The Capetian Dynasty

Today, I want to look at how a dynasty and specific rulers shape a country through the use of feudalism and its relationship with the church. And so today we're going to look at the Capetian dynasty. The last we left France, it was ruled by Carolingians. And the last great Carolingian was Charlemagne. After Charlemagne's death, the dynasty is going to slip into this difficult period. Why? Well, first, they have some internal problems. The rulers struggled over who would wear the crown or control the crown lands or the vassals. You've got some internal problems. On top of that, you have Viking attacks and Muslim attacks. So you have issues with external security. And then within the feudal system itself, the nobility are growing very strong. They're growing in importance. And it's hard for the kings to gain loyalty. As the Carolingians weaken, the nobility wanted to reintroduce the idea of elected monarchy, that elected kingship. This would give them influence over the king. Plus, they might themselves have a chance to be elected king. So let's take a look at how we get a non-Carolingian onto the throne. In the 800s, a man named Robert the Strong is going to be appointed by the French king to deal with the problem of the Vikings. He's going to enhance the prestige and standing of his family. And his son, Otto, in 888, will be elected king, a non-Carolingian. Remember, the church isn't strong at this point. And so the church is going to support the monarchy. They would rather have one strong leader than nobility that can't offer adequate protection. So Robert the Strong is important because he will enhance the name of his family so much that his son will become the first non-Carolingian to be elected. One of those elected nobility in 987, Hugh Capet, will be the beginning of the Capetian dynasty. Now, a dynasty is hereditary, and so his major accomplishment is that he's able to persuade the nobility to have his son chosen as his successor during his lifetime. So he's able to reestablish this idea of a hereditary kingship. Now, when Hugh Capet became king of France, technically he became king of all of France. But in reality, he only controlled this area just around Paris. This is called the Ile-de-France. The other areas surrounding were controlled by his vassals. Later kings in the Capetian dynasty will gradually expand that control. Hugh Capet is going to have three major goals that he wants to accomplish. And he's not going to accomplish all of these himself, but ultimately they will be accomplished by his successors. First, he wants to pacify, or bring under his control, the Ile-de-France. There's still areas and certain vassals that are not totally under his control. Second, he would like to expand his political and economic base beyond the Ile-de-France, make his power more effective outside of that area. And then third, he would like to make his lordship over his vassals real, not just theoretical. Now the Capetian dynasty was very successful. It's going to last from 987 to 1328. What are the factors that ultimately helped the Capetians succeed? Let's look at why they were so successful. First, the French king was anointed. He was sacrosanct. This means that he's not divine, but he is blessed by the church. The Capetians had the support of the Catholic church. That doesn't mean that they always got along, but they had their support. In the beginning, the nobility weren't worried about the Capetians. They didn't really consider the Capetians a real threat to their power. And since we're talking about the nobility, the great vassals were very jealous of each other, and the king was able to take advantage of that jealousy. Another factor that helped the Capetians succeed was that they had an unbroken line of succession until the early 1320s. They always had a male heir. Some dynasties die off because they don't have a successor. Other dynasties die off because successors fight amongst one another, like the Carolingians. Charlemagne's successors warred with one another. The Capetians were able to avoid those family quarrels that pull families apart. The Capetian dynasty is able to extend their power gradually through marriage, war, confiscation of property, feudal rights, all kinds of different ways. Plus, they're kind of lucky. They have male heirs, ingenuity. They're able to succeed where other dynasties would normally fail. The first three members of the Capetian dynasty aren't necessarily big, powerful figures. You have Hugh Capet, Robert the Pious, and Henry III. Their significance is that they keep the Capetian dynasty alive. They keep this idea of the monarchy going and hereditary succession. So basically, they just continue the Capetian dynasty. The first important member of the Capetians is Philip I. He's not a great warrior king, and so on the surface, he's not going to look very powerful. But he is significant for four reasons. This is going to pave the way for the future success of the Capetian dynasty. He's the first member of the dynasty to begin to master the Ile de France, to bring it under his control. Second, he begins to gain control of fiefs outside of the Ile de France. It's during his reign in 1066 that one of the vassals of the king, one of his vassals, William, the Duke of Normandy, conquered and became king of England. So the king of France has a vassal who's not only the Duke of Normandy, but also the king of England. This helps Philip because it makes the other vassals nervous. A duke has conquered England. They are going to turn their loyalties to Philip. And finally, he was able to solve the lay-investiture conflict in such a way that it didn't hurt his relationship with the church. In Germany, it was all-out war over lay-investiture. Within France, Philip was able to avoid great conflict. Okay, let's talk about probably the first well-known or the first great member of the Capetians. And that's Louis VI, sometimes referred to as Louis the Bruiser or Louis Le Gros, which means Louis the Fat. Louis will finally pacify the Ile-de-France and bring it under his control, mostly through the use of force, war. Plus, like Philip, he's going to take advantage of the nobility's nervousness at the Duke of Normandy's rise to power in England. Second, he's going to see the emergence of towns and trade. And so he's going to give royal privilege to urban centers by granting charters of protection or liberty to those towns. So he's going to use those charters to bring cities under his control. Another reason that Louis is so powerful is that there was a really important region of France called Aquitaine. And it was during his reign that the Duke of Aquitaine died. And he had a daughter who was not yet of age. And so the Duke of Aquitaine's daughter becomes a ward of Louis, if you'll remember wardship when we talked about feudalism. Louis VI will marry that daughter to his son. That daughter is Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of the most powerful women in Europe. She has just married the heir to the French throne, Louis VII. She'll be married to two kings of France, and two of her sons will be king of France. Very, very influential woman. One of Louis's principal advisors was a churchman, Abbot Suger. Abbot Suger was the Abbot of Saint-Denis, a very important church position within France. Why did Suger support Louis? And why was this important? Suger is important because he was a great supporter of royalism, of royal power, great political advisor of Louis VI. Second, a lot of what we know about Louis comes from Suger. He wrote a biography of the king. Third, and I think one of the most important reasons why Suger is important, is because he introduces Gothic architecture at Saint-Denis. For those of you who have visited Notre-Dame, this is going to look very much like that church, but it's not. It's the Abbey of Saint-Denis, and the churches are very similar, and that's because they're both great examples of Gothic architecture. Gothic characteristics include these large stone structures, these vast expanses of glass, sharply pointed spires, which I'll show you here in just a second, ribbed vaults. Do you see the ribbing here in the ceiling? Flying buttresses, again I'll show you here in the next slide, and the pointed archway. This is one of the characteristics of Gothic architecture is this pointed archway. So these sharply pointed spires, and the flying buttresses, these aren't as flying as some of the other ones that you may see on churches in France. Ribbed vaults, pointed spires, or I'm sorry, pointed arches. So again, this is the back side of Saint-Denis, and it's very similar to the back side of the Church of Notre-Dame. And Abbott-Suget introduces this style of architecture in France. The next time we talk, we're going to turn our attention to England, and the Duke of Normandy, who we just talked about being a vassal of the King of France, and we'll talk about his influence in England.