CA'PETIAN DYNASTY, the third Frankish dynasty, founded about the close of the 10th c., when Hugo Capet ascended the throne. The surname CAPET has been derived from cappetus, monk's hood," because, though duke of France, Hugo was also abbot of St. Martin de Tours. On the death of the last Carlovingian monarch (Louis V., sur named Le the Slothful), Hugo, the most powerful of French vassals, seized the throne, and by moderation and prudent concessions made to the authorities of the church, as well as to his brother-nobles, who had made themselves independent, contrived to retain the power he bad seized. He was crowned at Noyon, July 3, 987. In order to establish his dynasty, Hugo caused his eldest son Robert to be crowned as 988. Capet first made Paris the capital of France. Ile died in 996; when his sou Robert, a well-disposed but feeble ruler, ascended the throne, who died 1031, beloved by his domestics, but despised by his neighbors and vassals, forgotten by his people, and permitting all power to vanish from his hands. It was during his long lethargic reign that the towns and cities of France began to form themselves into corporations, to act in their own name, to contract obligations, and lay the foundations of middle-class free dom. In many other ways, also, the happy dissolution of royal power sowed the seeds of national prosperity. Robert's sons were Henry, who succeeded him, and Robert, ancestor of the older house of Burgundy.
Henry left two sons—Philippe I. who ascended the throne, and Hugo, who distin guished himself in the first crusade (1096), and died 1102. Philippe, under the regency of Baldwin, count of Flanders, came to the throne when only eight years old, and first really began to reign after the death of the regent (1066). He took hardly any part in the great movements and events of his times, but supported Robert, son of William the conqueror, in his rebellion against his father. Consequently, William commenced an expedition against Paris, and would probably have dethroned Philippe, but died in 10S9. By his dissolute course of life, Philippe fell under a sentence of excommunica tion issued by pope Gregory VII. in 1094, and, after doing penance, died in 1108.
His successor, Louis VI., surnamed Le Gros, had, during Philippe's lifetime, been active in the support of the crown, and now extended the royal power, which had been almost entirely confined within the duchy of Paris. By bold and vigorous measures he brought everywhere his vassels into real subjection to his authority, liberated the towns from baronial oppression, partly abolished feudal bondage, and extended con siderably the jurisdiction of the crown, His life was an almost incessant contest with the small and turbulent vassals who had rioted in the license afforded them by the weakness of his predecessors. He died 1137, leaving a numerous family.
As his eldest son and co-regent, Philippe, had died during the reign of Louis, his second son, Louis VII., le Jeune, now came to the throne, and by his marriage with Eleanor of Guienne, heiress of the duke of Aquitaine, gained a considerable accession to the power of the crown. He engaged in the second crusade, and led 100,000 men to the east; but was unsuccessful, and returned to France after an absence of two years.
In 1152, he divorced his unfaithful wife Eleanor, who subsequently married Henry Plantagenet, afterwards Henry II. of England. This marriage made Henry far more powerful than the king of France, and Louis would probably have lost his crown had not the disturbances in England—the quarrels with Becket and with his own sons— proved sufficient to occupy Henry's attention. Louis he Jeune died 1180.
Philippe Auguste (q.v.), his son by a third marriage, ascended the throne ten months before his father's death, and proved himself the most able ruler of the Capetian dynasty. Against the wishes of his family, lie married Isabelle of Hainault, great-granddaughter of the last of the Caflovingians, and thus finally united the two houses. His successor, Louis VIII., who died 1226, was said to have been poisoned by the count of Champagne, paramour of the queen, Blanca of Castile. Louis VIII. was followed by his son, anis IX. (SAINT Louis, q.v.), who died at Tunis, 1270. Of the eleven children of St. Louis, the eldest, Louis, died aged 16 years, while the youngest, Robert, became the founder of the Bourbon dynasty (see Bounnox). The second son, Philippe III., le hnrdi, succeeded his father, and, by the decease of two brothers and two uncles, acquired possession of Poitou, Auvergne, and Toulouse. His son (Philippe IV., is bet) acquired by marriage Champagne with Navarre. These acquisitions, and his attempt to secure for his uncle, Charles of Anjou, the throne of Naples, involved Philippe III. in contentions with Italy and Spain. He subjugated Navarre, 1276, and died of the plague in 1285. Philippe IV., is bel, succeeded to the throne when 17 years old. He soon gave signs of a despotic character, plundered the estates of the church, defied papal authority, persecuted the order of Templars (q.v.), and removed the residence of the pope to Avignon. The atro cious act of burning the grand-master, with sixty knights, of the order of Templars, after they had recalled all the confessions drawn from them by torture, has left an inefface able blot on the name of Philippe le bel. He died 1314, and left three sons and a daughter.
The eldest son, Louis X., le hutin, who ascended the throne, displayed remarkable weakness of character, and died 1316. He was succeeded by Philippe V., is long, second son of Philippe le bel, who died without issue. By his death (1322) the crown came to Charles IV., is bel, third son of Philippe he bel, and the last of the direct line of the Capetian kings. He died 1328, leaving by his third marriage a daughter, named Blanche, who married Philippe, duke of Orleans, and died (1392) leaving no issue. Isabelle (daughter of Philippe le bel) married Edward II. of England, and was mother of Edward III., who consequently took the title of king of France, which was retained by the kings of England until the reign of George III.; but Philippe of Valois, cousin of the last Capetian king, and grandson of Philippe III., is hardi, claimed the crown of France by virtue of the Salic law, and so founded the dynasty of Valois (q.v.).