Hugh Capet (939 – 996) 1st “King of the Franks” of the Eponymous Capetian Dynasty

Post author By Steven Wood Collins
Post date December 30, 2021
243 Comments on Hugh Capet (939 – 996) 1st “King of the Franks” of the Eponymous Capetian Dynasty

Saint Denis holding his head. Statue at the left portal of Notre Dame de Paris.

Hugh was the first Frankish monarch to establish Paris as the seat of political power in France, albeit in a loose confederation. Gradually over time, his political influence over the surrounding French countryside united the country into an exceptionally potent sovereign nation. He was also the primogenitor of all lineages of French monarchs until the French Revolution.

The current Count of Paris and Duke of France, Jean d’Orléans (born 1965), is Hugh’s agnatic descendant. As such, he’s the first-place Orléanist pretender to accede to the French monarchal throne in the unlikely event it becomes viable again during his lifetime.

Hugh was interred at the Basilica of Saint-Denis after his death. Rioters during the French Revolution substantially vandalized the basilica and disturbed graves and tombs contained within. Scattered bones were collected afterward and placed in a communal crypt. Most likely, Hugh’s skeletal remains reside there.

The basilica is the final resting place of virtually all French monarchs from Dagobert I Meroving (c. 603 – 639), Hugh’s agnatic ancestor. Dagobert built the first church at the present site of the basilica to house the remains of Saint-Denis.

Denis of Paris was beheaded by pagan priests near the location of Sacré-Cœur Cathedral in Montmartre. According to the legend, he then carried his severed head six kilometers to the Parisian suburb named after him. He supposedly preached a sermon all along the way before dropping dead upon arrival at the site of the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

Hugh was an agnatic descendant of Clovis I Meroving (466 – 511) 1st King of Franks, 1st Christian Ruler of Gaul. His father Merovich (415 – 458), the primogenitor of the Merovingians, contributed to the Roman defeat of Attila the Hun at the Battle of Chalons in 451. Tonantius Ferreolus (418 – 476), Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, recruited Merovich to join the side of the Roman army.

By Steven Wood Collins

I spent most of my life unaware of my ancestral heritage. Sure, I knew of the personal history of my more immediate relatives; but beyond that, I never had any inkling as to my ancestral heritage. Then one day many years ago my sister said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced.

I started building my family tree with the very basic relationships, going back in time from my grandparents, one ancestor at a time. That initial effort proved to be the hardest part of the pursuit, mainly due to my lack of expertise as a novice genealogical researcher. As I gained familiarity with the databases and how to efficiently mine them, my progress gained ever-increasing momentum. Today, The Patricians! tree (Ancestry.com) contains nearly 120,000 individuals, stretching over 135 generations, 5,800 of which are my direct ancestors in a genealogical sense.

During this trek back in time, I encountered fascinating figures in both history and obscurity. This blog contains many stories about their genealogical relationship to me (and many of you). By far and away, as a student of history, the historically obscure individuals are of particular interest to me. I cite Baron “Blue Beard” Montmorency-Laval de Rais (1405 – 1440) as an example of a historically maligned personage whose real contribution to history, as both a playwright and hero of France, has yet to be properly recognized. Another example is Earl Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), who’s yet to gain widespread recognition as the actual author of the body of literary work wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

My life-long interest in international economics and finance continues unabated. I primarily demonstrate this professional involvement as a contributor to the Long Room, the members-only international finance professionals' forum hosted by the Financial Times of London.

I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys traveling to exotic dive sites. My love of the sea and marine life gives me an unbounded appreciation and support of “green” issues, especially those devoted to the conservation of endangered species and coral reefs.

He continually posts results of his personal genealogical research to his Goodreads Authors Blog. Entitled The Patricians - The Ancestral Heritage of Steven Wood Collins, the work represents thousand of hours of his research efforts and related commentary.

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