Hugues
"le Grand" (Hugo Magnus, Hugh the Great) Hugues
"le Grand" (Hugo Magnus, Hugh the Great)Hugues appears on 31 March 914, in a charter of his father Robert, abbot of Saint-Martin de Tours (later king Robert I), in which he is stated to be his father's heir ["S. Roberti gloriosi abbatis. S. domni Hugonis filii sui abbatis et comitis cui post ipsum iam sui honores dati erant. Geruntio Biturigenis archiepiscopus. S. domni Hugonis Cinomanorum comitis qui aderat. ..." Werner (1958), 287]. On 25 August 936, in an act in the first year of king Louis IV, Hugues is called dux Francorum ["... dilectus et charissimus noster Huguo eximus duxque Francorum egregius, ..." RHF 9: 584 (#1)]. He died in 956 ["Hugo princeps obiit." Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 956, 143; "958. 15 Kal. Iul. obiit Hugo dux Francorum" Annales Sancti Dionysii, MGH SS 13: 720; "Quem [Giselbertum] ipse dux brevi subsecutus Hugo, filios suos principatus sui relinquens heredes, apud villam que Dordinga vocatur, die dominica 16. Kal. Iulii viam universae carnis ingressus est." Annales Sanctae Columbae Senonensis, MGH SS 1: 105; however, 16 June was on a Monday in 956, as noted by Kalckstein (1877), 289, n. 5 ;"... mense Iunio ... Secuta est statim mors Hugonis magni principis Francorum, Burgundionum, Brittonum, atque Nortmannorum." Annales Floriacenses, s.a. 956, MGH SS 2: 255; "... et in ipso anno mortuus est Ugo predictus comes apud Dordineum vicum." Annales Nivernenses, s.a. 956, MGH SS 13: 89; "Secundo anno obiit Hugo Magnus dux Francorum apud Drodingam villam 16. Kal. Iul., sepultusque est in basilica beati Dyonisii martiris Parisius. Cui successerunt filii eius, Hugo videlicet, Otto et Heinricus, nati ex filia Odonis regis." Historia Francorum Senonensis, MGH SS 9: 366].
Although the cognomen of Magnus ("the Great") does not appear in any strictly contemporary record, its use was common from the late tenth century ["Hugone videlicet cognomento Magno" Richer, Historia, ii, 30, MGH SS 3: 593; "Hugonis Magni" Dudo, ii, 47 (p. 192) & passim; "Hugo, pro pietate, bonitate, fortitudine Magnus dictus" Helgaud, RHF 10: 104; "Hugo Magnus" Historia Francorum Senonensis, MGH SS 9: 366; "Hugo, dux magnus" Odoran, Bib. Hist. Yonne, 2: 395; "avo nostro Hugone Magno" Act of Robert II, RHF 10: 579 (#8); Lot (1903), 317, n. 4].
Date of Birth: say 898.
This is Settipani's estimate
[Settipani (1993), 409].
Place of Birth: Unknown.
Date of Death: 16×17 June 956.
In addition to the sources already cited, the date of death
appears as 16 June in the necrologies of Auxerre ["16 kl.
Iul. obiit Hugo comes", Lot (1891), 16, n. 4] and of
cathedral of Chartres ["XVI kal. jul. Obiit Hugo, dux
Francorum, qui Sanctæ Mariæ donavit fiscum Novigenti"
Obit. Sens, 2: 14]. It is given a 17 June in the necrologies of
Saint-Germain-des-Prés ["XV kal. Dep. Hugonis, ducis
Francorum" Obit. Sens, 1, pt. 1: 264], Saint-Denis
["XV kal. ... Depositio domni Hugonis Magni"
ibid., 319], Argenteuil ["XV kal. Ob. domnus Hugo Magnus"
ibid., 347], Saint-Magloire ["XV cal. Hugo, dux
Francorum, qui fundavit cellam" ibid., 390], and
Saint-Père-en-Vallée ["XV kal. Hugo, Francorum dux"
ibid., 2: 190].
Place of Death: Dourdain (buried at Saint-Denis).
See above. Richer falsely places
his death in Paris ["Dux vero Parisii receptus, in
egritudinem decidit, qua nimium affectus, vitae finem accepit.
Sepultusque est in basilica sancti Dionisii martiris."
Richer, Hist., iii, 5, MGH SS 3: 611].
Father:
Robert I, d. 15 June 923, king of France, 922-3.
The parentage of Hugues le Grand is proven
by numerous documents [e.g., the above 914 charter; "Hugo,
filius Rotberti" Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 922,
7; ibid., passim].
Mother: Béatrix.
Beatrix is mentioned in an act of Hugues le
Grand dated 26 March 931 ["Hugo rector abbatiæ sancti
Martini, ... et genitoris nostri Rotberti quondam regis ac
genitricis nostræ domnæ Beatricis, ..." RHF 9: 719], and
her name appears in abbreviated form ("Be.")
in another act ["... et Rotbertus prefatus sancti Aniani
pro remedio anime suæ et anime uxoris suæ Be. atque pro
incolumitate filii sui Hugonis concessit fratribus."
Vidier (1907), 317].
Spouses:
(1) m. (by 914?), NN,
daughter of Roger, count
of Maine, by his wife Rothilde.
Rothilde, amita of Charles the Simple, is called
the socrus of Hugues, and Hugues is called the gener
of Rothilde ["... cui rex abbatiam
Rothildis, amitae suae, socrus autem Hugonis, ..." Flodoard,
Annales, s.a. 922, 8; "Hugo,
gener ipsius Rothildis." ibid., s.a. 929, 44].
See the page of Rothilde for more details. Based on the prominent
appearance of count Hugues of Maine in the act of 31 March 914
(see above), it has been conjectured that the marriage between
Hugues le Grand and the sister of Hugues of Maine had already
occurred at that time [Werner (1958), 282; Settipani (1993),
407-8].
(2) m. 926, Eadhild,
daughter of Eadweard (Edward) "the Elder", king of the West Saxons.
["Hugo, filius Rotberti, filiam Eadwardi regis Anglorum,
sororem conjugis Karoli, duxit uxorem." Flodoard, Annales,
s.a. 926, 36; "Eadhild etiam in coniugium mittitur
Hugoni filio Hrodbyrhti." Æthelweard, 2]
(3) m. 937, Hadwig, d. 9 January after 958, daughter
of Heinrich
I, king of Germany.
Flodoard places the marriage in 938 ["Hugo princeps,
filius Rotberti, sororem Othonis regis Transhenensis, filiam
Heinrici, ducit uxorem." Flodoard, Annales,
s.a. 938, 69], but an act of 14 September 937 shows that the
marriage had already taken place in the previous year ["...
tam domni Hugonis Francorum ducis, quam etiam Haduidis ipsius
amabilis et satis diligibilis uxoris ..." RHF 9: 721].
The marriage also appears in the work of Rodulfus Glaber ["Quorum
scilicet primus Otto, Henrici, Saxonum regis, filius, cujus etiam
sororem, nomine Haduidem, duxit uxorem Hugo dux Francorum
cognomento magnus." Rodulfus Glaber, i, 8 (p. 10)], in
a letter of Siegfried, abbot of Görz, to Poppo, abbot of
Stablo, written in 1043 ["... Heinricus rex ex Mathilde
genuit ... duas quoque filias, Gerbergam et Hadwidem. Quarum
altera, id est Hadewidis, Hugoni; altera, id est Gerberga, nupsit
Gisleberto ..." Giesebrecht (1881-95), 2: 714-5
(document #10); see the page of Ermentrude
de Roucy for more of this letter], and in an eleventh century
genealogical table [MGH SS 6: 32].
Children:
In 960, Otto and Hugues appear as sons of Hugues
in the work of the contemporary chronicler Flodoard ["Otho
et Hugo filii Hugonis, mediante avunculo ipsorum Brunone, ad
regem veniunt ac sui efficiuntur. Quorum Hugonem rex ducem
constituit, addito illi pago Pictavensi ad terram quam pater
ipsius tenuerat, concessa Othoni Burgundia." Flodoard, Annales,
s.a. 960], and all three sons appear in the year 965 ["Otho, filius Hugonis, qui Burgundiae praeerat
obiit; et rectores ejusdem terrae ad Hugonem et Oddonem clericum,
fratres ipsius, sese convertunt." ibid., s.a. 965, 156].
(by Hedwig)
Of the three marriages of Hugues le Grand, the fact that Hedwig
was the mother of Hugues Capet is proven by the mention of
archbishop Bruno as an avunculus of Hugues Capet and his
brother Otto ["Otho et Hugo filii Hugonis,
mediante avunculo ipsorum Brunone, ad regem veniunt ac sui
efficiuntur." Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 960, 149], and by the reference of Hugues as a consobrinus
of king Lothair of France ["Rex Lotharius, locutus cum
Hugone, consobrino suo, ..." Flodoard, Annales,
s.a. 962, 151], among other evidence. Hugues appears explicitly
as a son of Hedwig in an eleventh century genealogical table of
the descendants of Heinrich I of Germany [MGH SS 6: 32]. The
statement of Historia Francorum Senonensis that Hugues,
Otto, and Henri were by a daughter of King Eudes is an error [Historia
Francorum Senonensis, MGH SS 9: 366 (see above)].
Béatrix, d. 23 September after 987; m.
954, Fréderic
I, d. 18 May 978, count of
Bar; duke of Upper Lorraine, 959-978.
["Fredericus, frater Adalberonis episcopi, Hugonis
principis filiam ducit uxorem", Flodoard, Annales,
s.a. 954, 139; also, their betrothal in 951, ibid., s.a. 951,
130]. Béatrix has been given a second marriage to an unnamed
man, based on a statement in the Acta Murensia
that her son duke Thierry had a uterine sibling Kuno, father of
king Rudolf of Rheinfelden ["Idem vero Radeboto, cum
sibi congruum visum est ut uxorem duceret, accepit de partibus
Lotharingorum uxorem nomine Itam, sororem Theodrici ducis ac
Wernharii Argentinæ civitatis episcopi. ... Atque ad hoc comitem
Chuono, fratrem suum (i.e., of Ida) de matre, patrem
autem Ruodolfi regis elegerunt ..." Parisot (1907-8),
58: 205, n. 2]. Both Parisot and Hlawitschka argued against such
a marriage [Parisot (1907-8), 204-216; Hlawitschka (1991), 183].
Another conjecture regarding a second marriage of Béatrix (to a
count Louis-Otto of Dagsburg) has been made by Mathieu, based on
an entry in the Chronicle of Moyenmoutier by the
Lotharingian chronicler Jean de Bayon, which places Béatrix in a
document with a count Louis of Dagsburg, but does not specify a
relationship [Mathieu (2006), 79, 99, 109]. This conjecture,
based on a late source of dubious reliability, cannot be accepted
without further evidence.
Hugues
"Capet", b. say 940,
d. 24 October 996; duke of the Franks, 960-987; king of France,
987-996;
m. Adélaïde.
Emme, d. after 18 March 968, m. 960, Richard I of Normandy, d. 996, leader of the Normans of Rouen.
["Richardus, filius Willelmi,
Nordmannorum principis, filiam Hugonis, Transsequani quondam
principis, duxit uxorem." Flodoard, Annales,
s.a. 960, 148; "Hoc autem dux Hugo Magnus propinabat
proposito cautæ intentionis cupiens et desiderans filiam suam
conjugere Ricardo duci copula foederis connubialis."
Dudo, iv, 93 (p. 250); "... Emma, uxor ejus, filia
scilicet Hugonis magni ducis, defungitur absque liberis, ..."
ibid., iv, 125 (p. 288)]
Otto, d. 23 February 965, duke of
Burgundy; m. Liégard, daughter
of Giselbert, duke of Burgundy.
Otto became duke of Burgundy on the death of Giselbert, whose
daughter he married. He was succeeded by his brother Eudes-Henri
[Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 965, 156 (see above); "Et
Gislebertus, comes Burgundionum obiit, et honorem ejus cum filia,
nomine Leudegarde, ex qua postea a Rodulpho Divionensi pipicus
factus, Otho, frater Hugonis ducis recepit." Odoran, Chronicon,
s.a. 956, Bib. Hist. Yonne, 2: 395 (also RHF 8: 237); "In
ipso anno defunctus est Gislebertus dux Burgundiae, relinquens
ducatum Ottoni, filio Hugonis Magni. Habebat namque Otto filiam
illius Gisleberti in coniugio." Historia Francorum
Senonensis, s.a. 965, MGH SS 9: 366]. Settipani cites the
obituary of Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre for his date of death
["VII kal. martii. Ipsa die Otto Burgundiae marchio
obiit, DCCCCLXV Incarnationsi dominicae anno."
Settipani (1993), 411, n. 62].
Eudes alias Henri,
d. 15 October 1002, duke of Burgundy;
m. (1) perhaps ca. 974, Gerberge, daughter of Lambert, count of Chalon, and widow of Adalberto,
king of Italy.
m. (2) before 11 May 993, Gersende, daughter of Guillaume Sanche, duke of
Gascogne.
Often called by the hyphenated form Eudes-Henri in modern
literature, he usually appears as Henri in the records, but is
called Eudes by Flodoard. He succeeded his brother Otto as duke
of Burgundy [see above under Otto]. For his marriages see the
page of Gerberge. The Annales de Sainte-Colombe de Sens give 15 October
1002 as his date of death ["Idus Octobr. Heinricus dux
Burgundie obiit." Annales sanctæ Columbæ
Senonensis, s.a. 1002, Bib. Hist. Yonne, 1: 206; see also
Lex (1892), 66, for a more detailed discussion of his date of
death].
Illegitimate son:
(by Raingarde)
Heribert, d. 23 August 996, bishop of
Auxerre, 971-996.
["Heribertus, Francigena, filius
Hugonis ducis, cognomento magni, ex concubina, Raingarda nomine,
nobilitatem paternam materna disparitate obliquavit; ex patre
enim supradicto Hugone fratre Hugonis postmodum regis ac duorum
ducum Burgundie, Ottonis scilicet atque Henrici editus extitit;
..." Gesta pontificum Autissiodorensium, c.
47, Bib. Hist.Yonne, 1: 382; "Sedit autem in episcopatu
annos XXV, menses VII et dies XVI. Obiitque apud castrum
Tociacum, quod, ut superius diximus, ipse construxerat, X
Kalendarum Septembrium; ..." ibid., 383]
Æthelweard = A. Campbell ed., Chronicon Æthelweardi/The Chronicle of Æthelweard, (New York, 1962).
Bib. Hist. Yonne = Louis-Maximilien Duru, ed., Bibliothèque historique de l'Yonne, 2 vols., (Auxerre & Paris, 1850-63).
Dudo = Jules Lair, ed., Dudonis Sancti Quintini De moribus et actis primorum Normanniæ ducum (Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, 23, Caen, 1865); see also Eric Christiansen, ed. & trans., Dudo of St. Quentin, History of the Normans (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1998).
Flodoard, Annales = Ph. Lauer, ed., Les Annales de Flodoard (Paris, 1905).
Giesebrecht (1881-95) = Wilhelm von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, 5th ed., 6 vols. (Leipzig, 1881-95).
Hlawitschka (1991) = Eduard Hlawitschka, "Zur Herkunft und zu den Seitenverwandten des Gegen königs Rudolf von Rheinfelden", in Weinfurter & Kluger, eds., Die Salier und das Reich (Band 1: Salier, Adel und Reichsverfassung, 1991), 175-220.
Kalckstein (1877) = Carl von Kalckstein, Geschichte des französischen Königthums unter den ersten Capetingern (Leipzig, 1877).
Lex (1892) = Léonce Lex, Eudes, comte de Blois, de Tours, de Chartres, de Troyes et de Meaux (995-1037) et Thibaud, son frère (995-1004) (Troyes, 1892).
Lot (1891) = Ferdinand Lot, Les derniers Carolingiens (Paris, 1891).
Lot (1903) = Ferdinand Lot, Sur le règne de Hugues Capet et la fin du Xe siècle (Paris, 1903).
Mathieu (2006) = Jean-Noël Mathieu, "La lignée maternelle du pape Léon IX et ses relations avec les premiers Montbéliard", in Léon IX et son temps (Turnhout, Belgium, 2006), 77-110.
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Obit. Sens = Obituaires de la Province de Sens (2 vols. in 3, Paris, 1902-6).
Parisot (1907-8) = Robert Parisot, "Les Origines de la Haute-Lorraine et sa première maison ducale (959-1033), Mémoires de la Société d'Archéologie Lorraine et du Musée historique Lorrain 57 (1907): 151-428; 58 (1908): 5-265. [Published as a separate book under the same title in 1909 (I do not have access to that edition)]
RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France.
Rodulfus Glaber = Maurice Prou, ed., Raoul Glaber - les cinq livres de ses histoires (900-1044) (Paris, 1886).
Settipani (1993) = Christian Settipani, La préhistoire des Capétiens 481-987 (Première partie - Mérovingiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens) (Villeneuve d'Ascq, 1993).
Vidier (1907) = A. Vidier, "Notices sur des actes d'affranchissement & de précaire concernant Saint-Aignan d'Orléans", Le Moyen Age 20 (1907), 289-317.
Werner (1958) = Karl Ferdinand Werner, "Untersuchungen zur Frühzeit des französischen Fürstentums (9.-10. Jahrhundert)", parts I-III, Die Welt als Geschichte 18 (1958): 256-289.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 26 July 2008.