List of French monarchs

The monarchs of France ruled, first as kings and later as emperors, from the middle ages to 1848. There is some disagreement as to when France came into existence. The earliest date would be the establishment of the Merovingian Frankish kingdom by Clovis I in 486 with the defeat of Syagrius, the last Roman official in Gaul. That kingdom's rulers were deposed in the 8th century. The Treaty of Verdun established the Kingdom of Western Francia in 843. Another date favored by many medieval historians is 987, the beginning of the Capetian Dynasty.[1]
However, the relevance of such traditional outlooks on the origins of modern nations is historically dubious (see below for recent studies). In light of these recent trends, this list begins with the creation in 843 of Charles the Bald's Kingdom of Western Francia, the state which would directly evolve into modern France.
In addition to the monarchs listed below, the Kings of England and Great Britain from 1422 to 1801 also claimed the title of King of France. For a short time this had some basis in fact - under the terms of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, Charles VI had recognized his son-in-law Henry V of England as regent and heir. After the death of the two, Henry VI, succeeded his grandfather as King of France. Most of Northern France was under English control until 1435, but by 1453 the English had been expelled from all of France save Calais (and the Channel Islands), and Calais itself fell in 1558. Nevertheless, English monarchs continued to claim the title until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801. Various English kings between 1337 and 1422 had also claimed the title of King of France, but only intermittently.
During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect (1791-1792), and after the July Revolution in 1830, the style "King of the French" was used instead of "King of France (and Navarre)". It was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarch's title to the people, not to the territory of France.
Carolingian Dynasty (843 to 987)
Picture | Name | King From | King Until |
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Charles the Bald | 843 | October 6, 877 |
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Louis II | October 6, 877 | April 10, 879 |
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Louis III | April 10, 879 | August 5, 882 |
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Carloman | April 10, 879 | December 6, 884 |
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Charles the Fat | 885 | January 13, 888 |
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Odo | February 29, 888 | January 1, 898 |
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Charles the Simple | January 1, 898 | June 30, 922 |
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Robert I | June 30, 922 | June 15, 923 |
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Rudolph | July 13, 923 | January 14, 936 |
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Louis IV | June 19, 936 | September 10, 954 |
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Lothair | November 12, 954 | March 2, 986 |
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Louis V | June 8, 986 | May 22, 987 |
Capetian Dynasty (987 to 1328)
The Capetian Dynasty, the male-line descendants of Hugh Capet ruled France continuously from 987 to 1792 and again from 1814 to 1848. The branches of the dynasty which ruled after 1328, however, are generally given the specific branch names of Valois and Bourbon.
Picture | Name | King From | King Until |
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Hugh Capet | July 3, 987 | October 24, 996 |
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Robert II | October 24, 996 | July 20, 1031 |
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Henry I | July 20, 1031 | August 4, 1060 |
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Philip I | August 4, 1060 | July 29, 1108 |
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Louis VI | July 29, 1108 | August 1, 1137 |
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Louis VII | August 1, 1137 | September 18, 1180 |
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Philip II | September 18, 1180 | July 14, 1223 |
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Louis VIII | July 14, 1223 | November 8, 1226 |
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Louis IX | November 8, 1226 | August 25, 1270 |
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Philip III | August 25, 1270 | October 5, 1285 |
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Philip IV | October 5, 1285 | November 29, 1314 |
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Louis X | November 29, 1314 | June 5, 1316 |
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John I | November 15, 1316 | November 20, 1316 |
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Philip V | November 20, 1316 | January 3, 1322 |
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Charles IV | January 3, 1322 | February 1, 1328 |
Capetian Dynasty, House of Valois (1328-1589)
(1328-1498)
Picture | Name | King From | King Until |
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Philip VI | February 1, 1328 | August 22, 1350 |
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John II | August 22, 1350 | April 8, 1364 |
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Charles V | April 8, 1364 | September 16, 1380 |
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Charles VI | September 16, 1380 | October 21, 1422 |
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Charles VII | October 21, 1422 | July 22, 1461 |
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Louis XI | July 22, 1461 | August 30, 1483 |
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Charles VIII | August 30, 1483 | April 7, 1498 |
Valois-Orléans Branch (1498-1515)
Picture | Name | King From | King Until |
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Louis XII | April 7, 1498 | January 1, 1515 |
Valois-Angoulême Branch (1515-1589)
Picture | Name | King From | King Until |
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Francis I | January 1, 1515 | July 31, 1547 |
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Henry II | July 31, 1547 | July 10, 1559 |
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Francis II | July 10, 1559 | December 5, 1560 |
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Charles IX | December 5, 1560 | May 30, 1574 |
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Henry III | May 30, 1574 | August 2, 1589 |
Capetian Dynasty, House of Bourbon (1589-1792)
Picture | Name | King From | King Until |
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Henry IV | August 2, 1589 | May 14, 1610 |
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Louis XIII | May 14, 1610 | May 14, 1643 |
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Louis XIV | May 14, 1643 | September 1, 1715 |
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Louis XV | September 1, 1715 | May 10, 1774 |
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Louis XVI | May 10, 1774 | August 10, 1792 |
First Republic (1792-1804)
Many people were monarchists at the time and consequently refused to recognise the overthrow of the monarchy, and considered Louis XVI's reign to have continued until his death in 1793, then his son Louis XVII to have reigned until his death in 1795, with Louis XVIII's reign then commencing, hence the numbering.
Bonaparte Dynasty - First Empire (1804-1814)
Picture | Name | Emperor From | Emperor Until |
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Napoleon I | May 18, 1804 | April 11, 1814 (and then again from March 20 to June 22, 1815) |
Bourbon Dynasty, Restored (1814-1830)
Picture | Name | King From | King Until |
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Louis XVIII | May 2, 1814 | September 16, 1824 (except between March 13 and July 7, 1815) |
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Charles X | September 16, 1824 | August 2, 1830 |
Bourbon-Orléans, The Monarchy of July (1830-1848)
Picture | Name | King From | King Until |
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Louis-Philippe, The Citizen King | August 9, 1830 | February 24, 1848 |
Second French Republic (1848 - 1852)
The Second French Republic lasted from 1848 to 1852, when its president, Louis Napoleon, was declared Emperor.
Bonaparte Dynasty, Restored Second Empire (1852-1870)
Picture | Name | Emperor From | Emperor Until |
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Napoleon III Emperor (previously president of France from 1849 - 1852 |
December 2, 1852 | September 4 , 1870 |
The chronology continues on Presidents of France.
Notes
- ^ The Merovingians did not rule France per se but ruled lands that were continually fluctuating between modern day France and Germany.
References
For a study of France and its rulers, see also:
- Edward James, "The Origins of France: Clovis to the Capetians 500-1000." ISBN 0333270525
- Edward James, The Franks. Blackwell: 1991. ISBN 0631179364
- The history of France as recounted in the "Grandes Chroniques de France," and particularly in the personal copy produced for King Charles V between 1370 and 1380 that is the saga of the three great dynasties, the Merovingians, Carolingians, and the Capetian Rulers of France, that shaped the institutions and the frontiers of the realm. It should be noted that this work was commissioned at a time that France was embroiled in the Hundred Years' War with England, a war fought over hereditary claims to the throne of France. It must therefore be read with a careful eye toward biases meant to justify the Capetian claims of continuity and inheritance.
- The Cambridge Illustrated History of France - Cambridge University Press
- Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding, Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720. Manchester University Press - ISBN 0719047919
- Patrick Geary, Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 1988. ISBN 0195044584
- Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton U. Press, 2001. ISBN 0691114811