Robert I. (France)

Robert I of France (* 866 ; † June 15, 923 in the Battle of Soissons ), King of Western France and of France from 922 until his death, was the younger of the two sons of Count Roberts the Brave , the ancestor of the house the Robertiner , and the Adelheid von Tours . His older brother Odo of Paris was the first non-Carolingian to be king from 888 to 898. All later Robertines descended from Robert I and thus also, in uninterrupted male line, all later kings of France from the House of Capetians , thus the entire "House of France" ( Maison de France ) including the House of Valois and the Bourbons .

Life

King Odo, who had no male heir, gave his brother Robert the counties that he had owned before his accession to the throne, namely Paris, Angers, Tours, Orléans and Blois. Later (890) he also gave Robert the county of Poitiers . In addition, Robert Margrave was in Neustria . At the same time he was the “ lay abbot ” of numerous abbeys, including Saint-Denis near Paris and Saint-Martin de Tours , that is, according to the custom of the time, he was able to dispose of the income from these monasteries. However, Robert was not - as was previously believed - "Duke of the Franks " or "Duke of France"; this office was created later, and the only document that Robert describes as a dux Francorum is a forgery. The strengthening of the Robertine household power, which resulted from Robert's accumulation of offices, led to resentment among the greats of the empire and contributed to the fact that opponents of the Robertines a Carolingian , Charles III. the simple-minded , raised to the rank of anti-king against Odo.

Odo came to an understanding with Karl after a civil war; Karl recognized Odo as king and was accepted by him as his successor. After Odo's death (898), Robert kept this agreement and did not claim the crown. So Karl could take over the successor unhindered. He confirmed Robert in his offices and possessions, especially in his position as margrave. Thus Robert retained sole power over a bundle of abbeys, counties, and rights, which thereby remained out of the reach of royalty; King Karl assured Robert in a document that he could bequeath all these goods to his son. Robert had the counties administered by him subordinate vassals who were only under him personally and were no longer “loyalists” of the king. Other margraves were also able to secure such a position at that time, which led to a considerable weakening of the kingship. In the following years Robert secured the defense of northern France against the Normans . In 911 he and Richard of Burgundy ( Richard the Court Lord ) inflicted a heavy defeat on the Seine-Normans, but in 921 he had to leave Nantes to the Loire-Normans .

The peace between the king and his powerful vassal was not seriously disturbed until around 921. However, resentment had accumulated in the nobility because Karl was promoting his favorite Hagano , a Lorraine of low origin who was also a foreigner to the West Franconians. Therefore, in 920, some nobles disobeyed Karl after Karl had refused to dismiss Hagano. When Karl then decided to take the Chelles Abbey from Abbess Rothild, the mother-in-law of Robert's son Hugo, in order to give it to Hagano, it marked the final break with the opposition nobility and especially the Robertinians. On June 29, 922, Robert was elected as the anti-king in Reims; the following day he was crowned there by Archbishop Walter von Sens.

Karl raised an army and marched against the usurper. On June 15, 923, Robert was killed in the Battle of Soissons. The battle nevertheless ended with a victory for his troops. Therefore, Robert's supporters were able to immediately raise his son-in-law, Duke Rudolf of Burgundy , to his successor after Robert's son Hugo had rejected the crown.

progeny

King Robert I had, in all likelihood, been married twice. The mother of his son Hugo Magnus was a woman named Beatrix , who is generally considered the daughter of Count Heribert I of Vermandois and thus a member of the Carolingian family. However, this assumption is based on a dubious evidence from the 11th century, while contemporary sources provide no information about the origin of Beatrix.

Roberts I's second wife was probably Adela named in a royal charter from 907, although this is often thought to be one of his daughters. In any case, this second marriage resulted in at least one daughter who married Count Heribert II of Vermandois . Robert I had a second daughter named Emma , who married Duke Rudolf of Burgundy , who had been made the new King of West Franconia after Robert's death. Emma's mother cannot be precisely identified.

Robert's grandson was the dux Hugo Capet , who was elevated to king in 987 and founded the Capetian dynasty.

swell

• Jean Dufour (ed.): Recueil des actes de Robert Ier et de Raoul, rois de France (922-936) . Imprimerie Nationale et al., Paris 1978 ( Chartes et diplomes relatifs a l'histoire de France ).

literature

• Philippe Lauer : Robert Ier and Raoul de Bourgogne. Rois de France (923-936) . Champion, Paris 1910, ( Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Études - Sciences philologiques et historiques 188, ISSN  0761-148X ), (basic research; online here ).
• Karl Ferdinand Werner : From the Frankish Empire to the development of Germany and France. Origins - structures - relationships. Selected contributions. Celebration for his 60th birthday. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1984, ISBN 3-79957027-6 .
• Walther Kienast : The Franconian vassalage. From the house fights to Ludwig the child and Karl the simple-minded . Published by Peter Herde . Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-465-01847-8 ( Frankfurt scientific articles - cultural studies series 18).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Historia Francorum Senonensis , ed. by Georg Waitz in MGH SS 9 (1851), p. 366
2. ^ Martin Bouquet : Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France (RHGF) 9, p. 505

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles III	King of the west of France 922–923	Rudolf of Burgundy