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According to historical divisions, it is generally believed that the beginning of the French monarchy was the West Frankish Kingdom, which split from the Frankish Kingdom. At this time, the dynasty that ruled the West Frankish Kingdom was still the Carolingian dynasty that continued the Frankish Kingdom. After that, five dynasties replaced each other in French history. In other words, there were a total of six dynasties in French history.

The six dynasties in French history are the Carolingian, Capetian, Valois, Bourbon, Bonaparte, and Orleans dynasties. The longest-lived dynasty is the Capetian dynasty, which lasted 341 years. History has a special term for the life span of dynasties, which is "national life span". In other words, the longest-lived dynasty in French history is the Capetian dynasty, which lasted 341 years.

Paris, the capital of France

In 987 AD, Louis V, the last king of the Carolingian dynasty of the West Frankish Kingdom, passed away. Since Louis V had no children and the Carolingian dynasty was extinct, the nobleman Hugo Capet relied on his prestige and military force to suppress other nobles and became the king of the West Frankish Kingdom. Because of his surname Capet, the dynasty he founded was called the "Capetian Dynasty" and he himself was called "Hugo I".

In the first year of the establishment of the Capetian Dynasty by King Hugo I, he immediately changed the name of the country from "Kingdom of West Franks" to "Kingdom of France", which became the name of all dynasties except the Bonaparte Dynasty. In the early period of the Capetian Dynasty, the territory of the Kingdom of France was very small, limited to the capital Paris and its surrounding areas, and there were also large and small duchies around it. These duchies did not obey the orders of the Kingdom of Franks at all, so the royal power was very weak in the early period of the Capetian Dynasty.

King Hugo I of France

Therefore, starting with Hugo I, the kings of the Capetian dynasty were committed to strengthening the royal power and expanding the territory. The kings after Hugo I were Lothair II, Henry I, Philip I, Louis VI, Louis VII, Philip II, and Louis VIII. These eight generations of kings all made certain achievements for the Kingdom of France.

By the time of the ninth generation, Louis IX, he was known as "Saint Louis" and was recognized as one of the greatest kings in French history and even in European history. He had outstanding civil and military achievements, noble character, and outstanding abilities and talents. He eventually unified the Kingdom of France with all the surrounding principalities, completing the first and only unification in French history.

Louis IX of Capetian France

The kings after Louis IX were Philip III, Philip IV, Louis X, John I, Philip V and Charles IV. Among them, Philip III, Philip IV and Louis X all inherited the civil and military achievements of Louis IX. Philip IV even assassinated two generations of popes, making the following generations of popes puppets of the Capetian dynasty.

After the death of Louis X, John I was a posthumous son and died a few days after birth. Then Philip V had basically no achievements in civil or military affairs. Some people suspected that it was he who assassinated his nephew John I, who was only a few days old, and made himself king, thus causing turmoil in the Capetian dynasty.

After Philip V died without children, the throne was inherited by Charles IV, the youngest son of Philip IV. He was a foolish and incompetent king. In 1328, Charles IV died without children, and the Capetian dynasty died out. Philip VI, a member of the collateral royal family, inherited the throne and founded the Valois dynasty.

There were many principalities around the Capetian dynasty in the early period

To sum up, the longest-lived dynasty in French history was the Capetian dynasty, which lasted for 341 years from the establishment of Hugo I in 987 AD to the demise of Charles IV in 1328 AD, and inherited a total of 15 generations of kings.

Charles IV, last king of the Capetian dynasty of France