HUGH

hugh, called the great (d. 956), duke of the franks and count of paris, son of king robert i. of france (d. 923) and nephew of king odo or eudes (d. 898), was one of the founders of the power of the capetian house in france. hugh's first wife was eadhild, a sister of the english king, aethelstan. at the death of raoul, duke of burgundy, in 936, hugh was in possession of nearly all the region between the loire and the seine, corresponding to the ancient neustria, with the exception of the territory ceded to the normans in 911. he took a very active part in bringing louis iv. (d'outremer) from england in 936, but in the same year hugh married hadwig, sister of the emperor otto the great, and soon quarrelled with louis. hugh even paid homage to otto, and supported him in his struggle against louis. when louis fell into the hands of the normans in 945, he was handed over to hugh, who released him in 946 only on condition that he should surrender the fortress of laon. at the council of ingelheim (948) hugh was condemned, under pain of excommunication, to make reparation to louis. it was not, however, until 950 that the powerful vassal became reconciled with his suzerain and restored laon. but new difficulties arose, and peace was not finally concluded until 953. on the death of louis iv. hugh was one of the first to recognize lothair as his successor, and, at the intervention of queen gerberga, was instrumental in having him crowned. in recognition of this service hugh was invested by the new king with the duchies of burgundy (his suzerainty over which had already been nominally recognized by louis iv.) and aquitaine. but his expedition in 955 to take possession of aquitaine was unsuccessful. in the same year, however, giselbert, duke of burgundy, acknowledged himself his vassal and betrothed his daughter to hugh's son otto. at giselbert's death (april 8, 956) hugh became effective master of the duchy, but died soon afterwards, on the 16th or 17th of june 956. hugh capet (c. 938-996), king of france and founder of the capetian dynasty, was the eldest son of hugh the great by his wife hadwig. when his father died in 956 he succeeded to his numerous fiefs around paris and orleans, and thus becoming one of the most powerful of the feudatories of his cousin, the frankish king lothair, he was recognized somewhat reluctantly by that monarch as duke of the franks. many of the counts of northern france did homage to him as their overlord, and richard i., duke of normandy, was both his vassal and his brother-in-law. his authority extended over certain districts south of the loire, and, owing to his interference, lothair was obliged to recognize his brother henry as duke of burgundy. hugh supported his royal suzerain when lothair and the emperor otto ii. fought for the possession of lorraine; but chagrined at the king's conduct in making peace in 980, he went to rome to conclude an alliance with otto. laying more stress upon independence than upon loyalty, hugh appears to have acted in a haughty manner toward lothair, and also towards his son and successor louis v.; but neither king was strong enough to punish this powerful vassal, whose clerical supporters already harboured the thought of securing for him the frankish crown. when louis v. died without children in may 987, hugh and the late king's uncle charles, duke of lower lorraine, were candidates for the vacant throne, and in this contest the energy of hugh's champions, adalberon, archbishop of reims, and gerbert, afterwards pope sylvester ii., prevailed. declaring that the frankish crown was an elective and not an hereditary dignity, adalberon secured the election of his friend, and crowned him, probably at noyon, in july 987. the authority of the new king was quickly recognized in his kingdom, which covered the greater part of france north of the loire with the exception of brittany, and in a shadowy fashion he was acknowledged in aquitaine; but he was compelled to purchase the allegiance of the great nobles by large grants of royal lands, and he was hardly more powerful as king than he had been as duke. moreover, charles of lorraine was not prepared to bow before his successful rival, and before hugh had secured the coronation of his son robert as his colleague and successor in december 987, he had found allies and attacked the king. hugh was worsted during the earlier part of this struggle, and was in serious straits, until he was saved by the wiles of his partisan adalberon, bishop of laon, who in 991 treacherously seized charles and handed him over to the king. this capture virtually ended the war, but one of its side issues was a quarrel between hugh and pope john xv., who was supported by the empire, then under the rule of the empresses adelaide and theophano as regents for the young emperor otto iii. in 987 the king had appointed to the vacant archbishopric of reims a certain arnulf, who at once proved himself a traitor to hugh and a friend to charles of lorraine. in june 991, at the instance of the king, the french bishops deposed arnulf and elected gerbert in his stead, a proceeding which was displeasing to the pope, who excommunicated the new archbishop and his partisans. hugh and his bishops remained firm, and the dispute was still in progress when the king died at paris on the 24th of october 996. hugh was a devoted son of the church, to which, it is not too much to say, he owed his throne. as lay abbot of the abbeys of st martin at tours and of st denis he was interested in clerical reform, was fond of participating in religious ceremonies, and had many friends among the clergy. his wife was adelaide, daughter of william iii., duke of aquitaine, by whom he left a son, robert, who succeeded him as king of france. the origin of hugh's surname of _capet_, which was also applied to his father, has been the subject of some discussion. it is derived undoubtedly from the lat. _capa_, _cappa_, a cape, but whether hugh received it from the cape which he wore as abbot of st martin's, or from his youthful and playful habit of seizing caps, or from some other cause, is uncertain. see richerus, _historiarum libri iv._, edited by g. waitz (leipzig, 1877); f. lot, _les derniers carolingiens_ (paris, 1891), and _etudes sur le regne de hugues capet_ (paris, 1900); g. monod, "les sources du regne de hugues capet," in the _revue historique_, tome xxviii. (paris, 1891); p. viollet, _la question de la legitimite a l'avenement a hugues capet_ (paris, 1892); and e. lavisse, _histoire de france_, tome ii. (paris, 1903-1905). hugh de puiset (c. 1125-1195), bishop of durham, was the nephew of stephen and henry of blois; the latter brought him to england and made him an archdeacon of the see of winchester. hugh afterwards became archdeacon and treasurer of york. in 1153 he was chosen bishop of durham, in spite of the opposition of the archbishop of york; but he only obtained consecration by making a personal visit to rome. hugh took little part in politics in the reign of henry ii., remaining in the north, immersed in the affairs of his see. he was, however, present with roger, archbishop of york, at the coronation of young henry (1170), and was in consequence suspended by alexander iii. he remained neutral, as far as he could, in the quarrel between henry and becket, but he at least connived at the rebellion of 1173 and william the lion's invasion of england in that year. after the failure of the rebellion the bishop was compelled to surrender durham, norham and northallerton to the king. in 1179 he attended the lateran council at rome, and in 1181 by the pope's order he laid scotland under an interdict. in 1184 he took the cross. at the general sale of offices with which richard began his reign (1189) hugh bought the earldom of northumberland. the archbishopric of york had been vacant since 1181. this vacancy increased hugh's power vastly, and when the vacancy was filled by the appointment of geoffrey he naturally raised objections. this quarrel with geoffrey lasted till the end of his life. hugh was nominated justiciar jointly with william longchamp when richard left the kingdom. but longchamp soon deprived the bishop of his place (1191), even going so far as to imprison hugh and make him surrender his castle, his earldom and hostages. hugh's chief object in politics was to avoid acknowledging geoffrey of york as his ecclesiastical superior, but this he was compelled to do in 1195. on richard's return hugh joined the king and tried to buy back his earldom. he seemed on the point of doing so when he died. hugh was one of the most important men of his day, and left a mark upon the north of england which has never been effaced. combining in his own hands the palatinate of durham and the earldom of northumberland, he held a position not much dissimilar to that of the great german princes, a local sovereign in all but name. see kate norgate's _england under the angevin kings_ (1887); stubbs's preface to hoveden, iii. hugh of st cher (c. 1200-1263), french cardinal and biblical commentator, was born at st cher, a suburb of vienne, dauphine, and while a student in paris entered the dominion convent of the jacobins in 1225. he taught philosophy, theology and canon law. as provincial of his order, which office he held during most of the third decade of the century, he contributed largely to its prosperity, and won the confidence of the popes gregory ix., innocent iv. and alexander iv., who charged him with several important missions. created cardinal-priest in 1244, he played an important part in the council of lyons in 1245, contributed to the institution of the feast of holy sacrament, the reform of the carmelites (1247), and the condemnations of the _introductorius in evangelium aeternum_ of gherardino del borgo san donnino (1255), and of william of st amour's _de periculis novissimorum temporum_. he died at orvieto on the 19th of march 1263. he directed the first revision of the text of the vulgate, begun in 1236 by the dominicans; this first "correctorium," vigorously criticized by roger bacon, was revised in 1248 and in 1256, and forms the base of the celebrated _correctorium bibliae sorbonicum_. with the aid of many of his order he edited the first concordance of the bible (_concordantiae sacrorum bibliorum_ or _concordantiae s. jacobi_), but the assertion that we owe the present division of the chapters of the vulgate to him is false. besides a commentary on the book of sentences, he wrote the _postillae in sacram scripturam juxta quadruplicem sensum, litteralem, allegoricum, anagogicum et moralem_, published frequently in the 15th and 16th centuries. his _sermones de tempore et sanctis_ are apparently only extracts. his exegetical works were published at venice in 1754 in 8 vols. see, for sources, quetif-echard, _scriptores ordinis praedicatorum_; denifle, in _archiv fur litteratur und kirchengeschichte des mittelalters_, i. 49, ii. 171, iv. 263 and 471; _l'annee dominicaine_, iii. (1886) 509 and 883; _chartularium universitatis parisiensis_, i. 158. (h. l.) hugh of st victor (c. 1078-1141), mystic philosopher, was probably born at hartingam, in saxony. after spending some time in a house of canons regular at hamersleben, in saxony, where he completed his studies, he removed to the abbey of st victor at marseilles, and thence to the abbey of st victor in paris. of this last house he rose to be canon, in 1125 _scholasticus_, and perhaps even prior, and it was there that he died on the 11th of february 1141. his eloquence and his writings earned for him a renown and influence which far exceeded st bernard's, and which held its ground until the advent of the thomist philosophy. hugh was more especially the initiator of a movement of ideas--the mysticism of the school of st victor--which filled the whole of the second part of the 12th century. "the mysticism which he inaugurated," says ch. v. langlois, "is learned, unctuous, ornate, florid, a mysticism which never indulges in dangerous temerities; it is the orthodox mysticism of a subtle and prudent rhetorician." this tendency undoubtedly shows a marked reaction from the contentious theology of roscellinus and abelard. for hugh of st victor dialectic was both insufficient and perilous. yet he did not profess the haughty contempt for science and philosophy which his followers the victorines expressed; he regarded knowledge, not as an end in itself, but as the vestibule of the mystic life. the reason, he thought, was but an aid to the understanding of the truths which faith reveals. the ascent towards god and the functions of the "threefold eye of the soul"--_cogitatio_, _meditatio_ and _contemplatio_--were minutely taught by him in language which is at once precise and symbolical. manuscript copies of his works abound, and are to be found in almost every library which possesses a collection of ancient writings. the works themselves are very numerous and very diverse. the middle ages attributed to him sixty works, and the edition in migne's _patr. lat._ vols. clxxv.-clxxvii. (paris, 1854) contains no fewer than forty-seven treatises, commentaries and collections of sermons. of that number, however, b. haureau (_les oeuvres de hugues de st victor_ (1st ed., paris, 1859; 2nd ed., paris, 1886) contests the authenticity of several, which he ascribes with some show of probability to hugh of fouilloi, robert paululus or others. among those works with which hugh of st victor may almost certainly be credited may be mentioned the celebrated _de sacramentis christianae fidei_; the _didascalicon de studio legendi_; the treatises on mysticism entitled _soliloquium de arrha animae_, _de contemplatione et ejus operibus_, _aureum de meditando opusculum_, _de arca noe morali_, _de arca noe mystica_, _de vanitate mundi_, _de arrha animae_, _de amore sponsi ad sponsam_, &c.; the introduction (_praenotatiunculae_) to the study of the scriptures; homilies on the book of ecclesiastes; commentaries on other books of the bible, e.g. the pentateuch, judges, kings, jeremiah, &c. see b. haureau, _op. cit._ and _notices et extraits des mss. latins de la bibliotheque nationale_, passim; de wulf, _histoire de la philosophie medievale_ (louvain, 1900), pp. 220-221; article by h. denifle in _archiv fur literatur und kirchengeschichte des mittelalters_, iii. 634-640 (1887); a. mignon, _les origines de la scholastique et hugues de st victor_ (paris, 1895); j. kilgenstein, _die gotteslehre des hugo von st victor_ (1898). (p. a.)