Emma of France
The daughter of Robert I of France, she was a descendant of the powerful aristocratic Robertian family; her younger half-brother was Hugh the Great, the duke of the Franks and count of Paris.
[1] Raoul was elected king on 13 July 923 in the church of St Médard at Soissons, by Walter, archbishop of Sens; upon his coronation, Emma became queen.
[2] After assuming the crown, Raoul did not relinquish his duchy unlike his Robertian predecessor Odo (Eudes) of France, who had stepped down as count of Paris upon being elected king of West Francia in 888.
Emma wielded substantial military and political power during her reign, in large part due to her influence as intermediary between Raoul and her brother, Hugh the Great.
In 931, Emma captured the fortress of Avallon; in 933, she conducted a successful siege of Château-Thierry, the stronghold of her brother-in-law, Count Herbert II of Vermandois.
Despite brief moments of rebellion, he ultimately was made lay abbot of the monastery of St-Martin at Tours, an office that signaled and enhanced his political status within the realm.
[6] Although the identity of his wife is contested, he is believed to have been married to a woman named Adelaide, the daughter of Count Hugh of Tours, with whom he had two sons (Odo and Robert) before his death defending Francia against the Vikings north of Angers at Brissarthe in 866.
[6] Following a series of short-lived Carolingian reigns after the death of Charles the Bald in 877, Robert's eldest son Odo, who had succeeded him as lay abbot of St. Martin's and who was appointed Count of Paris in 882, was elected king of West Francia in 888.
[7] Two significant focuses of Odo's reign lay in balancing Carolingian and Robertian leadership and preventing further Viking attacks.
Due to the age gap between her and her younger brother, Hugh the Great, who was the son of Beatrix, scholars have largely inferred that she was Robert I’s by his first wife.
[10] Like his father Robert the Strong, he embraced his role as a military leader and was rewarded with the lordship of the Neustrian territory between the Seine and the Loire.
This situation changed, however, when Charles began to make territorial claims on the western region of Lotharingia, which isolated his other supporters.
[12] As the son-in-law of Robert I, and the son and successor of Duke Richard "the Justiciar" of Burgundy, Raoul marked a transition of sorts between the Robertians and the Carolingians.
When the house of Vermandois attempted to restore Charles the Simple to the throne, and called on Athelstan to support them, Hugh the Great instead defended his brother-in-law's claim.
[17] Laon was a strategically important stronghold in the north of Francia, built atop a large, steep hill; it also was one of Raoul’s favourite royal residences.
Therefore, over the winter of 927-8, Raoul placed Emma in control of Laon; she defended the city adroitly, and Herbert was eventually obliged to capitulate.
[3] At the time, Hugh the Great and Herbert II of Vermandois had allied against Raoul; Emma’s refusal to leave Laon thus may have been prompted either by a sense of loyalty to her brother, or by a desire to resist his advances and protect her husband's interests in the north.
[3] In this period, Raoul and Hugh the Great had united against Heribert; therefore, Emma’s marital and familial allegiances were in alignment, making it possible for the siege to enjoy the political and military support of both her husband (whose army she led) and her brother.
[16] After Raoul’s death, Charles the Simple's son, Louis IV, was invited back to Francia after having been in exile with his mother in England.
