In 988, he went to war with the newly elected king of France, Hugh Capet, whom he refused to recognise.
William sheltered the young Louis, the son of Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, the last legitimate Carolingian heir.
He opened the palace of Poitiers to him and treated him as royalty, regarding him as the true heir to the French throne.
[2] Their marriage was stormy, in part because of William's indulgence in the pursuit of women and, as a hunting aficionado, wild animals.
She banished his paramours, they separated twice for long periods, and finally he retired to a monastery, as his father had done, leaving Emma to rule Aquitaine in the name of their son William until 1004.