Editing Robert II of France (section)

==Overview of reign==

=== The establishment of the Banal Lordship ===
[[File:B Valladolid 93.jpg|280px|thumb|left|"The Four Horsemen". Oveco (commissioned by Abbot
Semporius), ''Apocalypse of Valladolid'', c. 970. Library of [[Valladolid]], Spain.]]

===Robert II and the Church===
====A "monk king"====
[[File:Robert le Pieux - Grandes Chroniques de France - BNF Fr2609 f144v.jpg|280px|thumb|left|''Robert the Pious at the office in the cathedral of Orleans''. Robinet Testard, ''Grandes Chroniques de France'', ca. 1471. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Fr. 2609.]]
Anxious to ensure their salvation and to repair their sins (incursions into Church land, murders, incestuous unions), kings, dukes and counts of the year 1000 attracted to them the most efficient monks and endowed them richly, such as the chronicle which Helgaud of Fleury wrote for Robert II.{{sfn|Barthélemy|1990|p=64}}

Robert II was a devout Catholic, hence his sobriquet "the Pious." He was musically inclined, being a composer, chorister, and poet, and made his palace a place of religious seclusion where he conducted the matins and vespers in his royal robes. Robert II's reputation for piety also resulted from his lack of toleration for heretics, whom he harshly punished. He is said to have advocated forced conversions of local Jewry. He supported riots against the Jews of Orléans who were accused of conspiring to destroy the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] in [[Jerusalem]]. Furthermore, Robert II reinstated the Roman imperial custom of burning heretics at the stake.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2010|p=396}} In 1030–1031, Robert confirmed the foundation of [[Noyers Abbey]].{{sfn|Chevalier|1872|p=charter I}}

====Fleury Abbey and the rise of the monastic movement====
{{main|Cluniac Reforms}}
The reign of [[Hugh Capet]] was that of the episcopate; that of Robert II was otherwise. Since the Council of [[Verzy]] (991–992), the Capetians had been at the heart of a political-religious crisis which opposed, on the one hand, someone close to power, Bishop Arnoul II of Orléans, and on the other [[Abbo of Fleury]].{{efn|However, it would have been wrong to think that Hugh Capet was completely foreign to the Cluniac movement. He was very a good friend of Abbot [[Majolus of Cluny]], on whose tomb he went to meditate some time before his own death.{{sfn|Sassier|1987|p=265}}}}

In these troubled times (10th–11th centuries), there was the revival of [[monasticism]] which was characterized by the desire to reform the Church, a return to the Benedictine tradition, and a fleeting revival of the days of [[Louis the Pious]] by [[Benedict of Aniane]]. Their role was to repair "the sins of the people". The monks quickly met with great success: kings and counts attracted them to them and endowed them richly in land (often confiscated from enemies), in objects of all kinds, and the great abbots were called to purify certain places. Thus [[William of Volpiano|Guglielmo da Volpiano]] was called by Duke [[Richard II, Duke of Normandy|Richard II of Normandy]] to [[Fécamp]] (1001). Under the aegis of [[Cluny]], the monasteries were increasingly seeking to free themselves from episcopal supervision, in particular Fleury-sur-Loire. Moreover, abbots went to Rome between 996 and 998 to claim privileges of exemption from the Pope.<ref>Dominique Iogna-Prat, ''Entre anges et hommes: les moines "doctrinaires" de l'an Mil'' (in French). ''La France de l'an Mil'', Seuil, Paris, 1990, pp. 245–246.</ref> In the southern regions of the kingdom, Cluny and other establishments, peace movements were disseminated with the help of certain ecclesiastics who hoped for a strengthening of their power: [[Odilo of Cluny|Odilo]], supported by his relatives, worked in close collaboration with the bishop of [[Le Puy-en-Velay|Puy]] to begin the [[Peace and Truce of God#Truce of God|Truce of God]] in [[Auvergne]] (ca. 1030). Nevertheless, in the northern provinces, Cluny did not have good press. Here the bishops were at the head of powerful counties and the intervention of the Cluniac movement could harm them. [[Adalberon (bishop of Laon)|Ascelin of Laon]] and [[Gerard of Florennes|Gerard of Cambrai]] did not like the monks whom they considered to be impostors. Moreover, on the side of the bishops, there was no lack of criticism against the monks: thus they were accused of having an opulent life, of having unnatural sexual activities and of wearing luxury clothes (the example of the Abbot Mainard of [[Saint-Maur-des-Fossés]] is detailed). On the side of the regulars, examples against the bishops abounded: it was said that the prelates were very rich (trafficking in sacred objects, [[simony]]) and dominated as true warlords. Abbo of Fleury, the leader of the monastic reform movement, set an example by trying to go and pacify and discipline the monastery of [[La Réole]], where he would be killed in a fight in 1004.{{efn|In 909–910, [[William I, Duke of Aquitaine|William I the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine]], founded Cluny, without the authorization of the bishop, receiving exemption from the Pope.{{sfn|Barthélemy|1990|pp=56–60}}{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=91–94}}}}

The strength of Fleury and Cluny were their respective intellectual centers: the first retained in the 11th century more than 600 manuscripts from all walks of life, and Abbot Abbo himself wrote numerous treatises, the fruit of distant trips, notably to England, upon which he reflected (for example, on the role of the ideal prince); the second, through Rodulphus Glaber, was a place where history was written. Hugh Capet and Robert II, solicited by the two parties (episcopal and monastic), received the complaint from Abbo who denounced the actions of a layman, Lord Arnoul of Yèvres, who would have erected a tower without royal authorization and above all would have submitted by force the peasant communities that belong to the Abbey of Fleury. Bishop Arnoul II of Orléans, the uncle of Arnulf of Yèvres, said meanwhile that his nephew (???), for the King needed support to fight against Count [[Odo I of Blois]]. Finally, a negotiation took place under the chairmanship of Robert II and a diploma dated in Paris in 994 temporarily put an end to the quarrel.{{sfn|Iogna-Prat|1990|pp=252–253}}{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=96–97}} Abbo was then denounced as a "corrupter" and summoned to a royal assembly. He wrote a letter for the event entitled "Apologetic Book against Bishop Arnoul of Orléans" (''Livre apologétique contre l'évêque Arnoul d'Orléans''), which he addressed to Robert II, reputed to be literate and steeped in religious culture. The Abbot of Fleury seized the opportunity to claim the protection of the sovereign, who responded favorably. The traditional Carolingian episcopate then felt abandoned by royalty and threatened by the monks. This situation would be reinforced with the death of Hugh Capet in the fall of 996.{{efn|Once he became the sole sovereign, Robert II renewed his advisers, and his father's team (Bouchard of Vendôme, Gerbert of Aurillac and Arnoul of Orléans) no longer had any reason to exist. We also know today that, to defend himself, Abbo had falsified an exemption charter in 997 (a practice which was common in certain religious establishments and for a long time).{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=100–103}}{{sfn|Iogna-Prat|1990|p=252}}}} Robert II was now more tempted by monastic culture than by episcopal and pontifical power which still remained largely the servant of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. In parallel with these factional struggles, we also know that bishops and abbots found themselves alongside the counts to ensure that their legal immunities were respected.

====Robert II, the ideal prince====
[[File:Sens Châsse.jpg|280px|thumb|right|Merovingian holy reliquary from the 6th century on which Robert II probably had to pray. Currently displayed in the Museum of Sens.]]
On the death of Robert II, the canons of Saint-Aignan asked a monk from Fleury who had worked with the sovereign and had access to the library of the Loire Abbey, to compose the biography of the second ruler of the [[Capetian dynasty]].

{{blockquote|author=Helgaud of Fleury, ''Epitoma vitæ regis Roberti pii'', ca. 1033.{{sfn|Theis|1999|p=88}}|"The very good and very pious Robert, King of the Franks, son of Hugh, whose piety and goodness resounded by everyone, has with all his power enriched cherished and honored this saint [Aignan] by whose permission we have wanted to write the life of this very excellent king."}}

In his biography, [[Helgaud]] strives to demonstrate the holiness of this king since he does not intend to relate the facts relating to warlike functions. This work seems to have been inspired by the life of [[Gerald of Aurillac]], another lay saint told by Odilo of Cluny. The life of Robert II is a series of ''exempla'', intended to show that the behavior of the king was that of a humble prince who possessed all the qualities: gentleness, charity, accessible to all, forgiving everything. This hagiography is different from the traditional royal ideology, since the king seems to follow in the footsteps of Christ. Sin allows kings to recognize themselves as mere mortals and thus lay a solid foundation for the new dynasty.{{sfn|Sassier|2000|p=213}}

The [[Abbey of Fleury]], since the reign of Hugh Capet, has taken care of deeply legitimizing the Capetian monarchy by creating a new royal ideology. According to Helgaud, Robert II is since his coronation, ''particeps Dei regni'' (participant in the Kingship of God). Indeed, the young sovereign received in 987 the anointing of oil at the same time temporal and spiritual, "desiring to fulfill his power and his will with the gift of the holy blessing". All the clerics for whom we have the works, submit to the royal person: for Helgaud, Robert holds the place of God on earth (''princeps Dei''), [[Fulbert of Chartres]] calls him "holy father" or " your Holiness", for [[Adémar de Chabannes]] it is the "Father of the poor" and finally according to Ascelin of Laon, he received from God the true wisdom giving him access to the knowledge of "the celestial and unchanging universe".{{sfn|Sassier|2000|p=210}} Another great scholar of his time, Rodulfus Glaber, relates the meeting between [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor]] and Robert II in the city of [[Ivois]] in August 1023. They endeavored to define together the principles of a peace common to all Christendom. According to the theorists of the 11th century, Robert II was at the level of the Emperor by his mother since she has Roman ancestry, the ''Francorum imperator''.{{sfn|Sassier|2000|p=192}}

Secret of their success with the church hierarchy, the first Capetians (and in the first place Robert II) are famous for having carried out many religious foundations. [[Hugh the Great]] and [[Hugh Capet]] in their time had founded the monastery of Saint-Magloire on the right bank in Paris. Queen [[Adelaide of Aquitaine|Adelaide]], mother of Robert II, reputed to be very pious, ordered the construction of the monastery of Saint-Frambourg in [[Senlis]] and especially the one dedicated to Saint Marie in [[Argenteuil]]. According to Helgaud of Fleury:

{{blockquote|author=Helgaud of Fleury, ''Epitoma vitæ regis Roberti pii'', ca. 1033.<ref>Xavier Barral i Altet, ''Le paysage architectural de l'an Mil'' (in French). ''La France de l'an Mil'', Seuil, Paris, 1990, p. 172.</ref>|"She [Queen Adelaide] also built in Parisis, at a place called Argenteuil, a monastery where she brought together a considerable number of servants of the Lord, living according to the rule of Saint Benedict."}}

Robert II is in the forefront in the defense of the saints who, according to him, guarantee the effectiveness of divine grace and "thus contribute to the purification of society by blocking the forces of evil". Several crypts were built or renovated for the occasion: Saint-Cassien in [[Autun]], Sainte-Marie in [[Melun]], [[Rieul of Senlis|Saint-Rieul de Senlis]] in Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. The sovereign goes further by offering pieces of relics to certain monks (a fragment of the chasuble of Saint Denis to Helgaud of Fleury). We also know that around 1015–1018, at the request of his wife Constance, Robert II ordered the making of a reliquary for Saint Savinien for the altar of the relics of the [[Abbey of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif]] near [[Sens]]. According to legend, Saint Savinian would have protected the integrity of the royal marriage when Robert II had gone to Rome with his former wife Bertha before leaving her definitively. The order is made from one of the best monk-silversmiths in the kingdom, [[Odorannus]]. In total, the sacred object is composed of 900 grams of gold and 5 kilograms of silver. In total, the inventory is impressive: during his reign Robert II offers a quantity of copes, priestly vestments, tablecloths, vases, chalices, crosses and censers. One of the gifts that most marks the contemporaries is probably the ''Évangéliaire dits de Gaignières'', produced by Nivardus, a Lombard artist, on behalf of the Abbey of Fleury (beginning of the 11th century).<ref>Xavier Barral i Altet, ''Reliques, trésors d'églises et création artistique'' (in French). ''La France de l'an Mil'', Seuil, Paris, 1990, p. 194.</ref>{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=221–223}}

====Chosen by the Lord====
The definition of royalty in the time of Robert II is difficult to appreciate nowadays. The king only has precedence over the princes of the Frankish kingdom. Some like [[Odo II of Blois]] (in 1023), although respect is in order, make it clear to him that they wish to govern as they please without his consent. A prince respects the sovereign but he does not feel his subordinate. At the same time, however, the king tends to impose himself as ''Primus inter pares'', the first of the princes. Moreover, the texts dating from the first part of the 11th century largely evoke loyalty to the king from the princes.{{sfn|Barthélemy|1990|p=33}}

One day in 1027, a "rain of blood" fell on the Duchy of Aquitaine. The phenomenon worried enough contemporaries for [[William V, Duke of Aquitaine|William V of Aquitaine]] to explain it as a divine sign. The Duke then decided to send messengers to meet Robert II so that the latter asks the best scholars of his court for an explanation and advice. Gauzlin, Abbot of [[Fleury Abbey|Fleury]] and [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges|Archbishop of Bourges]], and [[Fulbert of Chartres]] take the matter in hand. Gauzlin answers that "the blood always announces a misfortune which will befall the Church and the population, but that after will come divine mercy". As for Fulbert, better documented, he analyzes the old ''historiæ'' (the works which relate the past facts):

{{blockquote|author=Fulbert of Chartres, ''Lettre au roi Robert'', 1027.{{efn|In fact, it is a sandstorm coming from the [[Sahara]], an unusual fact at the time therefore of divine origin.{{sfn|Werner|1990|p=274}}}}|"I found [[Livy|Titus Livius]], [[Valerius Maximus|Valerius]], [[Orosius]] and several others relating this event; in the circumstances I contented myself with producing the testimony of Gregory, Bishop of Tours, because of his religious authority."}}

Fulbert concludes from [[Gregory of Tours]] (''Histoire des Francs'', VII), that only the ungodly and fornicators "will die for eternity in their blood, if they have not amended themselves beforehand". Friend of Bishop Fulbert, William V of Aquitaine could have addressed him directly. Now, aware that Robert II is the Lord's chosen one, it is from him, responsible for the entire kingdom, that we must seek advice. He is in the best position to know the mysteries of the world and the will of God. In the 11th century, even the most powerful men respect the order established by God, that is to say to pray to his sovereign".{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=199–200}}{{sfn|Werner|1990|pp=274–275}}

The history of royal magical powers was dealt with by [[Marc Bloch]] in his work ''The Thaumaturge Kings'' (1924). During the early Middle Ages, the power to work miracles was strictly reserved for God, saints and relics. In the Merovingian times, was the mention of pious [[Guntram]], mentioned by Gregory of Tours (6th century) and considered the first Frankish king healer. During the reign of Henry I, in the middle of the 11th century, we begin to tell Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire that Robert II had the gift of healing the wounds of certain diseases affecting them. Helgaud of Fleury writes in his ''Epitoma vitæ regis Roberti pii'':

{{blockquote|author=Helgaud of Fleury, ''Epitoma vitæ regis Roberti pii'', ca. 1033.{{sfn|de Fleury|1824|pp=407–408}}|"[...] This man of God had no horror of them [lepers], for he had read in the Holy Scriptures that often our Lord Jesus had received hospitality in the figure of a leper. He went to them, approached them with eagerness, gave them the money with his own hand, kissed their hands with his mouth [...]. Moreover, divine virtue conferred on this holy man such grace for the healing of bodies that by touching the sick with the place of their wounds with his pious hand, and imprinting thereon the sign of the cross, he removed all pain from the disease."}}

Indeed, Robert II is the first sovereign of his line to be credited with [[Thaumaturgy|thaumaturgical]] talent. Perhaps this was a propaganda with the purpose of a symbolic compensation for the weakness of royal power; not being able to impose itself by force (for example in the episode with [[Odo II of Blois]] in 1023), the monarchy had to find an alternative to impose its primacy. Nevertheless, this first thaumaturgy is recognized as "generalist", that is to say that the king was not specialized in such or such disease as will be the case for his successors with the [[scrofula]].{{sfn|Werner|1990|p=304}}{{sfn|Menant|1999|pp=833–834}} Not much is known about Robert II's magical actions except that he would have cured [[lepers]] in the South during his journey from 1018 to 1020. The King of the Franks is not the only one to use this kind of practice, his contemporary [[Edward the Confessor]] does the same in England. According to popular tradition, the king's blood conveys a capacity to work miracles, a gift which is reinforced by the royal coronation. Finally, according to Jacques Le Goff, no document proves that the French sovereigns regularly practiced touching scrofula before [[Louis IX of France|Saint Louis]].<ref>Colette Beaune, ''Thaumaturgie'' (in French). ''Dictionnaire du Moyen Âge'', PUF, Paris, 2002, pp. 1375–1376.</ref> In 1031 Robert II also came on pilgrimage to the Abbey of Saint-Géraud d'Aurillac to visit the relics of [[Gerald of Aurillac|Saint Gerald]] and the cradle of [[Pope Sylvester II|Gerbert]], of which he had been a disciple.

===Robert II and the economy===
====A period of full economic growth====
[[File:Mittelrheinischer Meister des 13. Jahrhunderts 001.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Fragment (single leaf) of a ''Speculum Viriginum'' ms., late 13th or early 14th century. The illustration showing the "Three Conditions of Woman", viz. virgins, widows and married wives, in a harvest allegory; the virgins reap hundredfold, the widows sixtyfold, the wives thirtyfold. [[Bonn]], Rheinisches Landesmuseum.]]
If the 9th century looting have significantly slowed the economy, it is sustained expansion from the 10th century. Indeed, with the establishment of a decentralized defense, the Banal Lordship brought a response well adapted to the rapid Saracen or Viking raids. It becomes more profitable for thieves to settle in an area, get a tribute against the tranquility of the population and trade, rather than wage war, and this from the 10th century.<ref>Michel Balard, Jean-Philippe Genet and Michel Rouche, ''Le Moyen Âge en Occident'' (in French). Hachette, 2003, p. 89.</ref> The Vikings thus participate fully in the process of feudalisation and in the economic expansion which accompanies it. They must dispose of their booty, and they mint coins from the precious metals that were hoarded in looted religious goods. This cash, which is reinjected into the economy,{{sfn|Contamine|Bompaire|Lebecq|Sarrazin|2004|p=92}} is a leading catalyst for the ongoing economic transformation. The global money supply increases as much as with the weakening of the central power more and more bishops and princes coin money. However, the growing monetization of the economy is a powerful catalyst: farmers can take advantage of their agricultural surpluses and are motivated to increase their production capacity through the use of new techniques and the increase in cultivable areas through land clearing. The establishment of common law contributes to this development because the producer must generate enough profits to be able to pay the taxes. The lords also reinject this cash into the economy because one of the main criteria for belonging to the nobility in full structuring is to have a broad and expensive behavior towards its counterparts (this behavior being moreover necessary for ensure the loyalty of its ''militias'').{{sfn|Contamine|Bompaire|Lebecq|Sarrazin|2004|p=153}}

In fact, in certain regions, the mottes play a pioneering role in the agrarian conquest of the ''saltus''. During this time, were also developed more constantly the ''[[Thiérache]]'', it is "to the [[Clearing (geography)|clearing]] of land returned to the forest that the first castral movement is linked". In Cinglais, a region south of [[Caen]], the primitive castles had settled on the borders of forest complexes.{{sfn|Bonnassie|1990|p=45}} In all cases, the castral establishment on the outskirts of the village is very common.{{sfn|Barthélemy|1990|p=105}} This phenomenon is part of a very anchored and ancient linear population which is juxtaposed with an early clearing that was certainly Carolingian well prior to the castral phenomenon. Nonetheless, the charters of northern France confirmed an intensive clearing activity still present until the middle of the 12th century and even beyond.

On the other hand, the lords as well as the clergy saw the interest in stimulating and benefiting from this economic expansion: they favored the clearing and the construction of new villages, and they invested in equipment increasing production capacities (mills, presses, ovens, plows, etc.) and transport (bridges, roads, etc.). Especially since these infrastructures can increase the income banal, levy [[Toll (fee)|tolls]] and ''tonlieu''s.{{sfn|Contamine|Bompaire|Lebecq|Sarrazin|2004|p=164}} In fact, increased trade leads to the proliferation of roads and markets (the network that is set up is immensely denser and ramified than what could have existed in Antiquity).{{sfn|Contamine|Bompaire|Lebecq|Sarrazin|2004|p=191}} These bridges, villages and markets are therefore built under the protection of a lord which is materialized by a castle mound. The power squire filter exchanges of any kind that amplify from the 11th century. We see many ''castras'' located on important roads, sources of a considerable financial contribution for the lord of the place. For [[Picardy]], [[Robert Fossier]] noticed that nearly 35% of the sites that can be located in village lands are located on or near Roman roads, and that 55% of road and river nodes had fortified points.<ref>''La mainmise sur les échanges: routes et péages'' (in French). ''Archéologie médiévale'', XI, 1981, pp. 121–122.</ref>

====Monetary Policy====
The silver [[denarius]] is, as we have seen, one of the main engines of economic growth since the 9th century. The weakness of royal power led to the minting of coins by many bishops, lords and abbeys. While [[Charles the Bald]] had 26 coinage workshops, [[Hugh Capet]] and Robert II only have that of [[Laon]].{{sfn|Contamine|Bompaire|Lebecq|Sarrazin|2004|p=128}} The reign of Hugh Capet marks the apogee of the feudalization of money. The result is a decrease in the uniformity of the denarius and the appearance of the practice of remapping money on the markets (we rely on the weight of the coin to determine its value). On the other hand, we are in a period where the increase in trade is supported by the increase in the volume of metal available. Indeed, the expansion towards the east of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] allows the [[Ottonian dynasty]] to be able to exploit new deposits of silver. Robert II has little room for maneuver. However, the practice of [[Methods of coin debasement|trimming]] or mutations, leads to [[devaluation]]s that are quite harmful. However upholding the [[Peace and Truce of God#Peace of God|Peace of God]], Robert II supports the fight against these abuses. The [[Order of Cluny]] who, like other abbeys mint their currency, have every interest in limiting these practices. Therefore, during the 10th century in the South, users must commit to not cut or falsifying currencies and issuers undertake not to take pretext of war to pursue a monetary transfer.{{sfn|Contamine|Bompaire|Lebecq|Sarrazin|2004|p=205}}

===Robert II and the State===
====The royal administration====
Is known that since around 992, Robert II has exercised the royal power transmitted by his aging father Hugh Capet. Historians thus show that the first Capetians begin to give up power around the age of 50, by tradition but also because the life expectancy of a sovereign at that time is around 55–60 years. Robert II followed this tradition in 1027, his son [[Henry I of France|Henry I]] in 1059 and his grandson [[Philip I of France|Philip I]] in 1100.{{sfn|Bautier|1992|p=35}} In the image of his father and in the Carolingian tradition of [[Hincmar]] of Reims, Robert II takes advice from the ecclesiastics, something that was no longer done, to the great regret of the clerics, since the last Carolingians. This policy is taken up and theorized by [[Abbo of Fleury]]. From the time he was still associated with Hugh Capet, Robert II could write from [[Pope Sylvester II|Gerbert of Aurillac]]'s pen:

{{blockquote|author=Gerbert of Aurillac, ''Letter to the Archbishop of Sens'', ca. 987.{{sfn|Sassier|2000|p=205}}|"Not wishing in any way to abuse the royal power, we decide all the affairs of the ''res publica'' by resorting to the advice and sentences of our faithful ones."}}

The term that comes up most often in royal charters is that of "common good" (''res publica''), a concept taken from Roman Antiquity. The king is thus the guarantor, from the height of his supreme magistracy, of the well-being of all his subjects.<ref name="Guillot">Olivier Guillot, Yves Sassier, ''Pouvoirs et institutions dans la France médiévale'' (in French). Volume I: ''Des origines à l'époque féodale''. Colin, Paris, 2003, pp. 234–235. {{isbn|978-2-200-26500-7}}</ref>

The royal administration is known to us through the archives and in particular through the content of the royal diplomas. As for his father, Robert II record both a continuity with the previous era and a break. Historiography has truly changed his perspective on administration in Robert II's day over the past fifteen years. Since the thesis of Jean-François Lemarignier was thought that the space in which the diplomas were shipped had tended to shrink during the 11th century: "the decline is observed between 1025–1028 and 1031 to the various points of view of qualification categories". But the historian affirmed that, starting from Hugh Capet and even more under Robert II, the charters included more and more foreign subscriptions (signatures) than the traditional royal chancellery: thus the [[châtelain]]s and even simple [[Chivalry|knights]] mingled with the counts and bishops until then predominant and outnumbered them at the end of the reign. The king would no longer have been sufficient to guarantee his own acts.<ref>Jean-François Lemarignier, ''Le gouvernement royal aux premiers temps capétiens (987–1108)'' (in French). Picard, Paris, 1965, pp. 68–76. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhef_0300-9505_1968_num_54_152_1793_t1_0090_0000_2 online 1][https://www.persee.fr/doc/rnord_0035-2624_1966_num_48_189_5767_t1_0229_0000_5 online 2]</ref>

More recently, [[Olivier Guyotjeannin]] has brought to light a whole different perspective on the administration of Robert II. The introduction and multiplication of subscriptions and witness lists at the bottom of the acts sign, according to him, rather a new deal in the systems of evidence. The royal acts by addressees and by a chancellery reduced to a few people still consist for half of them, of a Carolingian-type diplomatic (monogram, Carolingian forms) until around 1010. The preambles change slightly under the chancellor Baudouin from 1018 but there is still "political Augustinism and the idea of the king as protector of the Church". Above all, underlines the historian, the royal acts drawn up by Robert II's chancellery do not open until very late and very partially to signatures foreign to those of the king and the chancellor. On the other hand, in the second part of the reign, one notes some acts with multiple subscriptions: for example in the act delivered at the [[Flavigny Abbey]] (1018), was notes the ''signum'' of six bishops, of Prince Henry, of Count [[Odo II, Count of Blois|Odo II of Blois]], of Count [[Otto, Count of Vermandois|Otto of Vermandois]] and some later additions. It seems nevertheless that the knights and the small counts present in the charters are not the rebellious squires of the traditional historiography but rather the members of a local network woven around the abbeys and the bishoprics held by the king.<ref>Olivier Guyotjeannin, ''Les évêques dans l'entourage royal sous les premiers Capétiens'' (in French). ''Le roi de France et son royaume autour de l'an mil'', Picard, Paris, 1992, pp. 91–93.</ref> Clearly, the changes in royal acts from the end of Robert II's reign do not reflect a decline in kingship.

====Justice of Robert II====
[[File:St Benoit Sur Loire 2007 03.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Crypt of [[Fleury Abbey]] at [[Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire]], first third of the 11th century.]]
Since the end of the 10th century, the formulation of royal ideology is the work of monastic world, especially in the highly dynamic [[Fleury Abbey]], located in [[Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire]]. In the theory of [[Abbo of Fleury]] (ca. 993–994), the concern of the sovereign of the year 1000 is to make equity and justice reign, to guarantee peace and harmony in the Kingdom. Its purpose is to safeguard Capetian memory for centuries.{{sfn|Sassier|2000|pp=201–203}} For their part, the territorial princes of the 11th century know what founds and legitimizes their power even in their royal aspects. The presence of a royal authority in the Kingdom of the Franks remains essential for contemporaries. However, Abbo also emphasizes in his writings the need of a local ruler who could exercise his office for the common good, deciding matters with the consent of the advisers (bishops and princes). However, Robert II did not always follow, to his great fault, this theory, in particular in the case of the succession of the [[Count of Champagne|Counties of Meaux and Troyes]] (1021–1024).<ref name="Guillot"/>{{sfn|Sassier|2000|p=199}}

Since the beginning of the reign of Robert II, the Counties of Meaux and Troyes were in the hands of a powerful figure, his second cousin once removed{{efn|Stephen I of Troyes' great-grandmother was Adelais, a sister of [[Hugh the Great]], Robert II's grandfather.}} [[Stephen I, Count of Troyes|Count Stephen I of Troyes]]. In 1019, Stephen I appealed to the Robert II's generosity, asking him to confirm the restitution of property to the Abbey of [[Lagny, Oise|Lagny]]. The king accepted, but Stephen I died ca. 1021–1023; a rare occurrence at the time, he had no clearly named successor or heir. Robert II is responsible for managing the succession, which he cedes without difficulty to [[Odo II, Count of Blois|Count Odo II of Blois]], a lord already well-established in the region (he hold the cities of [[Épernay]], [[Reims]], [[Vaucouleurs]] and [[Commercy]]) and moreover was a second cousin{{efn|Stephen I of Troyes' grandfather [[Robert of Vermandois]] was a brother of [[Luitgarde of Vermandois|Luitgarde]], Odo II of Blois' grandmother.}} of Stephen I.{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=165–169}} However, a few months later a crisis breaks out. [[Ebles I of Roucy]], [[Archbishop of Reims]] informs the king of the bad actions of Odo II who monopolizes all powers in [[Reims]] to the detriment of the prelate. Robert II, as a defender of the Church, decides, without the consent of anyone, to withdraw the comital title of Reims from Odo II. The latter, furious, imposes himself in Reims by force. In addition, the king is not supported, his justice is undermined: even his faithfuls Fulbert of Chartres and Duke [[Richard II, Duke of Normandy|Richard II of Normandy]] support Odo II by arguing that Robert II should not behave like a "tyrant". Summoned by the king in 1023, Odo II courteously informs that he will not move and Robert II has neither the means to oblige him nor the right to seize his patrimony, because these lands weren't granted by the king but inherited from his ancestors by the will of the Lord.{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=169–171}}

After this event (which weakened his already unstable authority), Robert II does not repeat the same mistake. In 1024, after a meeting of the greats of the Kingdom in [[Compiègne]] who suggested appeasement to him with Odo II of Blois, the King had to confirm the Count's possessions. A few years later, in May 1027, Dudon, Abbot of [[Montier-en-Der]], publicly complains of the violent usurpation exercised by Stephen of Vaux, [[List of lords and princes of Joinville|Lord of Joinville]]. The latter seized seven churches to the detriment of the monastery of which he is however the ''[[advocatus]]''. Robert II once again takes charge of the affair, and taking advantage of the coronation of his second son Henry at Pentecost of 1027 in [[Reims]], he summons the Lord of Joinville to his court. The latter does not travel for the event. The present assembly, composed among others by [[Ebles I of Roucy]], [[Odilo of Cluny]], Dudon of Montier-en-Der, [[William V, Duke of Aquitaine|William V of Aquitaine]] and Odo II, unanimously decides to launch the [[anathema]] on the Lord of Joinville. In short, Robert II is not the weak king that historiography has always presented. Of course, his decisions in matters of justice must take into account the advice of ecclesiastics and territorial princes, but he remains as the ''Primer inter pares'', that is to say the first among his peers.{{sfn|Barthélemy|1990|p=33}}{{sfn|Theis|1999|pp=173–176}}