Les généalogies entre l'histoire et la politique : la fierté d'être Capétien, en France, au Moyen Âge

Résumé En

Genealogies between history and politics : The pride of being Capetian in France in the Middle Ages Medieval catalogues, which give the sequence of the occupants of various offices, and medieval genealogies, which give a more or less complex list of family relationships, may be considered on two levels, historiographical and political. On the one hand, such documents are proofs of legitimacy, but, on the other hand, they can be established only by an effort of erudition that it would be wrong to underestimate. Once they are established, however, they are indispensable tools for the historian's work. The genealogy composed at the monastery of Foigny in 1162 at the inspiration of the Abbot Robert presents a major part of the Capetian family since Robert the Strong (and the Abbot Robert may rightly take pride in being descended from the latter). In the present article we examine the historiographical and political context of the genealogy, which in fact is an exceptional one. Before 1162, the Capetian kings inspired scarcely more than catalogues of the kings of France in which Capetian names followed Merovingean and Carolingian names. After 1162, the Capetian genealogies sought to associate the Capetian kings with Ottoman, Carolingian and Merovingian blood, casting the first Capetians into the shadow and virtually omitting any mention at all of the Robertians. The pride of being Capetian was not very strongly developed in the Middle Ages. Capetian genealogies are not ordinary genealogies. They are less concerned to demonstrate parentage than they are to prove a succession. A Capetian genealogy is not family affair ; it is an affair of state.