HUGH CAPET (c. 938-996), king of France and founder of the Capetian dynasty, was the eldest son of Hugh the Great by his wife Hadwig. When his father died in 956 he succeeded to his numerous fiefs around Paris and Orleans, and his cousin, the Frankish king Lothair, recognized him somewhat reluctantly as duke of the Franks. Many of the counts of northern France did homage to him as their overlord, and Richard I., duke of Nor mandy, was both his vassal and his brother-in-law. His authority extended over certain districts, south of the Loire, and, owing to his interference, Lothair was obliged to recognize his brother Henry as duke of Burgundy. Hugh supported his royal suzerain when Lothair and the emperor Otto II. fought for the possession of Lorraine ; but chagrined at the king's conduct in making peace in 980, he went to Rome to conclude an alliance with Otto. Lay ing more stress upon independence than upon loyalty, Hugh appears to have acted in a haughty manner toward Lothair, and also towards his son and successor Louis V. ; but neither king was strong enough to punish this powerful vassal. When Louis V. died without children in May 987, Hugh and the late king's uncle Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine, were candidates for the vacant throne, and in this contest the energy of Hugh's champions, Adal beron, archbishop of Reims, and Gerbert, afterwards Pope Syl vester II., prevailed. Declaring that the Frankish crown was an elective and not an hereditary dignity, Adalberon secured the election of his friend, and crowned him, probably at Noyon, in July, The authority of the new king was quickly recognized in his kingdom, which covered the greater part of France north of the Loire with the exception of Brittany, and in a shadowy fashion he was acknowledged in Aquitaine; but he was compelled to pur chase the allegiance of the great nobles by large grants of royal lands, and he was hardly more powerful as king than he had been as duke. Moreover, Charles of Lorraine was not prepared to bow before his successful rival, and before Hugh had secured the coronation of his son Robert as his colleague and successor in December 987, he had found allies and attacked the king. Hugh was worsted during the earlier part of this struggle, and was in serious straits, until he was saved by the wiles of his partisan Adalberon (q.v.) bishop of Laon, known as Asselin, who in 991 treacherously seized Charles and handed him over to the king. This capture virtually ended the war, but one of its side issues was a quarrel between Hugh and Pope John XV., who was sup ported by the empire, then under the rule of the empresses Ade laide and Theophano as regents for the young emperor Otto In 987 the king had appointed to the vacant archbishopric of Reims a certain Arnulf, who at once proved himself a traitor to Hugh and a friend to Charles of Lorraine. In June 991, at the instance of the king, the French bishops deposed Arnulf and elected Ger bert in his stead, a proceeding which was displeasing to the pope, who excommunicated the new archbishop and his partisans. Hugh and his bishops remained firm, and the dispute was still in prog ress when the king died at Paris on Oct. 24, 996.
Hugh was a devoted son of the church, to which, it is not too much to say, he owed his throne. As lay abbot of the abbeys of St. Martin at Tours and of St. Denis he was interested in clerical reform, was fond of participating in religious ceremonies, and had many friends among the clergy. His wife was Adelaide, daughter of William III., duke of Aquitaine, by whom he left a son, Robert, who succeeded him as king of France. The origin of Hugh's sur name of Capet, which was also applied to his father, has been the subject of some discussion. It is derived undoubtedly from the Lat. capa, cappa, a cape, but whether Hugh received it from the cape which he wore as abbot of St. Martin's, or from his youth ful and playful habit of seizing caps, or from some other cause, is uncertain.
See Richerus, Historiarum libri IV., edited by G. Waitz (Leipzig, 1877) ; F. Lot, Les Derniers Carolingiens (1891) , and Etudes sur le reine de Hugues Capet (1903) ; G. Monod, "Les Sources du regne de Hugues Capet," in the Revue historique, tome xxviii. (Paris, 1891) ; P. Viollet, La Question de la legitimite a l'avenement a Hugues Capet (189 2) ; and E. Lavisse, Histoire de France, tome ii. (19o3—o5) . HUGH DE PUISET (c. 1125-1195), bishop of Durham, was the nephew of Stephen and Henry of Blois; the latter brought him to England and made him an archdeacon of the see of Win chester. Hugh afterwards became archdeacon and treasurer of York. In 1153 he was chosen bishop of Durham, in spite of the opposition of the archbishop of York; but he only obtained con secration by making a personal visit to Rome. Hugh remained neutral, as far as he could, in the quarrel between Henry and Becket, but he at least connived at the rebellion of 1173 and William the Lion's invasion of England in that year. After the failure of the rebellion the bishop was compelled to surrender Durham, Norham and Northallerton to the king. In 1179 he attended the Lateran Council at Rome, and in 1181 by the pope's order he laid Scotland under an interdict. In 1184 he took the cross. At the general sale of offices with which Richard began his reign (1189) Hugh bought the earldom of Northumberland. The archbishopric of York had been vacant since I181. This vacancy increased Hugh's power vastly, and when the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Geoffrey he naturally raised objections. This quarrel with Geoffrey lasted till the end of his life. Hugh was nominated justiciar jointly with William Long champ when Richard left the kingdom. But Longchamp soon deprived the bishop of his place (I 191), imprisoned him, and forced the surrender of his castle, his earldom and hostages. Hughwas compelled to acknowledge Geoffrey of York as his ecclesiastical superior in 1195. Combining in his own hands the palatinate of Durham and the earldom of Northumberland, Hugh held a position not much dissimilar to that of the great German princes, a local sovereign in all but name.
See Kate Norgate's England under the Angevin Kings (1887) ; Stubbs's preface to Hoveden, iii.