CAPETIAN (ka-Wshan) DYNASTY (Fr. ('apetiens). The royal line in France from 937 to 1328. On the death of Louis V., the last of the Carolingians, in 987, Hugh Capet was elected King by the aid of the clergy. From that time, for 341 years, all of the rulers of France belonged to the same family, and in almost every instance the son succeeded the father. The kings of the Capetian dynasty strengthened great ly the royal power in France by insisting upon the principles of heredity, primogeniture, and the indivisibility of the Crownlands, which they strove to increase. In the same year that he was crowned, Hugh caused his son Robert to be elected as his associate, and his practice was followed until 1179, when Philip Augustus was crowned as his father's associate. By that time the hereditary principle was so firmly established that it was no longer necessary for the son to be chosen during his father's lifetime. The Cape tians broke entirely away from the Merovingian and Carolingian custom of dividing the kingdom among all the sons. The eldest son alone became
King and received the royal domain, and in this way the kingdom was saved from the divisions which had weakened the Carolingian Empire. The Capetians also by a force'd interpretation of the Salle Law (q.v.) excluded females from the succession. (See HUNDRED YEARS' WAR.) Most of the Capetians endeavored to add to the royal domain by the incorporation of additional fiefs, large or small, and thus gradually obtained the direct lordship over a large part of France. This process was very rapid under Louis VI., Philip Augustus. Louis IX., and Philip 1V. The Cape tian dynasty was succeeded by the Valois dynasty (q.v.).
The rulers of the line were: Hugh Capet, 937 996 ; Robert II., 996-1031 ; Henry I., 1031-60; Philip I., 1060-1103: Louis VI., 1108-1137; Louis VII., 1137-80; Philip IT. Augustus, 1130 1223; Louis VIII., 1223-26; Louis IX.. 1226-70; Philip III., 1270-35; Philip IV., 1285-1314; Louis X., 1314-16; Philip V., 1316-22; Charles IV., 1222-23.