Hugh the Great (c. 898 – 16 June 956) was the duke of the Franks and count of Paris. He was the most powerful magnate in France. Son of King Robert I of France, Hugh was Margrave of Neustria. He played an active role in bringing King Louis IV of France back from England in 936. Seeking an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great, he married Otto's younger sister Hedwig of Saxony in 937. They were the parents of Hugh Capet. Hedwig's sister, Gerberga of Saxony, was Louis' wife. Although he often fought against Louis, he supported the accession of Louis and Gerberga's son, Lothair of France.
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👉 Hugh the Great in the context of Robertians
The Robertians (sometimes called the Robertines in modern scholarship) are a proposed Frankish noble family and royal dynasty, whose members were ancestors of the Capetian dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of France and several other countries (currently Spain and Luxembourg). Prominent Robertian ancestors of the Capetian dynasty appear in historical records as powerful nobles serving under various rulers of the Carolingian dynasty, mainly in West Francia, which later became France. Most notable of them were: the eponymous count Robert the Strong (d. 866) and his sons, West Frankish kings Odo (888–898) and Robert I (922–923), whose son – duke Hugh the Great was father to the first Capetian king Hugh Capet (987–996).
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Hugh the Great in the context of Hugh Capet
Hugh Capet (/ˈkæpeɪ/; French: Hugues Capet [yɡ kapɛ]; c. 941 – 24 October 996) was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder of and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, he was elected as the successor of the last Carolingian king, Louis V. Hugh was descended from Charlemagne's son Pepin of Italy through his paternal grandmother Béatrice of Vermandois, and was also a nephew of Otto the Great.
The dynasty he founded ruled France for nearly nine centuries: from 987 to 1328 in the senior line, and until 1848 via cadet branches (with an interruption from 1792 to 1814 and briefly in 1815).
Hugh the Great in the context of Hedwige of Saxony
Hedwig of Saxony (German: Hadwig; c. 910 – after 958-959) was a member of the Ottonian dynasty and wife of the Robertian duke Hugh the Great. Upon her husband's death in 956, she ruled the Robertian estates as a regent during the minority of their son Hugh Capet, the founder of the Elder House of Capet.
Hugh the Great in the context of Béatrice of Vermandois
Beatrice of Vermandois (c. 880 – after 26 March 931) was a Carolingian aristocrat, queen of Western Francia by marriage to Robert I, and mother of Hugh the Great, ancestor of the Capetians.
Hugh the Great in the context of Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine
Frederick I (c. 912 – 18 May 978) was the count of Bar and duke of Upper Lorraine. He was a son of Wigeric, count of Bidgau, also count palatine of Lorraine, and Cunigunda, and thus a sixth-generation descendant of Charlemagne.
In 954, he married Beatrice, daughter of Hugh the Great, count of Paris, and Hedwig of Saxony. He received in dowry the revenues of the abbey of Saint-Denis in Lorraine. To stop incursions from the duchy of Champagne, Frederick constructed a castle over the Ornain River in 960, and later occupied the confiscated lands of Saint-Mihiel. He exchanged fiefs with the bishop of Toul. Thus, he created his feudal domain, the county of Bar. So he became the founder of the House of Bar or the House of Ardennes–Bar, a cadet branch of the House of Ardennes.