by honour, who is enervated by lethargy, who, in a word, has so lost his judgment as no longer to feel shame at serving a foreign king, and at mismatching himself with a woman of birth inferior to his own, the daughter of a mere knight[1]? How could the powerful duke suffer that a woman, coming from the family of one of his vassals, should become queen and rule over him? How could he walk behind one whose equals and even whose superiors bend the knee before him? Examine the situation carefully, and reflect that Charles has been rejected more by his own fault than by that of others. Let your decision be rather for the good than for the misfortune of the State. If you value its prosperity, crown Hugh, the illustrious duke. Let no man be led away by attachment to Charles, let no man through hatred of the duke be drawn away from what is useful to all. For if you have faults to find in the good man, how can you praise the wicked? If you commend the wicked man, how can you condemn the good? Remember the threatenings of God who says: 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness!' Take then as your master the duke, who has made himself illustrious by his actions, his nobility, and his resourcefulness, and in whom you will find a protector, not only of the public weal, but also of your private interests. His benevolence will make him a father to you. Where is the man, indeed, who has appealed to him without finding protection? Who is he who, being deprived of the help of his own people, has not by him been restored to them?" These reasons seemed conclusive, no doubt, to an assembly which asked nothing better than to be convinced. Hugh Capet was proclaimed and crowned at Noyon on Sunday, 3 July 987.
Such were the circumstances attending what is called, improperly enough, the Capetian Revolution. To speak correctly, there was no more a revolution in 987 than there had been a century before when Odo was chosen. In one case as in the other the Carolingian had been set aside because he was considered, or there was a determination to consider him, unfit to govern. If in after years the event of 987 has seemed to mark an epoch in the history of France, it is because Hugh Capet was able enough to hand on his heritage to his son, and because the house of Capet succeeded in retaining power for many long centuries. But this was in some sort an accident, the after-effect of which on the constitution of the State is hardly traceable. It is quite impossible to say in any sense that the kingship became by this event a feudal kingship; neither in this respect nor in any other was the occurrence of 987 of a subversive character; the position of the monarchy in France was to prove itself on the morrow of Hugh Capet's election exactly what it had been in the time of his predecessors.
- ↑ Charles had married the daughter of an unknown knight, the under-vassal of Hugh Capet.
