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I just looked at French history of 10th century.

It appears that prior to Hugh Capet accession to the throne, the Carolingian dynasty was experiencing some kind of resurgence under Louis IV and his son Lothar.

In 922, nobles from both Lotharingia and Francia revolted against Charles III. In Francia, Count Robert of Paris, brother to late king Eudes, was elected king but died in the battle of Soissons against the royal army in 923, but King Charles was made prisoner by the Count of Vermandois shortly after and died in his cell in 929. In the meantime, Charles' wife, Eadgifu of Wessex fled with her two/three years old son Louis to her father's court.
When King Raoul, successor of Robert, died in 936, Robert's son, Duke Hugh the Great (Hugh Capet's father) proposed the crown to Louis IV. The young prince was crowned at Laon, only intended to be the puppet of Duke Hugh.
For most of his reign, Louis IV tried to get rid of his tutor by playing rivalries between nobles but wasn't very successful. His attempt to conquer Lotharingia in 939 backfired and German King Otto invaded Francia, and forced on King Louis a power sharing agreement with the Robertian faction (led by Duke Hugh).
After the assassination of Duke William I of Normandy by Count Arnulf of Flanders, Louis IV takes over the administration of the duchy in the name of infant Duke Richard, William's heir, but get abducted by Norman rebels in 945 at the instigation of Duke Hugh. The year after, Kings Otto of Germany and Conrad of Burgundy, angry at Hugh's repudiation of the power sharing agreement they had brokered a few years before, invade and free King Louis. Hugh continues to fight until he finally reconciles with Louis in 950. By this point, he had more or less secured his position and achieved a degree of real power over the kingdom.
However, in 954, while alledgedly hunting a wolve, he fell from his horse and died shortly after from his wounds.



The succession of Louis IV is significant as it is the first where the inheritance is not divided as per tradition (previous such cases were due to accidents with lone heirs left, but here the move is deliberate). Louis IV had associated his son Lothar to the throne in 952 and excluded his second son, Charles, born in 953.
Contrasting with his father's reign, Lothar's was more quiet regarding his relations with nobles. At the death of Hugh the Great, several nobles such as Counts of Blois, Anjou and Maine, had taken distance from the Robertians.
In 978, he goes to war against Otto II because of his support to his brother Charles he had exiled the previous year but it ended in a stalemate, both side's invasion of the other ending in failure. Faced with Hugh Capet growing influence, Lothar eventually reconciles with Otto and renounces Lotharingia. To further limit the Robertian influence, he attempts a marital alliance with the House of Ingelger who rules over Anjou, marrying in 982 his son Louis (ca 15 years old) with Adelaide of Anjou (ca 40 years old), twice widow, but the marriage was a failure and left the future Louis V chidless.
After Otto II's death in 984, Lothar attempts to take Lotharingia and capture Verdun in 985, but unexpectedly dies the year after while preparing an expedition to Cambrai.
His son Louis V would reign barely a year before being killed by falling from horse while hunting. Louis V's uncle, Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia attempted to claim the throne but was captured in 991 through treachery by Hugh Capet's partisans and died ca 993. With the death of Louis, Charles' last living son, ca 1023, without any heir, the last legitimate male-line branch of the Carolingian dynasty wen extinct.


My idea to have the Carolingian dynasty continuing is making the marital alliance of the Ingelger house of Anjou with the Carolingian more successfull, by marrying Adelaide to Lothar instead of his son.
First, I would have Louis IV living another two decades at least, to live into his 50's. By this point he would have married his son the the daughter of Fulk II of Anjou, a powerful noble who controlled, along his neighbor and brother-in-law (by his second marriage to Duke Alain II of Britanny's widow) the duchy of Britanny.
A few topics on the possible agenda of the continued Carolingian dynasty:
  • Lotharingia : the region had been for long disputed to the Kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors; Charles III, Louis IV and Lothar successively tried to assert their claim with varrying degrees of success; this claim is likely to remain a point of confrontation with the Holy Roman Empire.
  • Laon : it was the capital of Carolingian kings during 10th century and is likely to remain so, Paris being at the heart of Robertian realm (map below is early royal demesne under Capetian in late 10th century).
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