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Rh of the English King Aethelstan, he had married, about 937, a sister of Otto I, King of Germany. Soon after, in 943, he had obtained from Louis IV the suzerainty of Burgundy, thus interposing himself between the sovereign and a whole class of his greatest vassals; a little later he had succeeded in usurping the overlordship of Normandy, and finally in 954 he had attempted to add to it that of Aquitaine. The new King, Lothair, having allowed this fresh grant to be extorted from him, had even been obliged to go with the duke to lay siege to Poitiers (955). The attempt, however, had failed, but in 956 on the death of Gilbert, Duke of Burgundy, Hugh directly appropriated his inheritance. Owner of numerous abbeys and estates dispersed here and there through the kingdom, in Berry, in the Autun district, in that of Meaux and in Picardy, he really did appear as the "Duke of the Gauls" as, some thirty years later, the historian Richer styles him, and his power throwing that of the king into the shade, he had publicly held almost royal courts (placita) to which bishops, abbots and counts resorted in crowds.

His son, Hugh Capet, had been obliged to give up Burgundy to his brother Otto, and had tried in vain to secure the Duchy of Aquitaine, of which he had obtained a fresh grant from King Lothair in 960. But at the same time he saw the power of his rivals much more seriously diminished. The possessions of Herbert II of Vermandois, who died in 943, had been divided among his sons, and in 987 neither Albert I, titulary of the little county of Vermandois, nor even the Count of Troyes, Meaux and Provins, Herbert the Young, although his territorial power was beginning to be somewhat of a menace, was of sufficient importance to compete in influence with the Duke of the Franks. But if the duke's authority, when closely examined, might seem to be undermined by the growing independence of several of his vassals, it was none the less very imposing; suzerain, if not immediate holder of all Neustria, including Normandy, of an important part of Francia, and titulary of several rich abbeys, the Duke of the Franks, who had on his side the support of Adalbero and Gerbert, might well seem expressly marked out to succeed to the inheritance suddenly left vacant by the death of Louis V.

And this, indeed, was what took place. The assembly which Louis V at the time of his death had summoned to meet at Compiègne to judge in Archbishop Adalbero's case, was held under the presidency of Duke Hugh. As was to be expected, it decided that the charges against the prelate were groundless, and, at his suggestion, resolved to meet again a little later at Senlis on the territory of the Duke of the Franks and to proceed to the election of a king. Adalbero there explained without circumlocution that it was impossible to think of entrusting the crown to Charles, Duke of Lorraine. "How can we bestow any dignity" he exclaimed (according to the report of the historian Richer who was doubtless present in the assembly) "upon Charles, who is in nowise guided