CAPKT, HUGUES, the founder of the third, or, as it has been called from him, the ' Capetian' dynasty of French princes, of whom Ihtle authentic Information is preserved. Ilia own great fief, as Count of Paris, gave him considerable predominance; and on the sleoth of the last of the Carlovingiuts, A.D. G37, Louis V. the Slothful (' Le Palaant), be successfully usurped the throne, and was confirmed in its seizure by the confederacy of turbulent barons, who yielding him as much obedience as it suited them, invested him with the besolosl title of king. The origin of the name of the family has been disputed, and iatked by some has been considered as given in ridicule; but the chroniclers In general affirm that he was a knight of ancient and noble retraction, and the Imputation of plebeian birth which has bees Weaned against him I. manifestly founded upon • tniscon structiOn of a well Leven line in the 'Purgatory ' of Dante, canto xx., in which that poet satirically males the usurper declare of himself —" I was the son of a butcher of Paris." The commentators explain this; lino by adding, that Ilugues the Great, count of Peris, the father of Hugues Capet, was a rigid executioner of the aenteuces which he had passed. M. de Sismondi, ' Mist. des Franvtis,' iv. 33, has shown that Velly is not to be trusted in his account of the family of Cart; but the reader may be safely referred to 3i. de Sismondi himself, to the Preface to the third volume of the great collection, generally known under the name of Bouquet, or to the '1'reuvea de Is Gandalogio de Hugues Capet' in 'L'Art de vdrifior lea Dates, i. 5G6.
A single anecdote may suffice to show tha little authority which Hugon possessed over his vassals. "Who has made you count I" was the inquiry which ha directed a herald to put to Aldebert do Perigueux, who had assumed the title of Count of Poietiers and of Tours. "And who Las made you king I " was the only reply which Aldebert vouchsafed to return by the same messenger. As a supposed atonement for the illegitimacy of his accession, Hugues himself never wore the crown. Both the dates of his usurpation and of his death are uncertain, but the former is usually fixed in A.n. 957; the latter 996. Thirteen kings (fourteen if we include John, who lived but eight days, and was never crowned) succeeded from his family : and it was not until 1328, that Philip VI. of Valois transferred the sceptre to his own race.
The party name Huguenot, which arose during the wars of the League, has sometimes been attributed to the attachment manifested by the reformed to the reigning king, the representative of Hugues Capet, In preference to the Guises, who were derived from Charlemagne. Ou the accession of the line of Bourbon, the name Capet was either adopted by them or given to them; and all the processes iu the trial of the unfortunate Louie XVI. were directed against Louis Capet.