Robert I Roi de France ¹

  General Notes:

Younger son of Robert the Strong of Neustria, and briefly king of France (922-923), or West Francia. His decisive victory over the Northmen at Chartres (911) led to a treaty settling one group of these fierce warriors in Normandy.

Robert faithfully served his older brother, King Eudes, during Eudes's reign (888-898). Though on Eudes's death he became one of the most powerful Frankish lords, inheriting all the family lands between the Seine and the Loire rivers, he swore fealty with other magnates to the new king, the Carolingian Charles III the Simple. Nevertheless, he was already served in his domains by viscounts, officials usually regarded as instruments of regal power. From 911 onward, his role became more decisive: his defeat of the Northmen at Chartres paved the way for the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, by which Charles assigned them territory in Normandy.

Robert's military success greatly enhanced his prestige, and dissension between him and the King became undisguised. When Charles III imprudently offered preferment exclusively to lords from Lorraine, the Neustrian lords, led by Robert, broke into open revolt. They elected Robert king at Reims in June 922. In a battle near Soissons a year later, Charles's army was routed, but Robert was killed. His grandson was Hugh Capet, founder of the Capetian dynasty.

Acceded: King of France 922

[source: Ketil Ken Nygaard's Genealogy, http://nygaard.howards.net/]

Robert married Béatrice de Vermandois, daughter of Héribert I Comte de Vermandois, about 895.¹ (Béatrice de Vermandois was born in 880 ² and died in 931 ².)