Robert IV of France (The Kalmar Union)

Robert IV, was King of France during the late 1100s.

He had a complicated route to the throne; his father Simon challenged Adele for the throne and would rule France for a brief period in the 1150s. However Adele was restored and it would seem Simon's kingly ambitions were thwarted. Despite Simon's death in September 1156 Adele would not live beyond Christmas. She had only daughters and the French nobility were unwilling to have a female minor on the throne following the trouble stirred up by Adele's rule. Instead they approached Robert, now one of Adele's closest male relatives and he was crowned.

Some historians consider this the start of a new dynasty, the Capet-Orges, however more usually Robert, like his father before him, is simply considered a continuation of the Capets.

Robert was immediately embroiled in rebellion by Adele's husband Robert of Dreux, and it would take a year and Dreaux's death to quell resistance. Thereafter Robert firmly took back the fortress of Dreaux under the control of the crown. This he hoped would begin a process of recollecting the trenchantly independent duchies of Francia back under central command. He made a firm alliance with the church which helped remind the distant bishops of their nominal fealty to Paris he was less successful in persuading temporal lords to follow his command. His relationship with his closest and most determined neighbours in Normandy was frequently terrible and the confident Duke William IV ran diplomatic rings around the king thanks to his contacts across the Channel. Indeed by the end of his rule war had broken out in Northern Francia despite all attempts by Robert to control events to his own advantage. It would be left to his sons to try and solve France's territorial and diplomatic weaknesses.

Dying in 1170, the throne would occupied by his sons Louis VII and Charles IV in turn.