only by very small degrees that France grew to its present size, and the early kings had but little power, for their barons were nearly as strong as they. The clergy were on the side of Hugh, for he had many abbeys and church lands belonging to him, and they wished to have him for a friend. Hugh also made friends with the Duke of Normandy, but some of the other barons joined together to try and drive him from the kingdom. Hugh was able to resist them. He fought against them for some years, in spite of some of the men, whom he most trusted, deserting him and going over to the other side. Hugh was successful at last; his chief enemy died, and he continued king till his death, though not without many struggles.
He was never master of any part of France south of the Loire. There was a strong duke there, and another in Normandy. But they did not dispute Hugh's right to be king, or object to his son being so after him. Hugh was called Capet, either from a hood or cape which he used to wear instead of a crown, or from the size of his head — caput being the Latin for head. He was the first of the line of kings called Capetians, who reigned in France about twice as long as the Carlovingians had done.
The next king was Robert, the son of Hugh. He had been crowned in his father's lifetime, and when Hugh died, carried on the government by himself. Robert was a kind, gentle, humble man, but not a wise one, and so not fit to be a king. He was foolishly good-natured, letting people have everything they wanted, without considering whether or not it was right for them to have it. He once saw a man cutting off a gold ornament from his own royal robe; he only laughed and let the thief take it. Another day he saw a priest steal a candlestick out of a church. He said, "My friend, run for your life to your home in Lorraine," and gave him money for his escape. A king who behaves to thieves in this way, as if what they were doing were quite right and proper, is not likely to have honest subjects.
He was always followed about by twelve poor men, and as his wife did not like to see beggars at dinner with her and the king, he would sometimes hide one under the table and pass down to him food off his own plate.
Robert had a wife named Bertha, of whom he was very fond. The Pope found out that she was the fourth cousin of the king, and told him that she must not remain his wife. It was supposed that the Pope had the right to settle such matters, but the king resisted for some time. The Pope then laid the country under a ban. (I have already said that) most of the bishops in all countries obeyed the Pope, and as time went on people of all kinds got more and more into the habit of obeying him, though in France both the clergy and the king were inclined to resist him, and declare that they could settle their own affairs without his advice. The Pope used sometimes to tell the subjects of a king that they need obey him no longer, and it was then considered that he had left off being king, and if he did not yield of himself, the friends of the Pope would sometimes rise up against him, and turn him out of the kingdom by force.
The Pope had other powers; he could excommunicate any one who displeased him. An excommunicated person was, as much as possible, cut off from every one else; no one was to speak to him, to wait upon him, to sell him food or anything else. He was never to be allowed to go into a church, and was considered by all who believed in the Pope as an enemy and an outlaw. Sometimes the Pope would put the whole kingdom under a ban or interdict, and then all the people in it were considered excommunicated, no services might be held in the country, and it was believed that any one who died excommunicated would be shut out from heaven.
When Robert refused to give up his wife, and the Pope laid the kingdom under a ban, the French bishops excommunicated Robert and Bertha. After a time Robert yielded, sent away his wife, and soon after married another, named Constance, who was beautiful and clever, but gave great trouble to the king by her bad temper and self-will.
At this time there arose an idea among the people of Europe that the world was coming to an end. There have always been, and there still are, people who think they can find out what we are particularly told in the Bible that no one knows, when the world as it is now will come to an end, and men will live upon it no longer. There had for some time been an idea that the world would end one thousand years after the birth of Jesus Christ, and as the year came near, people became so much frightened that many of them gave up their lands, went into monasteries, or made journeys called pilgrimages to churches and holy places, all of which would, they thought, be pleasing to God, and make them more fit to die. They imagined that they saw signs and figures in the sky, and as in those days people knew nothing about comets, eclipses, meteors, or any of the curious sights that are often to be seen by those who watch for them, it is very likely that they did see many wonderful things in the sky which they could not explain, but which certainly did not mean that the world was coming to an end; for it has gone on from that time to this, for more than eight hundred years, and, as far as we know, there is no reason why it should not go on for another eight hundred years, or longer still.
The eldest son of King Robert and Constance was crowned while his father was still alive, but died soon after. The king then had his youngest son crowned, which displeased Constance, who wished one of his elder brothers to be king. Robert had struggles with many of the great barons, the Duke of Anjou in particular; and twice in his reign there was a rising up against him in different parts of the country. Once some poor peasants tried vainly to resist their powerful lords, and again some men, who had a different religion from their neighbours, rose up and made some confusion and disturbance; but Robert managed to overcome them all and lemained king till his death, which happened almost at the same time as the deaths of the two other great princes of France, the Duke of Normandy and the Duke of Aquitaine.
