Monarchs of France

The monarchs of France ruled, first as kings and later as emperors from the Middle Ages to 1870. There is some disagreement as to when France came into existence. The earliest possible date would be the establishment of the Merovingian Frankish kingdom by Clovis I in 486 with the defeat of Syagrius, the last Roman official in Gaul. That kingdom's rulers were deposed in the 8th century. The Treaty of Verdun established the Kingdom of Western Francia in 843.

Carolingian Dynasty (840 to 987)
Three of the twelve kings during the 147 year Carolingian Dynasty, Odo, his brother Robert I and Robert's son in law Raoul/Rudolph, were not from the Carolingian Dynasty but from the rival Robertian Dynasty, named for Robert the Strong (father of Odo and Robert I). The Robertian Dynasty became the Capetian Dynasty with the ascent to the throne of Hugh Capet (son of Hugh the Great, son of Robert I) in 987. The rise and fall of Carolingian Charles III played out during the ascent of these Robertian kings.


 * align="center"|[[Image:Robert I de France.jpg|80px]]||align="center"|Robert I (Robert Ier)||align="center"|June 30, 922||align="center"|June 15, 923||*Son of Robert the Strong *Younger brother of Odo
 * align="center"|[[Image:Raoul Ier.jpg|80px]]||align="center"|Rudolph (Raoul de France) ||align="center"|July 13, 923||align="center"|January 14, 936||*Son-in-law of Robert I
 * align="center"|[[Image:Louis IV d'Outremer.jpg|80px]]||align="center"|Louis IV d'Outremer (Louis IV d'Outremer) ||align="center"|June 19, 936||align="center"|September 10, 954||*.
 * align="center"|[[Image:Lothaire.jpg|80px]]||align="center"|Lothair (Lothaire de France) ||align="center"|November 12, 954||align="center"|March 2, 986||*Son of Louis IV
 * align="center"|[[Image:Louis V.jpg|80px]]||align="center"|Louis V the Lazy (Louis V le Fainéant) ||align="center"|June 8, 986||align="center"|May 22, 987||*Son of Lothair
 * }
 * align="center"|[[Image:Lothaire.jpg|80px]]||align="center"|Lothair (Lothaire de France) ||align="center"|November 12, 954||align="center"|March 2, 986||*Son of Louis IV
 * align="center"|[[Image:Louis V.jpg|80px]]||align="center"|Louis V the Lazy (Louis V le Fainéant) ||align="center"|June 8, 986||align="center"|May 22, 987||*Son of Lothair
 * }
 * align="center"|[[Image:Louis V.jpg|80px]]||align="center"|Louis V the Lazy (Louis V le Fainéant) ||align="center"|June 8, 986||align="center"|May 22, 987||*Son of Lothair
 * }

Capetian Dynasty, Direct Capetians (987 to 1328)
The Capetian Dynasty, the male-line descendants of Hugh Capet, ruled France continuously from 987 to 1792 and again from 1814 to 1848. The branches of the dynasty which ruled after 1328, however, are generally given the specific branch names of Valois and Bourbon.

''Not listed above are Hugh Magnus, eldest son of Robert II, and Philip of France, eldest son of Louis VI; both were co-Kings with their fathers (in accordance with the early Capetian practice whereby Kings would crown their heirs in their own lifetimes and share power with the co-king), but predeceased them. Because neither Hugh nor Philip were sole or senior king in their own lifetimes, they are not traditionally listed as Kings of France, and are not given ordinals.''

House of Lancaster (1422-1453)
''From 1422 Henry VI of England controlled much of northern France in accordance with the Plantagenet claim to the French crown, although Charles VII held sway over large areas south of the Loire River. Charles was crowned at Reims in 1429 and increasingly extended this dominion. By 1453, Henry had lost all French possessions except Calais, effectively putting an end to the Hundred Years' War. (See also main article:The Dual-Monarchy of England and France)

Capetian Dynasty, House of Bourbon (1589-1792)
''From January 21, 1793 to June 8, 1795, Louis XVI's son Louis-Charles was the titular King of France as Louis XVII; in reality, however, he was imprisoned in the Temple throughout this duration, and power was held by the leaders of the Republic. Upon Louis XVII's death, his uncle (Louis XVI's brother) Louis-Stanislas claimed the throne, as Louis XVIII, but only became de facto King of France in 1814.''

First Republic (1792-1804)
The First French Republic lasted from 1792 to 1804, when its First Consul, Napoléon Bonaparte, declared himself Emperor of the French.

Bonaparte Dynasty, First Empire, Restored (The Hundred Days, 1815)
''From June 22 to July 7, 1815, Bonapartists considered Napoleon I's son Napoleon II as the legitimate heir to the throne, his father having abdicated in his favor. However, the young child's reign was entirely fictional, as he was residing in Austria with his mother. Louis XVIII was reinstalled as king on July 7.''

Capetian Dynasty, House of Bourbon, Restored (1815-1830)
The elder son and heir of Charles X, the Dauphin Louis-Antoine, is occasionally considered to have legally been the King of France as Louis XIX in the 20 minutes that passed between Charles X's formal signature of abdication and the Dauphin's own signature. ''Henri d'Artois, Charles X's grandson, was considered by monarchists to be the titular King of France, as Henry V from August 2, 1830 to August 9, 1830, but his reign remained largely fictional, as he acceeded in a revolutionary context and hence was never recognized by the French State. He is generally not accounted for in lists of official French monarchs.''

Second Republic (1848 - 1852)
The Second French Republic lasted from 1848 to 1852, when its president, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, was declared Emperor of the French.

Government of National Defence (Paris Commune 1870 - 1871)
The transition period between the fall of the Second Empire after the capture of Napoleon III by the Prussians and the assumption of the Third Republic by General Louis Jules Trochu.

Heads of State following 1871
The chronology of Head of State of France continues with the Presidents of the French Republic and short term interim periods by the Chief of State of the French State (1940–1944), the Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944–1946) and the president of the French Senate (1969 and 1974) during the Fifth Republic.

Later pretenders
Various pretenders descended from the preceding monarchs have claimed to be the legitimate monarch of France, rejecting the claims of the President of France, and of each other. These groups are:
 * Legitimist claimants to the throne of France—descendants of the Bourbons, rejecting all heads of state since 1830. Unionists recognized the Orléanist claimant after 1883.
 * Orléanist claimants to the throne of France—descendants of Louis-Phillippe, a cadet Bourbon, rejecting all heads of state since 1848.
 * Bonapartist claimants to the throne of France—descendants of Napoleon I and his brothers, rejecting all heads of state 1815–52, and since 1870.
 * Jacobite claimants to the throne of France—descendants of King Edward III of England and thus his claim to the French throne (renounced by Hanoverian King George III upon union with Ireland), also claiming Scotland, and Ireland.