Wikipedia:
Hugh Capet the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The son of a Frankish duke, he inherited vast estates in the regions of Paris and Orléans, which made him one of the most powerful vassals in France and a serious threat to the Carolingian king, Lothar. By 985 Hugh was the ruler of France in all but name, and two years later he was elected king. He immediately crowned his own son to ensure the line of succession, a practice continued until the time of Louis VII. He mediated disputes among French nobles and survived a conspiracy to betray him to Otto III.

Hugh Capet died on 24 October 996 in Paris and was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica. His son Robert continued to reign.
Most historians regard the beginnings of modern France with the coronation of Hugh Capet. This is because, as Count of Paris, he made the city his power centre. The monarch began a long process of exerting control of the rest of the country from there.
The direct Capetians, or the House of Capet, ruled France from 987 to 1328; thereafter, the Kingdom was ruled by collateral branches of the dynasty. All French kings through Louis Philippe, and all royal pretenders since then, have belonged to the dynasty. As of 2009^[update], members of the Capetian dynasty are still the heads of state of the kingdom of Spain (in the person of the Bourbon Juan Carlos) and of the grand-duchy of Luxembourg.