Acceded 996

Robert II, son of King Hugh Capet of France, was educated at Reims under the French scholar Gerbert, who later became Pope Sylvester II.

In 996 Robert married, as his second wife, his cousin, Bertha of Burgundy. Two years later, Pope Gregory V excommunicated him and annulled the marriage, which was ocnsidered incestuous by the Church. Then in 1003, Robert submitted to the Pope and married the daughter of the Zmarquis of Provence, Constance of Arles, by whom he had four sons. He recognized Hugh, the eldest of these sons, as his successor. After Hugh’s death in 1025, the other sons, aided by their mother, revolted. Robert was still fighting them at the time of his own death in 1031.

Robert, called “The Pious” because of his humility and charity, was also esteemed as a soldier and ruler.