Henry I crowned King of France

May 20, 1031

The eldest surviving son of Robert the Pious assumed a Capetian throne whose real power scarcely reached beyond a day's ride from Paris. He spent his reign fighting his younger brother and battling his powerful vassals, barely holding the royal core together for the next generation. Yet the dynasty survived, and the patient Capetian strategy of outlasting its rivals would eventually build France into Europe's strongest kingdom.