CHAPTER V.
FRANCE IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.
Hugh Capet was no sooner elected king than he found himself in the grip of difficulties, amidst which it might well seem that his authority would sink irretrievably. Nevertheless, he shewed every confidence in himself. After having his son Robert crowned at Orleans and granting him a share in the government (30 December 987) he had asked on his hehalf for the hand of a daughter of the Basileus at Constantinople, setting forth with much grandiloquence his own power and the advantages of alliance with him. He had just announced his intention of going to the help of Borrel, Count of Barcelona, who was attacked by the Musulmans of Spain when suddenly the news spread, about May 988, that Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, had surprised Laon. Immediately, the weakness of the new king became apparent: he and his son advanced and laid siege to the place, but were unable to take it. In August, during a successful sortie, Charles even contrived to set fire to the royal camp and siege engines. Hugh and Robert were forced to decamp. A fresh siege in October had no better result, again a retreat became necessary, and Charles improved his advantage by occupying the Laonnais and the Soissonnais and threatening Rheims.
As a crowning misfortune, Adalbero, archbishop of the latter city, died at this juncture (23 January 989). Hugh thought it a shrewd stroke of policy to procure the appointment in his place of Arnulf, an illegitimate son of the late King Lothair, calculating that he had by this means secured in his own interest one of the chief representatives of the Carolingian party, and, in despair, no doubt, of subduing Charles by force, hoping to obtain his submission through the good offices of the new prelate. Arnulf, in fact, had pledged himself to accomplish this without delay. Before long, however, it was plain to the Capetian that he had seriously miscalculated. Hardly was Arnulf seated on the throne of Rheims (c. March 989) than he eagerly engaged in schemes to bring about a restoration of the Carolingian dynasty, and about the month of September 989 he handed over Rheims to Charles.
It was necessary to put a speedy end to this state of things, unless the king and his son were to look on at a Carolingian triumph. Never-
