Verdun were decisive when he crowned Hugh Capet as king of France in 987.
When Hugh came to the throne both conditions for a cessation of hostilities had effectively been met. The surviving Carolingian candidate, Louis V's uncle Charles of Lorraine, was disqualified by marriage into a knightly family, and perhaps still more by his treachery during hostilities between Lothar and Otto II. At the same time the lordships of northern France, though not yet fully defined and consolidated, had for the most part reached the point at which a further prolongation of the struggle offered fewer rewards than risks, so that Charles's bid for the throne found little support. In short Hugh Capet came to the throne at a time when much of its power had already been lost, and this was a major factor in the survival for more than three centuries of the dynasty which he founded. The conflicts of the tenth century affected the monarchy in another way as well. During their course Carolingians and Robertians had looked for great allies through marriage; each had, for example, taken wives from Otto I's sisters. For much of the eleventh century the consequence was that the politically most beneficial marriages were either barred to the Capetians by consanguinity, or liable to be challenged on that ground if they nevertheless contracted them. Something of the implications of this can be seen in the family trees produced for the house of Roucy, which had been closely bound to Hugh at the time of his bid for the throne. In the eleventh century they made nothing of their link with the monarchy, and only began to vaunt their relationship with the royal family during the last half of the twelfth century when Louis VII was enjoying a resurgence in the powers of the crown.
As a result of these developments the reigns of Hugh's son Robert ( 996-1031), grandson Henry ( 1031-60), and greatgrandson Philip ( 1060-1108) marked the lowest point in the history of the monarchy. Great lords such as William V of Aquitaine and Odo of Blois struggled for prospective inheritances in Italy, Burgundy, and Lotharingia without let or hindrance from the crown; others such as Fulk of Anjou carved
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