Robert II of France

Robert II of France (Orleans, March 27, 972-Melun, July 20, 1031), called "the Pious" (in French: le Pieux), was king of France from 996 to 1031. Son of Hugh Capet and his wife Adelaide of Aquitaine, he was the second Frankish king of the Capetian dynasty.

He was associated with the throne from 987 and assisted his father in military matters. His solid training, supervised by Gerbert of Aurillac in Reims, allowed him to deal with religious issues of which he became guarantor (he directed the council of Verzy in 991 and that of Cheles in 994). Since 996 he continued the policy of his father, maintaining the alliance with Normandy and Anjou to contain the ambitions of Eudes II of Blois.

After a long struggle that began in April 1003, he conquered the duchy of Burgundy whose previous duke Henry I of Burgundy - his uncle without legitimate descendants - had ceded to his stepson Otto-William.

The marital disorders of Robert the Pious with Rozala of Italy and Berta of Burgundy (which earned him the threat of excommunication), together with the bad reputation of Constance of Arles, contrast strongly with the pious and borderline saintly appearance. that his biographer Helgaudo de Fleury leaves us in his work The Life of King Robert the Pious (Epitoma vitae regis Roberti pii). There his life is presented as a role model, with countless donations to religious establishments, charity towards the poor and above all gestures considered sacred such as the healing of lepers: he is the first French king to whom miracles are attributed. At the end of his reign, his weakness became evident, and he had to face the revolt of his wife Constance of Arles and his own children (Henry and Robert) between 1025 and 1031.

Historiography

Its historiography was consolidated some time after the time of Robert the Pious and is linked to the establishment of the Peace of God, around the year 1000, aimed at protecting the property of the church and lords. While since Jules Michelet, historians have maintained that the passage of the year 1000 was marked by a general fear of the end of the world, this thesis is refuted by the historian Georges Duby and by Sylvain Gouguenheim, professor of medieval history at the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon.

In fact, during the end of the century X and the beginning of the century XI, the beginning of a profound economic and social change was experienced with an increase in agricultural production and commercial exchanges linked to the spread of the use of silver currency. In the same way, the final stage of the Viking invasions and the continuous manor wars implied, from 1020, the proliferation of private castles - contravening the established prohibition - and the consolidation of chivalry as a new social elite, whose origins date back to the of the Carolingian knights.

Unlike his father, contemporary ecclesiastical sources of Robert the Pious are preserved that evoke his life. Firstly, the biography written by Helgaudo de Fleury (Epitoma vitae regis Roberti pii, circa 1033), abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, which constitutes a panegyric of the king. A fundamental source is found in Historiarum libri quinque by the Burgundian monk Rodolfus Glaber completed in 1047. Rodolfus Glaber is the most complete source on the reign of Robert II, due to the use of the Cluniac network with information on everything West. Secondly, it is also worth mentioning the Histoire by Richer of Reims and the poem « Ascelin » by Bishop Adalberón of Laon, which was dedicated to King Robert and describes the society of the time.

Biography

Youth and Training

Main Articles: Robertine Dynasty, Hugo Capet

Heir to the leader of the Franks

As with his father Hugo Capet, neither the date nor the place of Robert's birth is known with certainty, although historians mainly lean towards the year 972 in the city of Orleans, capital of the Robertine duchy since the IX century. Robert was the only son of Duke Hugo and his wife Adelaide of Poitiers; His name is the same as that of his ancestor Robert the Strong, who died fighting the Vikings in 866. The rest of the royal family was made up of his sisters Giselle, Hedwig and Adelaide.

During the X century, the Robertine dynasty was the most powerful and illustrious aristocratic family in the Frankish kingdom. Already in previous decades, two members of the clan were elevated to the throne, displacing the Carolingian dynasty: Odo (888) and Robert the Strong (922). The Robertine duchy reached its peak in 956 with the death of Hugh the Great, grandfather of Robert the Pious. Hugo Capet, who succeeded his father at a very young age, was unable to impose himself in the same way, while the figure of the dukedom and the family began to decline, losing vassals who transferred their loyalty directly to King Lothair.

Robert's youth was marked by the incessant attempts of King Lothair to recover Lorraine, "cradle of the Carolingian family" from the hands of Emperor Otto II:

As Oton dominated Belgium (Lorraine) and Lotario wanted to seize it, the two kings plotted one against the other perfidious machinations and coups of force, both affirming that his father had possessed it.

Richer de Reims, sees 991-998.

In August 978, King Lothair suddenly launches a general assault on Aix-la-Chapelle where the imperial family resided, who narrowly escaped capture. After the sacking of the imperial palace and its surroundings, he returns to Western France bringing with him the insignia of the Empire. In revenge, Otho gathers a powerful army in the month of October and invades Lothair's kingdom. For his part, without sufficient troops to resist the invasion, he is forced to take refuge in the domains of Hugo Capet, who thus becomes the savior of the Carolingian kingdom. This fact will mark a change in the situation of the Robertine dynasty and the young Robert. Bishop Adalberón of Reims, who was initially a Lothair man, progressively leans towards the court of Aachen, for which he also feels sympathy and is united by ties of kinship.

In the year 987, his father had obtained from the nobility the recognition of his son Robert as successor as rex designatus, thus beginning the reign of his successors in France, which would last in direct until 1328 and indirect, with interruptions by the Napoleonic republics and empires, until 1848.

An exemplary education

Hugo Capet, who was illiterate and did not speak Latin, understood that his destiny required the support of the Archbishop of Reims. Instead of sending his son Robert to the teacher Abón de Fleury near Orleans, he decides to send him to Reims with Adalberón around 984, to receive his education. At the end of the X century, the school of Reims had the reputation of being the most prestigious in the Christian West. Adalberón assigns Robert's education to that of his own secretary Gerbert of Aurillac, future Pope Sylvester II and one of the most cultured men of his time.

The teachings of Gerbert of Aurillac must have included bases of Latin, in addition to the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and dialectic) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy). This was the education that the religious received at the time and there were very few lay people who accessed Roberto's level of instruction, in addition to the link with the vision of the ecclesiastical world.

After about two years of studies in Reims, he returned to Orleans. His intellectual level is highlighted in the field of music by another great intellectual of the time, Richer de Reims. According to Helgaudo de Fleury, during his adolescence he suffered a serious illness, to the point that his parents feared for his life. of the. It is then that Hugo and Adelaida go to pray at the church of the Holy Cross in Orleans, where they offer a gold crucifix and a gold chalice weighing about 30kg. Miraculously, Roberto is cured.

His pious mother sent him to the schools of Reims and entrusted him to Master Gerberto, to be educated and instructed in liberal matters.

Fleury Helgaudo, Epitoma vitae regis Roberti pii, circa 1033.

Robert is associated with the throne (987)

Once he became king of the Franks, Hugo Capet sought to put an end to the alternation between Carolingians and Robertines on the throne and proposed to Adalberón of Reims the association of Robert to the throne. At first Adalberón, whose plans included the integration of the Frankish kingdom into the Ottonian empire, refuses; according to Richer of Reims he would have responded to the king "I do not have the right to create two kings in the same year." Meanwhile, the Count of Barcelona Borrell II had requested royal aid to fight against Almanzor and apparently it was Gerberto de Aurillac (previously protected by Borrell II) who convinced the Archbishop of Reims, who agreed under pressure, with the argument of instability in the kingdom if something happened to Hugh Capet during the campaign.

Robert's consecration, unlike that of his father, was detailed precisely by Richer of Reims. The ceremony took place in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross of Orleans on Christmas Day 987. The young Robert, fifteen years old, was dressed in purple embroidered with gold threads and was acclaimed, crowned and consecrated by Archbishop Adalberón Reims, the the same one that he consecrated to his father a few months before. For some historians, the date of the consecration is December 30, 987, a non-religious day, because Adalberón would have hesitated a lot before giving in. RH. Bautier, "L' avènement d' Hugues Capet et de Robert le Pieux", Le Roi de France et son royaume de el autour de l'an mil, Picard, Paris, 1992, p. 35. The chronicler emphasizes that Robert is the king "only of the peoples of the west, between the Meuse and the ocean", but not "king of the Gauls, the Aquitanians, the Danes, the Goths, the Spanish (county of Barcelona) nor the Gascons" like his father. Once Roberto's association with the throne has been achieved, his father begins to look for a royal princess to marry him. He initially focuses the search towards Byzantium, which would avoid any problem of consanguinity and would bring enormous prestige to the Robertine lineage. To this end he sends to the emperor of the East, Basil II, a letter written by Gerbert of Aurillac asking for the hand of his daughter for the young Robert. As no responses were received from Byzantium, Hugo Capet chose Rozala of Italy for his son, widow of Count Arnulf II of Flanders and daughter of the King of Italy, Berengar II, who was twice his age. Robert married Rozala in the spring of 988, who brought Montreuil, Ponthieu and a possible regency over the county of Flanders to the Robertine domain, considering the young age of his son and Count Baldwin IV.

The episcopate, the king's main support

Roberto directs religious affairs

Once married and consecrated, Robert collaborates in the administration of the kingdom, as proven by the presence of his signature, along with that of Hugo Capet, on numerous official documents. The formulas used are varied such as "the most glorious King Robert" present in a letter to Corbie dated April 988, or "filii nostri Rotberti regis ac consortis regni nostri" in a letter to Saint-Maur -des-Fossés of June 989. et 35. From 990 onwards, his signature appears on all royal offices. Facilitated by the vast training received from Gerbert of Aurillac, his first task was to preside over episcopal meetings:

He (Roberto) assisted the episcopal synods, discussing with the bishops the ecclesiastical problems.

Richer de Reims, April 990.

Unlike the last Carolingians, the first Capetians were linked to a group of bishops northeast of Paris (Amiens, Laon, Soissons, Châlons, etc.) whose support would be decisive in the following events. In one of the offices, both kings appear as intermediaries between the clergy and the people (mediatores et plebis) and, according to Gerbert of Aurillac, they stressed the need for this mediation: «...not wanting "abusing royal power in any way, we decided all matters of the Republic by resorting to the advice and consultation of our faithful." Hugo and Robert needed the support of the Church to ensure their legitimacy and because the contingents of the royal army came largely from the bishoprics. Roberto already appeared in the eyes of his contemporaries as a pious sovereign (hence why he began to be called that) and linked to the Church for multiple reasons:

• training in liberal disciplines;
• their presence in the synods of bishops;
• the dedication of Abón de Fleury from his canonical collection;
• the fact that forgiveness is often granted to their enemies;
• their donations to several abbeys.

Charles of Lorraine takes control of Laon (988-991)

Charles of Lorraine, the last Carolingian claimant to the throne, takes the city of Laon, capital of the kingdom during the last Carolingians, by storm. Hugo and Robert, with the participation of military contingents from the bishoprics, laid siege to the city on two occasions, without managing to recover it. Concerned by the failure, Hugo contacted several sovereigns to obtain their support (Pope John XV, the Empress Theophanus, mother of young Otto III), without obtaining results for her cause. After the death of Adalberón of Reims (January 24, 989), Hugo Capet had the Carolingian Arnulf of France, illegitimate son of King Lothair, chosen as the new archbishop, instead of Gerbert of Aurillac, with the intention that his nephew Charles of Lorraine returned Laon. Charles aspired to the entire Frankish Kingdom and refused to hand over Laon. Furthermore, Arnulf gives him Reims, which constitutes betrayal of King Hugh Capet who had recently appointed him.

The situation changes when Adalberón (Ascelin), bishop of Laon and nephew of Adalberón of Reims betrays Charles and hands him over to Hugo Capet during Holy Week of 991: it is the link with the episcopate that saves the throne capetian in extremis. In June of the same year, Arnulf is accused of being a traitor and tried in council, in the presence of Robert, in the abbey of Verzy. Despite the protests of Abón de Fleury, Arnulf is deposed and days later Gerbert of Aurillac is appointed archbishop of Reims with the support of his former student Robert. Pope John

Gerberto and Ascelin: two dubious loyalties

Upon the death of his superior Adalberón of Reims, Gerberto feels obliged to follow the intrigues of the new archbishop Arnulf, determined to hand over Reims to Charles of Lorraine. Although the documentation is scarce on this topic, it leads one to think that the teacher has changed his position towards Carlos's side. Certain hypotheses raise the possibility that the Ottonian court whose interests he served, asked Gerbert, a former supporter of mutatio regni, to support Charles based on the legitimacy of the lineage:

The brother of Lotario Augusto, heir to the throne, was expelled. His opponents (Hugo and Roberto), many people think they received the kingdom provisionally. With what right was the legitimate heir undone?

Gerbert d’Aurillac, Lettres990.

The Carolingian family still had roots in the Frankish people. A doubt arises about the legitimacy of the crown of Hugo and Robert, but Gerbert himself, seeing the situation change against Charles of Lorraine, changes again. side in the course of the year 991. Becoming archbishop of Reims by the grace of King Robert, he writes:

with the approval of the two princes, Mr. Hugo Augusto and the most exelent King Roberto.

Gerbert d’Aurillac, Lettres991.

As for Ascelin, bishop of Laon, after having betrayed Charles and Arnulf, he turns against the crown. It is known that in early 993, he intrigues with Odo I Count of Blois to capture Hugo and Robert during an interview in Metz with Otto III. The plan included crowning Louis of Lorraine (son of Charles of Lorraine) king of the Franks, leaving Odo as duke of the Franks and Ascelin archbishop of Reims. The conspiracy is exposed and Ascelin is placed under house arrest and finally deposed by the synod of Pavia in 998.

Marital problems

Separation of Rozala

After about three or four years of marriage (around 991-992), young Roberto repudiates Rozala - whom he had had to marry at the request of his father - due to the age difference and seeing that it was not likely to give him an heir. She returns to her Flanders domain with her son Count Baudouin IV and Robert retains the port of Montreuil, which was part of Rozala's dowry and is a strategic point in the English Channel. Robert's divorce constitutes a challenge to his father, which could be the beginning of a path to reign alone. However, as after several years the union did not produce heirs, Hugo Capet and his advisors did not oppose the divorce.

"King Roberto, at the age of nineteen, in the flower of his youth, repudiates, because she was very old, his wife Suzana (Rozala), Italian of origin. »

Richer de Reims, Histoire996-998.

Relationship with Berta of Burgundy (996-1003)

Once single, Roberto looks for a wife who can give him the long-awaited offspring. At the beginning of the year 996, probably during the military campaign against Odo of Blois, he meets the Countess Bertha of Burgundy, wife of Odo. She is the daughter of King Conrad III of Burgundy and Matilda of France, daughter of Louis IV of Overseas. Hugo Capet opposed this relationship; Gerbert d'Aurillac also opposed it, out of loyalty to Hugo Capet, but arguing canonical reasons. due to the rivalry with the house of Blois whose possessions surrounded the royal domain on the Isle of France. In addition to sentimental reasons, Robert had an interest in the territories that Bertha would contribute to the royal domain. When Odo dies in March and Hugo Capet dies in October 996, the path to marriage begins to clear.

According to Michel Rouche, Queen Adelaide of Aquitaine favored this political alliance, seeking to weaken the siege that threatened the house, particularly its domains on the Isle of France. Indeed, Odo's territories included Blois, Chartres, Melun and Meaux. The couple is waiting the regulatory nine months after Odón's death, so another reason is to have legitimate children to ensure the succession and Roberto does not yet have one.

But there were two aspects that hindered the union. On the one hand, consanguinity: Hedwige of Saxony, mother of Hugo Capet, and Berta's maternal grandmother, Gerberga of Saxony, were daughters of Emperor Henry the Fowler and Matilda and therefore Hugo and Berta were second cousins, meaning a papal dispensation was required. On the other hand, Hugo was the godfather of Teobaldo, Berta's eldest son. According to canon law, marriage is impossible. Meanwhile, a carnal relationship begins and Robert puts part of the county of Blois under his control. He takes the city of Tours from the count of him and takes Langeais from Fulk Nerra, thus breaking the alliance with Anjou, until that time faithful support of the late King Hugh Capet. With this beginning of reign, the alliances are reversed.

Berta, Odon's wife, took King Roberto as a protector and defender of his cause.

Richer de Reims, Histoire996-998.

The couple had no problem finding willing bishops to marry them; They did so between November and December 996 by Archambaud de Sully, archbishop of Tours, with the disagreement of Pope Gregory V. To restore good relations with the Holy See, the young monarch annulled the sentence of the council of Saint-Basle, released to Archbishop Arnulf of France and restores him to the episcopal see of Reims. Gerbert of Aurillac is forced to ask for refuge at the court of Otto III in 997. However, the pope does not give in and calls Robert and Berta to order for what he considers an "incestuous union." The councils met in Pavia (February 997) and Rome (summer 998) confirmed the pope's position and condemned them to do penance for seven years; if they did not separate, they would be exposed to excommunication. But after five years of union, Berta and Roberto had had no children: they only had one son, who was stillborn. The election of Gerbert to the pontificate (Sylvester II) in April 999 does not change the situation at all; After a synod, the new pope confirms the condemnation of the king of France, who must assume his "perfidy." Finally, the seven years of penance are completed during 1003.

They came to the Apostolic See and after completing their penance, they returned to their domains (Postea ad sedem apostolicam venientes, cum satisfactione suscepta peitentia, redierunt ad propria).

Yves de Chartres, IX, 8, letter to King Henry I of France

Constance of Arles becomes queen (1003-1032)

Not having children, Roberto decides to marry again, even though his romantic relationship with Berta remains close. As the church did not recognize Roberto's marriage to Berta, it was not considered necessary to continue the divorce process. He married for the third time between 1003 and 1004 with a distant princess whom he did not know to avoid any kind of kinship. Constance of Arles is 17 years old and is the daughter of William I, count of Provence and Arles and Adelaide of Anjou. This Provencal family acquired great prestige during the century X when Count William I (called the liberator) definitively expelled the Saracens from La Garde-Freinet in 972 and his mother had been queen of France between 982 and 984 due to her marriage to the Carolingian king Louis V. In addition, the family is related to the house of Anjou, with which alliances are reestablished.

But Constance is a wife who does not make the king happy. The queen's personality gives rise to very unfavorable comments from the chroniclers: "vain, greedy, arrogant, vengeful", despite the fact that these types of comments are very rare in the century XI, particularly with a queen. On the other hand, it is known that the Provençals who accompanied Constance to court were despised and excluded by the Franks. Following contemporary writings, the contact between the two courts at the beginning of the XI century was a true "cultural clash." Raoul Gabler, for example, highlights the rejection of the most conservative Frankish ecclesiastics of the Provençal fashion, because it implies novelty and therefore disorder. In general, the Provençals of the year 1000 did not wear beards or mustaches (which for the Franks was considered effeminacy) and they also wore shaved heads (something that the Franks reserved for ecclesiastics). These situations must have influenced the Queen's behavior.According to Helgaudo de Fleury, the king himself feared her wife, who apparently had herself blinded her confessor accused of heresy.

The only advantage of the marriage was that Constanza had numerous progeny:

• Alix de France (1003-approximately 1063), married to Renaldo I de Nevers, Count of Nevers.
• Hugo de France (approximately 1007-1025), associated with the throne of his father. She died before this one.
• Enrique I de France (approximately 1008-1060), King of the Francos.
• Adela de France (approximately 1009-1079), wife of Ricardo III of Normandy and Balduino V of Flanders.
• Roberto de France (approximately 1011-1076), first Duke of Burgundy of the ghetto dynasty.
• Odon (approximately 1013-between 1057 and 1059), considered "imbecil" and incapable of governing according to the chronicle (finished in 1138) of Pierre, son of Béchin, canonical of San Martín de Tours.

During the reign of Robert the Pious, Constance was involved in many intrigues with the aim of preserving a prominent place in the Frankish court. Raoul Glaber precisely emphasizes that the sovereign has "control of her husband." For contemporaries, a woman leading her husband implies an abnormal situation. However, the king has not stopped loving or seeing Berta of Burgundy, which divides the court into factions. On a certain day in the year 1008, the king and his faithful friend Hugo de Beauvais were hunting in a forest near Orleans, when a dozen men-at-arms appeared and attacked Hugo and murdered him before the king's eyes. The crime was directed by Fulk of Nerra and surely ordered by the queen. Robert, fed up with the situation after six or seven years of marriage, goes to the pope personally, accompanied by Angilramme (a monk from San Riquier) and Berta de Burgundy, between 1009 and 1010, without hiding that he seeks the annulment of his marriage with Constance, on the grounds of his participation in the murder of Hugo de Beauvais. Odorannus, a monk from Saint-Pierre-le-Vif in Sens, explains in his writings that during the voyage Constance retired in grief to her domain at Theil and also that Saint Savinien appeared to her and three days later Robert returned and left her permanently. Bertha. From that moment on, Berta disappears from the documentation and dies in January 1010.

The problems continue, since the dispute between the two queens only hides the rivalry between the houses of Blois and Anjou. In the midst of this dispute, after the military victory of Odo II of Blois over Fulk of Nerra at Pontelvoy (1016), Queen Constance sought to strengthen the position of her family at court. For this reason, she and her Angevin clan pressure the king to associate Hugo, her first-born son, to the throne, in order to ensure the regency in the event of Robert's death. Against the opinion of the royal advisors and the territorial princes, Robert relented and thus, according to Raoul Glaber, Hugo was consecrated at the age of 10 on the day of Pentecost 1017 (June 9), in the abbey church of Saint- Corneille de Compiègne. Although the association markedly favored one of the great noble families - and could put the monarch's own life at risk - Robert considered that the association was the best way to consolidate the dynasty and prevent another of the noble families will dispute the throne upon his death. On the other hand, he does not hand over any royal power to his son, who for this reason is constantly humiliated by the queen. When he came of age, Hugo rebelled against his father; He died in the course of that rebellion, perhaps from a fall from his horse in Compiègne between 1025 and 1026, when he was barely 18 years old.

The queen opposes the association of her second son Enrique, seeking the association of her other son Robert, whom she prefers. On this occasion Robert imposes his criterion of dynastic consolidation and Henry is crowned in Reims on Pentecost 1027.

Territorial Conquests

King Robert defines a clear policy: recover the county function for his benefit, either by appropriating it or appointing like-minded bishops for it; It is the same policy followed by the Ottonids, the most powerful dynasty in the West at that time. Robert's most resounding victory is the acquisition of the duchy of Burgundy. Duke Henry I of Burgundy died in October 1002, without a legitimate heir. Otto William was the son of Gerberge of Chalon, second wife of Henry I, in addition to being Count Palatine of Burgundy by inheritance from his father Adalbert II of Ivrea and Count of Mâcon by his marriage to Ermentrudis de Roucy. According to the chronicle of Saint Benedict of Dijon, he was designated heir to the dukedom: «According to the testimony of the chronicler William of Jumiège, Henry bequeaths his dukedom to King Robert II which with arrogant pride, the Burgundians refuse to recognize /i> as duke", having the support of several Burgundian lords, but he is more interested in his possessions beyond the Saône - county of Burgundy - and also towards Italy where he is from., "There are strong indications that he was candidate for the crown of Lombardy in 1016; He had already divided the counties of Macon and Burgundy among his sons. In 1024, he donated in the presence of the king to the Piedmontese abbey of Fruttuaria, founded by William of Volpiano, the old monastery of Saint Martin of Aquamarine and died on September 24, 1026. » On the other hand, the duchy of Burgundy obtained in 943 by Hugh the Great, father of Henry I and grandfather of Robert, was considered by him to be part of the Robertine family domain. Burgundy was a rich duchy, which included several important cities. such as Dijon, Auxerre, Langres, Sens. The rivalry between Hugh I of Calon, bishop of Auxerre who was a supporter of King Robert, with Count Landry of Nevers, who was son-in-law and natural ally of Otto William in addition to having natural rights over Auxerre, triggers Robert's armed intervention. He, together with Richard II of Normandy, gathered his troops and entered Burgundy in the spring of 1003, but were detained in front of Auxerre and Saint-Germain d'Auxerre. In 1005, Robert and his troops returned with more success and took Avallon in a few days of combat and then Auxerre. During the siege of Auxerre, Otto William found himself on the king's side, so a treaty had to be mediated. "... agreement that would undoubtedly include the marriage of one of Otto's sons with a daughter of the Duke of Normandy, …». With the mediation of Bishop Hugh of Chalon, Count Landry reconciles with the king by recognizing the counties of Avallon and Auxerre. After the agreements of 1005-1006, Otto William recognizes that the ducal title and all the possessions of the previous Duke Henry I revert to the Robertine domain. The city of Dijon remains in the possession of the irreducible bishop of Langres, Bruno de Roucy, who does not want Robert to settle at any price.

In Sens a fight takes place between Count Fromondo II and Archbishop Leotherico for control of the city. Leoterico, who is close to the king, opposed the construction of an important defensive tower ordered by the count. In 1012, Renardo the Evil succeeds his father Fromondo in the county and the situation worsens due to the connection with the bishop of Langres, Bruno de Roucy, with the new count, who is his maternal uncle and enemy of King Robert. The archbishop of Sens, isolated, appeals to the king, who wanted to intervene for multiple reasons: Sens was one of the main archepiscopal seats of the kingdom, it was the obligatory route to enter Burgundy and because with its possession he divided the domains of Odo II in two. of Blois. The count is excommunicated and attacked by the royal troops who take Sens on April 22, 1015. Reinardo, who is an ally of Odo of Blois, proposes an agreement to Robert: to continue exercising the count's office and that upon his death it would revert to the crown.. Reinardo died forty years later, but Roberto had already placed the county under his control, definitively integrating it into the royal domain. Once the conquest of Sens is finished, Robert heads to Dijon to finish the conquest of Burgundy. According to the chronicle of the abbey of Saint Benigno in Dijon, it was Abbot Odilón of Cluny who with his intervention moved the king who renounced the assault, although his retreat could also have been motivated by the presence of Umberto de Mailly and Guy le Riche, two brave lieutenants of the Count of Dijon, who directed the defense of the city. The bishop of Langres, Bruno de Roucy, died at the end of January 1016. Days later the royal troops returned to Dijon and Robert installed Lambert de Bassigny as bishop of Langers, in exchange for giving him Dijon and his county. Thus, after almost fifteen years of military and diplomatic campaigns, the king manages to regain possession of the duchy of Burgundy that had belonged to his grandfather. The ducal title is given to his youngest son, Henry, but given his young age the king maintains the government and control of the duchy in his hands. The death in 1025 of Hugh of France, Henry's younger brother, makes him finally the heir to the royal crown and the ducal title passes into the hands of his next brother Robert, later called of Burgundy or the Elder, whose descendants will rule Bourbon. until the middle of the XIV century. The lands beyond the Saone, the county of Burgundy, are integrated into the Empire and follow their destinies. When Burcard of Vendôme, count of Paris and faithful servant of Hugh Capet, died between 1005 and 1007, the county was not handed over to his son Renaudo. When he also died in 1017, the king appropriated his counties of Melun and Dreux. The archbishop of Bourges, Dagobert, died in 1012. Robert directly designated Gazulin, the elderly abbot of Fleury, as his successor; but Viscount Godfrey of this city tries to intervene personally in the election of Dagobert's successor, and prevents the new bishop from taking charge of the see. Odilón de Cluny, King Robert and Pope Benedict VIII himself had to intervene so that Gazulin could access the see.

The heresy in Orleans (1022)

During the year 1000, there was a strong movement in the West for the reform of the church (Cluny reform) and a rise in religiosity, linked to mysticism and fear of the final judgment, which brought about an "awakening of heresy" and persecutions by ecclesiastical and civil authorities. During the Early Middle Ages, this type of persecution had not been known. It is in the XI century and with this trial in Orleans, that the long and black history of the burning of heretics in the Christian West: Orleans (1022), Milan (1027), Cambrai (1078). In the case of King Robert, the case of the Orleans heretics constitutes a fundamental element of his reign and, even for the time, an unprecedented impact. The documentation of the events comes to us exclusively through ecclesiastical sources: Raoul Glaber, Ademar Chabannes, Andre de Fleury, Jean de Ripoll and Paul de Chartres. The turn of the millennium spread the idea of a corrupt society and the strong contrast between the riches of the Church and the humility preached by Jesus Christ became evident. In this context, some clerics denounce the society of the time and urge to renew Christian society. The issue is not new; Already in the IX century, there had been controversies among scholars about dogma, the Eucharist, the cult of saints, etc., but 1022 the controversy is of a completely different nature. Raoul Glaber tells the story of a peasant named Leutrad from Vertus (Champagne) who around 994, decides to separate from his wife, destroy the crucifix of the local church and preach that the peasants of his village do not pay tithes, based on the reading of the Holy Scriptures. The bishop of his diose, Gibuin I of Châlons, summoned him and debated with him in public, establishing that his proposals were heretical. Abandoned by everyone, Leutrad commits suicide. This situation was repeated throughout the XI century with several people who disagreed with Catholic orthodoxy: they were put into debates with clerics very educated in public, so that they and their message would be ridiculed and discredited in the eyes of the common people. For his part, Ademar de Chabannes points out around 1015-1020, the appearance of Manichaeans in Aquitaine, especially in the cities of Toulouse and Limoges.

Preachers emerge in several places urging the renunciation of carnal relations, the destruction of images, the uselessness of the Church's medication for the salvation of the soul and the repudiation of the sacraments (especially baptism and marriage). The Church reacts by accusing them of heresy. Raoul Glaber maintains in his writings that Satan was released "after a thousand years" as announced in the Apocalypse and that he is the inspirer of all heretics, from Leutard to those of Orleans. Another of his contemporaries states:

"They (the heretics) intended to have faith in the Trinity in divine unity and in the divine incarnation of the Son of God, but it was false because they also held that the baptized could not receive the Holy Spirit in baptism and that after a mortal sin it was not possible to receive forgiveness.

André de Fleury, circa 1025. »

The chroniclers differ on the origin of the Orléan heresy: for Ademar de Cabannes it came from a peasant from Perigaud, while for Raoul Glaber it originated from a woman from Ravennes. What they agree on is that the most unacceptable thing is that the evil is rooted in Orleans, the royal city, seat of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross where King Robert was baptized and consecrated. Some canons of the cathedral, close to the court, were supporters of these doctrines considered heretical: Theodatus, Herbert (prior of the Church of Saint-Pierre-le Puellier), Foucher and in particular Etienne (confessor of Queen Constance) and Lisoie (from the cathedral choir), among others. The king is warned by Richard of Normandy on Christmas 1022, the canons are arrested and interrogated for long hours. Raoul Glaber maintains that they have recognized belonging to the "sect" for a long time and that their design was to convince the royal court of their beliefs (rejection of the sacraments, food prohibitions, on the virginity of Mary and on the Trinity). These details are surely true, on the contrary it would seem that the intention of him and other chroniclers was to demonize the participants of the "Orleans circle" by accusing them of practicing sexual orgies, worshiping the devil and other ritual crimes. These were the same accusations made against Christians during Late Antiquity.

"At that time, ten of the canonicals of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross of Orleans, those who seemed more pious than the others, were found guilty of being manifold. King Roberto, in view of his refusal to return to faith, stripped them of the priestly dignity, then expelled them from the Church and eventually handed them over to the flames. »

Ademar de Chabannes, circa 1025

According to legend, Etienne, the queen's confessor, would have received a blow from a cane that would have pierced his eye. King Robert had a huge pyre built outside the city on December 28, 1022, hoping to frighten them, but he was shocked by the reaction:

"Sure of themselves, they were not afraid of the fire; they announced that they would come out of the flames, and they would be quiet, and they would be bound in the pipe. Of course they were completely reduced to ashes and not even a piece of their bones was found"

Ademar de Chabannes, circa 1025

This fierceness surprises contemporaries and even modern historians. The different chroniclers are horrified by the heretical practices, but they do not comment on the sentence at any time; Helgaudo de Fleury is silent about the entire episode.

The king's motives for taking such a violent decision, so far removed from the customs of society for centuries, are the subject of debate among historians. In fact, the result is that through the process instructed and directed by the king and the court, the party of Eudes de Blois triumphs and a cruel procedure is installed to settle doctrinal differences, which would last in Europe and other areas of the world under its influence for several years. centuries.

• One of the reasons that arise is the sincere piety of King Roberto and his fear of doctrinal differences in the kingdom.
• Another is that, with the dismissal of Bishop Thierry II of Orleans, who had been appointed for the support of the king, with the argument of his links with the heretics and the designation of Olderico who was the candidate of Odon II of Blois, begins the process of alliances that is verified in 1024 when they co-invade the Lorraine and the Kingdom of Burgundy to distribute them: "in other words, the pretext
• A third cause, linked to the previous ones, is the increasingly tense relationship between the king and the Queen Constanza of Arles, who was now very close to the canons and Bishop Thierry. It can be assumed that Roberto breaks with the Angiovinian party, traditional support of the king against the counts of Blois and to which Constance is bound by his mother, to approach Blois' house in particular to his first wife Berta de Borgoña, mother of Odon II of Blois and grandmother of Bishop Olderico.

In this way, religious, political and conjugal motivations are undoubtedly complex and can be combined in the explanation of the royal determination, also keeping in mind that Robert, by taking the initiative to convene the synod, also shows his authority in matters of defense of the Church and the faith.

End of the reign

The king of the thousand year

False terrors

The terror or fear of the year one thousand is a myth of the XVI century, based on a chronology by Sigeberto de Gembloux (12th century), before being taken up by Romantic historians (with the exception of Jules Michelet) during the XIX. They tried to explain that Western Christians were terrified by the passage from the year 1000 to the next in which Satan could rise from the abyss and bring about the end of the world. Christianity is an eschatological religion, which requires ideal behavior from men during earthly life to have the hope of obtaining Eternal Salvation from the Final Judgment. This doctrinal belief is present throughout the Middle Ages and particularly during the 10th and 11th centuries, a period during which the Church is still seen as sacred and is very attached to ritual. However, eschatology should not be confused with millenarianism: that is, the belief in the end of the world in the year 1000 and the return of Christ to Earth.

The origin is in the Apocalypse according to Saint John, which prophesies the return of Satan a thousand years after the incarnation of Christ:

"For I saw an angel descend from heaven holding in his hand the key of the Abyss and also a huge chain; and he took the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and threw him into the abyss, and shut him up, and laid his seal upon him, that he should not deceive the nations any more, until they were over a thousand years; and after that he should be loosed for a little while."

Revelation 20:1-3, century I DC

Already in the V century, Saint Augustine had interpreted millenarianism as a spiritual allegory in which the number "thousand" » means nothing more than a long period of time not determined numerically (De civitate Dei contra pagans). Some years later, the council of Ephesus decided to officially condemn the literal conception of the millennium. From the end of the century X, there is a growing interest within the clergy in the Apocalypse, which is manifested by the dissemination throughout the West from Commentaries on it (Apocalypse of Valladolid, Apocalypse of Saint-Saver, etc.). Even so, the Church maintains control of the millenarian movement.

Along with this official position of the Church, the analysis of the sources, all ecclesiastical, can generate contradictions. "The enormity of the sins accumulated over centuries by men," the chroniclers emphasize, suggests that contemporaries actually believed that the world was headed toward perdition and that the moment of the end of the world was approaching. Raoul Gabler is once again one of the few sources on this topic. He wrote his Histoires between 1045 and 1048, that is, about 15 years after the millennium of the passion (1033):

It was believed that the order of the stations and the elements, which had reigned since the beginning in all the past centuries, would return to chaos and that this was the end of the human race.

Raoul Glaber, Histoires, IV, circa 1048.

In fact, the Burgundian monk describes the situation several years later maintaining once again an eschatological vision, faithful to the Apocalypse. His objective is to interpret the signs as the action of God that must be seen as warnings sent to men to perform acts of penance. These signs are carefully warned by clerics. Fires are noted (Orleans Cathedral in 989, the suburbs of Tours in 997, Chartres Cathedral in 1020, Fleury Abbey in 1026,...), natural disasters (earthquakes, droughts, the comet, famines), the invasion of the pagans (the Saracens who defeated Otto II in 982) and finally the proliferation of heresies propagated by women and peasants (Orleans in 1022 and Milan in 1027). And he adds:

"These signs match John's prophecy, according to which Satan would be triggered after a thousand years."

Raoul Glaber, Histoires, IV, circa 1048.

On the other hand, it must be taken into account that around the year 1000, only a tiny part of the Frankish population (little more than the ecclesiastical elite) was capable of calculating the current year for liturgical or legal purposes (date the royal letters). Those who could precisely determine the date conceived of a "split millennium" between the incarnation (year 1000) and the resurrection (year 1033). Furthermore, although the Christian era began to be used from the VI century, its use did not become widespread until the second half. of the XI century. In short, the temporal location of the moment was not determined by the years; Life was regulated by the seasons, daily prayers and especially the great religious festivals and this varied depending on the place (the year in England began at Christmas and in France it began at Easter. That was the time for the man of the time.

Nothing in his writings proves that there had actually been collective terror. Around the year 960, at the request of Gerberga of Saxony, Abbot Adson of Montier-en-Der wrote a treatise (On the Birth of the Age of Antichrist) in which he outlined an index of what the Holy Scriptures refer to about the Antichrist.. He concludes that the end times will not come before the kingdoms of the world separate from the Empire. In Abón de Fleury, the passage to the second millennium did not go unnoticed, since around the year 998 he made a request to Hugo Capet and his son already associated with the throne: Robert. In it he accuses a clergyman, who, although he was a student, claimed the end of the world during the turn of the millennium. Therefore, even the great intellectuals of the X century are antimillennialists.

"I have been told that in 994 the priests of Paris announced the end of the world. They're crazy. It is only necessary to open the sacred text, the Bible, to see that neither the day nor the hour will be known. »

Abón de Fleury, Petition to Kings Hugo and Roberto, circa 998.

Since Edmond Pognon, modern historians have shown that there were no great popular terrors. However, during the 1970s, a new explanation appeared. Georges Duby maintains that although there was no overt popular terror around the year 1000, a "diffuse" and permanent unrest can be detected in the Christian West of the time. At the end of the century X there would probably be people dismayed by the approach of the year 1000 and with certain concerns, but they would surely be a very minority now. that the most educated people such as Abón de Fleury, Raoul Glaber or Adson de Montier-en-Der did not believe it.

Changes in Feudalism

Feudalism is a complex term whose historical study is delicate. «It is a set of institutions and relationships that involve the entire society, which is therefore called feudal» Modern medievalists do not agree on the chronology or the mechanism in which feudalism is consolidated. On the one hand there are the "mutationists" (G. Duby, P. Bonnassie, J.-P. Poly, E. Bournazel...) who maintain that there was a mutation around the year one thousand and that the century XI caused a break with the society of the time, replacing the old Carolingian society. On the other hand, a new current called "traditionalists" (D. Barthélemy, K.-F. Werner, E. Magnou-Nortier, O. Bruand...) is consolidated, who maintain that feudalism was progressively consolidated since the 20th century. span style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">IX to XII without breaks. For the latter, the mistaken image of rupture that "mutationists" maintain arises from an erroneous interpretation of the sources.

The Carolingian jurisdiction (9th century-1020 approx.)

During the Early Middle Ages, a certain feudal link already existed since certain powerful people granted a benefit (beneficium) to their loyalists (generally land). Therefore, society is already based on a latent "servitude" that is differentiated by access to justice: only free men have access to it, while the unfree are punished and protected by their masters. The king and princes of the X century still used Justice to defend their property and rights, imposing fines such as the Heriban (tax of 60 sous on those who do not come to serve in the lord's hosts) and confiscating the property of those who offend them.

The Carolingian economic and social development itself, added to the military changes imposed by the Viking invasions, caused that from around 920 onwards, public authority began to be located at various strategic points (routes, cities, defensive places, etc). Marriage alliances unite royal children with those of county families since the IX century: several dynasties come into play, which makes Adalberón of Laon say:

"The noble blood descends from the blood of kings"

Adalberón de Laon, Poem to King Roberto, circa 1027-1030.

The texts already refer to an oath of fidelity: the kiss (osculum) generally used as a gesture of peace between relatives or allies. On the contrary, the homage (commandatio) was initially seen as a humiliating gesture and it seems that only some counts managed to perform it as submission to the king.

On the side of the humble, fidelity can also be of a servile order, as in the case of personal taxes, which throughout the century IX become «slavish tribute».

To cope with the increasing county duties, the counts begin to delegate part of these functions to the lieutenants of their old or under-construction castles. The latter, in turn, delegate some of their own functions to other more humble delegates (typically the judicial assembly for the most humble was the vicarage). In this way, society becomes stratified or feudalized.

Emergence of the Lordships (around 1020-1040)

Georges Duby explains that between 980 and 1030 the pagus of the Early Middle Ages progressively transformed into territories centralized by their public fortress, which quickly became the seat of power of the noble families.. Throughout the kingdom, castles were built in wood first and then in stone, on natural or artificial motes (there was a real proliferation from 1020 onwards and from this date the majority were built in stone or the previous wooden mote was replaced with stone).. The mote is not necessarily the main residence, but it constitutes a point where the legitimacy of the manorial power is affirmed. Certain changes of legal order are also verified. The lords, delegated by the counts in the castles, privatize public justice and make it hereditary. This is called by certain historians the «choc châtelain» and is seen as a true social revolution. Within the limits of the royal domain of Robert the Pious, it is the king himself who orders the construction of fortresses (such as Montlhéry or Montfort-l'Amaury) for the defense of the dubious neighboring counts. These fortresses are guarded by lords (like William of Monfort) who to enforce their justice in the territory (districtus) hire soldiers (knights) from different social extracts (nobles without inheritance, rich free men, some peasants with land and even some serfs) and establish vassal ties with them. In this way the feudal pyramid is completed:

This new subject accumulates forces and legitimizes his power by linking whenever possible with blood nobility. In the process, all public powers are privatized: it is the bannum. Some of these new lords become counts and found county families. Georges Duby shows in his thesis that between 980 and 1030, the lords deserted the court of the Count of Mâcon, appropriated the lordship and ended up monopolizing all local power. Although the independence of these local powers was reinforced, it was also They verify tributes from the vassal to the lord and a set of vassal aid is developed that is legally specified (fidelity, support and military advice...) and the lords try to enforce it on their vassals by force. In short, the benefit is transformed into a fief (feodum) and complete ownership (alodio) becomes increasingly rare.

The establishment of banal lordships

The goal of the lords is not to obtain full political independence from the counts (which would expose them to the ambitions of other lords), but to ensure solid control over their servants. In this sense, around 1030 in the county of Provence, the lords forced the free peasants (allodiales) to become dependent in exchange for some good or remuneration.

One of the characteristics of the feudal era is the proliferation of what the texts call "bad uses" (bad customs). During the reign of Charles the Bald, the edict of Pîtres (864) already refers to customs, which suggests that there would be legal continuity between the Carolingian era and the year 1000. In general, the documentation does not allow for a detailed description of the different types of income, rights to land, houses or plots, or the population involved. These uses are reputed to be nefarious and new by peasant communities, but there are cases in which apparently they were not so new or so abusive.

Since Carolingian times, the peasant lives in a mansus (or tenement, house with arable land, generally of sufficient size to support a family) for which he works in exchange for a tax. and corveas. The tax could consist of a payment per inhabitant (cens) or, more generally, part of the production (champart) or both. The corvea consisted of working for free in the lord's production. The gentleman resorts to public justice, the vicarage (county or royal) in cases in which he did not obtain that jurisdiction. This is the system of territorial lordship.

From the years 1020-1030, along with the territorial lordship, a new legal establishment appeared. The peasant continues to pay feudal dues (cens or champart) to his territorial lord, but a new lord (the knight supported by his topas) takes over in a more or less violent way the public justice that he takes from his count.. He occupies the vicariate and imposes his banal rights on the peasants of the manor: the community is forced to legally submit to this usurper and pay him royalties for the use of the mill, the oven, the press (oil or wine), the roads (roads or channels), which is what is called banalities.

For some historians (Duby, Bonnassie) the new lords reestablished equality between free and unfree men by subjecting everyone to the condition of serfs. For others (Barthélemy), there is nothing more than a change of name in the texts, while the condition remains unchanged since Carolingian times (that is, a kind of "servile homage", rather than a situation of slavery). This is the system of banal lordship.

Local conflicts called "feudal" have their origin in the perception of royalties by one lordship or another, which represents a considerable financial income. All knights are the responsibility of the castle: the lordship. However, it does not correspond to a centralized space organized around the castle; It is a fluctuating territory at the mercy of private wars. Before 1050, it is difficult to find any property perfectly associated with a lordship. The lord is often a territorial lord and a lord of banalities and to better control these functions (income and power) he often delegates knights to his vassals, this or that. right (the vicarage of one manor, the census of another, the corvea in another...). Through this mechanism, an authentic tangle of lordships develops, which atomizes the rights over the land, calling into question the concept of property and multiplying the burdens on the peasants.

Robert the Pious and the Peace of God

The Peace of God is a "conciliar movement of episcopal initiative" that emerged during the second half of the X century southern Gaul and which spread in the following decades (1010-1030) in certain northern regions.

For a long time historiography explained it as a response to the failure of Carolingian structures in a context of increasing violence, during a period that Georges Duby called "First Feudal Era" or "Feudal Mutation." Today we have a more relative idea of the Peace of God, in particular for two questions for which no answers can be found:

• the impossibility of the church having conceived at that time a society of horizontal ties, when figures like Adalberón de Laon and Gerardo de Cambrai despised the servants of the field, despite the need for their work;
• the difficulties for the economic development of the 10th and 11th centuries to have been verified, if indeed the general framework was of that state of violence and anarchy.

It is known that peace movements already existed in the Early Middle Ages. In this sense, since Carolingian times there was concern about the dishonor that murders and violations of the Church implied. According to Christian Lauranson-Rosaz, the first signs of the Peace of God emerged in the Auvergne mountains around Clermont where the Church preached that "peace is worth more than everything."

Characteristics of his reign

Already on the throne, Robert II obtained the recognition of his eldest son Hugo as his successor, but his death would make Enrique the future successor.

He was a defender of the Church and protector of culture, as well as a fundamental precursor to the expansion of the Cluniac order.

The pious Roberto made few friends and many enemies, which would include his own children who would later rebel.

Marriage and Offspring

Robert II of France had married his fourth cousin Berta of Burgundy, niece of Duke Otto-William of Burgundy, although he had no children from this marriage.

Through this marriage he obtained the Duchy of Burgundy and took the counties of Dreux and Melun from the nobility in the year 1017.

This marriage was not to the liking of Pope Gregory V, because of the close relationship and because during the pontificate of the predecessor Pope John XV, Arnulf had been deposed from the archbishopric of Reims and was replaced, with papal opposition, by Gerbert. who was named Sylvester II with the support of the previous French king Hugo Capet, and for which he demanded that Roberto annul the marriage. When he refused, he was excommunicated, as was the archbishop of Reims who had authorized the marriage.

In the end the marriage ended up separating and he withdrew his support from Sylvester II since he wanted a rapprochement with the pope. This caused a council held in Pavia in 997 to restore Arnulf as archbishop of Reims and condemn Gerbert as a usurper, in addition to lifting the excommunication.

Roberto married Constance of Arles for the second time - although since the previous marriage had been annulled, these were his first nuptials - daughter of the Prince of Provence (since 991), a very temperamental woman whose character contrasted intensely with Roberto's. the Pious; She went down in history for staunchly defending the rights of her son to the throne. Seven children were born from this marriage:

• Hedwige de France (1003-1063), married to Renauld, Count of Nevers.
• Hugo (1007-1025). Associated with the throne by his father, he died before it could happen.
• Enrique (1008-1060). King of France, with the name of Henry I.
• Adela de Flandes (1009-1079), married to Count Balduino V of Flanders. His daughter Matilde was the wife of William I of England.
• Roberto el Viejo (1011-1076). First Duke of Burgundy of the capital house. He was the grandfather of Enrique de Borgoña, father of Alfonso I of Portugal and father of Constanza de Borgoña, wife of Alfonso VI el Bravo, king of Castile and Leon.
• Eudes de France (1013-1056) was born with mental retardation.
• Constance of France (1014-?), married to Manasses Conde de Dammartín.

Civil wars and death

His sons Hugo, Henry and Robert, had rebelled against their father, leading to a civil war, in which Hugo would die in the middle of the revolt, in 1025.

In the continuation of the conflict with Henry and the young Robert, King Robert's troops were defeated and the king retreated to Beaugency, outside the capital of Paris.

Roberto died in the middle of the fight against his sons on July 20, 1031 in Melun. He was buried, along with his wife Constance, in the Basilica of Saint Denis. He would succeed his son Enrique.

At the end of his reign, France would find itself in a process of important political evolution.