Hugh the Great

Who was Hugh the Great?

Hugh the Great was the Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris.

He was the son of King Robert I of France and Béatrice of Vermandois, daughter of Herbert I, Count of Vermandois. He was born in Paris, Île-de-France, France. His eldest son was Hugh Capet who became King of France in 987. His family is known as the Robertians.

In 922 the barons of western Francia, after revolting against the Carolingian king Charles the Simple, elected Robert I, Hugh's father, as King of Western Francia. At the death of Robert I, in battle at Soissons in 923, Hugh refused the crown and it went to his brother-in-law, Rudolph of France. Charles, however, sought help in regaining his crown from his cousin Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, who instead of helping the king imprisoned him. Herbert then used his prisoner as an advantage in pressing his own ambitions, using the threat of releasing the king up until Charles' death in 929. From then on Herbert II of Vermandois struggled with king Rudolph and his vassal Hugh the Great. Finally Rudolph and Herbert II came to an agreement in 935.

At the death of Rudolph, King of Western Francia, in 936, Hugh was in possession of nearly all of the region between the Loire and the Seine, corresponding to the ancient Neustria, with the exceptions of Anjou and of the territory ceded to the Normans in 911. He took a very active part in bringing Louis IV from the Kingdom of England in 936. In 937 Hugh married Hedwige of Saxony, a daughter of Henry the Fowler of Germany and Matilda of Ringelheim, and soon quarrelled with Louis.